At what age are you considered an old person? Well, that really depends on who you are asking. If you decide to pose this question to a 5-year-old, there’s a high chance you’ll be called a grandma or grandpa for being over 30. If you ask a 60-year-old, they might tell you that they’re still in their prime and don’t feel old at all.
The truth is that old age does not simply start at a number that’s set in stone. It’s all very relative and depends on a lot of different factors.
For example, this list, comprised of the most recent contributions to the "[Heck] I'm Old" subreddit, can be a great determining factor. Do you know what a floppy disk is? Have you used a telephone booth? Do you think the '70s were 30 years ago? Then, welcome to the older generation! No worries, we still have a lot of fun here too, it’s just that our joints are creakier.
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Gone But Not Forgotten
The thing about getting old is that we’re going through it, we’re getting older each day, but we don’t feel it. So if someone asks us what’s old when we’re in our 20s, we say, well, 60s. When we’re in our 40s, we think 60 still sounds pretty good, so maybe old is closer to 70. When we’re in our 60s, we move the goalpost once more to somewhere in our mid 70s.
This is the natural progression that scientists have found out about when surveying people about old age. And while the overall average for what’s considered the beginning of being old was 68, because of how wide the estimation gap was, this number is pretty much meaningless.
Anyone Remember The Metal Lid You Had To Use A Butter Knife To Pop Off?
Meirl
Damn. I'm 42 and feeling this one. 😑 But 42 is also the meaning of life, the universe, and everything, so that's some solace 😄
The insignificance of this contrived start point is especially evident when talking to 60-year-olds themselves. Out of all the respondents aged 65–74, only 21% said that they feel old. And even those who are over 75 weren’t so convinced—only 35% agreed that they are old.
This reiterates another point that researchers have explored. They discovered that the gap between our real age and “felt” age widens as we grow older. Apparently, about half of 18 to 29-year-olds feel the age that they are while a quarter feel younger. Compare that to 50-year-olds, half of which feel younger than their actual age, and people over 65, 60% of which feel like the number in their passport doesn’t do them justice.
Yeah Happens Often Irl
I Know You All Or Almost All Of Us Remember This
I still have a book from my college library that I forgot to return. The book was printed in 1964 and the author wrote about how in few years it will be possible to send man to moon
So, if there’s no real number to go off of, are there any other indicators out there? Well, the ones that everyone agrees on are a few. They are:
- Failing health
- Inability to live independently
- Inability to drive
- Difficulty with stairs
A Trip Down Memory Lane
We had one with shutter, round dials and all. It was black and white. It worked fine till early 2000.
Maybe It's Just Me, But When I Pay For Music, I Want Something Tangible In My Hands
Who Else Remembers Cigarette Vending Machines That Had No Way To Check A Persons Age And Operated On The Honor System?
However, some other indicators aren’t so clear-cut. For example, two in three 20-year-olds believe that forgetfulness of familiar names is a sign of getting old. By the time they are thirty, though, only less than a half of the respondents identify it as something only old people do. The same murkiness is apparent when talking about retirement, having gray hair, having grandkids, becoming less active sexually, and having bladder problems.
Remember Getting Your Feet Measured By This Bulky Thing?
Most all shoe stores still have them. Not many, but I nearly always see at least one whenever I go shoe shopping.
I Know I'm Not Alone
this picture makes me feel that upholstery vinyl piping burning into the back of my legs wearing those shorts in the summer. --- forget about the buckle burn..
"When I Was Your Age, The Internet Came Through The Phone And It Sounded Like Screaming Robots"
Maybe all this vagueness is related to the fact that we’re all quite scared of getting old. The survey shows that many younger adults expect old age to be worse than it actually is. A lot of people believe that getting old involves memory loss, illness, loneliness, depression, and financial difficulties. However, older adults do experience some of it, but it is at way lower levels that young people believe it will be.
35 Mm Film Canister Holders
My Favorite Part Of Mad Magazine
What Reels Did You Have?
On the other hand, old age is also not as fun as we might imagine. Older people report not spending as much time with family or traveling as younger people hope they will. There isn’t as much time to find new hobbies or start a second career either. Older folks still do that, just maybe not as commonly as expected.
So Very True! More So On Monday Mornings
I don't have enough energy to scream when I wake up, but I certainly share their feelings.
Did Anyone Else Use To Put These Together As A Kid?
Oh come on! Where is the plastic tip for the nose with the spinning propeller?
Who Remembers This Toy Phone? I Had One As A Kid. Did Anyone Else Have One?
Still, older people are happy. In fact, they’re as happy as any other generation, proving that your contentment with life does not depend on your age. The common denominators of a happy life are as usual: good health, good financial situation, and good friends.
Get Off My Lawn - Uh, Playground
If You Know What The Tape Is For, Your Back Probably Hurts
This Is 💯% True
The mid 90s were king with SNL. When you had Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, David Spade, Phil Hartman, Rob Schneider, Chris Rock, etc etc.
So, if this list made you feel old, don’t feel bad about that. There’s nothing wrong with it. All that it really says to you is that you have more experience than others. And isn’t that valuable?
Norman Lear (101), Mel Brooks (96), Dick Van Dyke (97) With Youngster Judd Apatow (55)
Does Anyone Else Miss The Butter Rum Lifesavers?
The Good Old Days Of Dodge Ball When We Used Real Rubber Balls
Then He Played The Cassette In The Car On The Way Home. And Wept Thinking About That Summer And That Girl He Never Had A Chance With :(
Omg It's So Flat...and Square
Just Seems Like Yesterday
Who Remembers These?
Damn, It's Scratched
Remember When You Could See These Just About Everywhere?
Who Remembers Mcdonalds Ash Trays?
I remember all of my clay creations in grade school starting out as elaborate sculptures but ending up as ash trays. Gifts for my folks, who positively did NOT smoke.
My Mom Had One At Her House. But My Dad Never Had One Cause He Said They Weren't Practical. The Shows Of Having Divorced Parents
Who Remembers All Wooden Playgrounds? All Metal Ones Were More Fun Though
It Happens To Us All Sooner Or Later
When I Was Growing Up We Never, Ever Had A Single Snow Day. No Matter What Our Butts Were At School
I remember going to the school in heavy rain. It was a 30 minute walk and by the time I got there I was soaked to the skin and got sent home to get changed and come back to school (Our towns schools had a hard on for reporting you to child welfare for the dumbest reasons) My mom told them she isn't going to spend the day washing a rapidly growing pile of wet clothes and if they reported her she would be down the school with a hammer and a big bag of rusty nails and she would nail each effing teacher she came across to the wall by their ears. Shortly after it stopped raining and I asked if I should go back to school to which my mom replied "F*ck 'em"
Did Anyone Else Spend A Fair Amount Of Time Reading These?
And cheating by putting your finger on the last question while you looked at the results of the one option you chose and then went back if you died
Evolution Of How We Listen To Music
Zed And Sweetchuck
Police academy! Awesome film that went downhill with each sequel except the when Zed and Sweetchuck were in it
Remember When A Gallon Of Hawaiian Punch Came In A Big Can?
Who Remembers Root Beer Barrels Candies?
This Is Radar From M*a*s*h. Now I Really Know I'm Old
Fun fact - he had a disfigured left hand. It's one of the reasons he always had a clip board in the show.
This Certified Classic Premiered 30 Years Ago
How Do You Do, Fellow Peebles?
comiseration hurts so much. I never heard of anyone anymore.. but then again... I dont want to even hear that c**p!
I'm This Old
I so old that we had our OS on floppy disks and there was no mouse and no GUI. Everything was done on MSDos and it was either orange or green screens
Steve Buscemi, Adam Sandler And Brendan Fraser. 1994 And Now
A corpse, a rabbi, and a business office guy walk into a bar…
Who Remembers These Batteries And Thought They Were So Cool!?
Titanic On Vhs - The Struggle Was Real
I think Gone With the Wind was 4 tapes. I kept having to get up and change them for my grandma!
This Year, Toby Froud, The Baby In “Labyrinth,” Turns 39, The Age David Bowie Was When The Movie Came Out
These Were So Fun
This was how we got my infant son to sleep every night, a few enya songs on the media player and he was out like a light.
That Belongs… In A Museum?
I'm Sure A Lot Of Us Grew Up With This Kind Of TV
Vintage Video Game Adapter
If You Know What These Are You Might Be Old
Who Else Remembers This? I Remember Them And In All My Classes We Were Always On Our Best Behavior. They Always Came Out On Fridays For Us
When Will Someone Make Married With Grandchildren??!!
Happy Birthday Macaulay Culkin!!! Who Turned 43
What's An Antique Now?
And the song starts in your head: "I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was" 🎶🎸
I'm 14 And Still Sometimes Believe It
File Under "Don't Know Why Moms Used To Do This, But Moms Used To Do This"
Surely You Can't Be Serious-Airplane! Premiered In Theaters 43 Years Ago (July 2, 1980)
True, But My Body Doesn’t Think So…
93 Years Old The Great Clint Eastwood, Actor And Director, Keeps On Working 🙏❤️
There are some interesting political quotes from him. After all, he sees himself as a staunch conservative, but also supports LGBTQ marriage and is mostly pro choice. He is a gun enthusiast, but supports background checks and bans on assault rifles. Maybe one of the last moderate conservatives of old.
Dolly Parton In The Best Little Wh*rehouse In Texas, Which Premiered 41 Years Ago (1982)
For BP censors "The Best Little House of Ill Repute in Texas"
Who Remembers These?
Who Remembers Seeing This Advertisement?
42 Years Ago Today- Donkey Kong Was Released By Nintendo In North America, July 31, 1981
Not Everyone Knows This?
Who Remembers The Days When We Had These Prices On Gas?
I'm Old Enough To Remember What It Was Like Stepping On One Of These Tabs
I used to turn them into weapons. Snap the ring pull off the tab and then put the small end of the tab into the notch of the ring pull. Hold the large part of the tab and pull the ring pull back and let go of the ring pull
Who Remembers These Change Machines?
Who Remembers The Classic Bozo Bop Bag?
And Like That I Am 1000 Years Old…
Does Anyone Else Remember This Nasty Candy?
Who Remembers These Coin Machines? I Personally Dont See Them All That Much Anymore Nowadays
Who Remembers The Noid?
Hahhahaha I Had Face Plates You Took Off But Friends Had Entire Stereos You Pulled Out. Also. Don’t Miss The Pagers…
The Blues Brothers Movie Premiered 43 Years Ago Today
It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark... and we're wearing sunglasses.
Remember This Show?
Did Anyone Use To Watch This Show?
When Kirsten Dunst Stopped Looking Like Mary Jane....some Celebs Look Their Age And That's Alright
Ron Howard, Anson Williams And Donny Most From Happy Days
80's Baddies
Who Remember Playing Outrun
Happy Birthday To Jaime Pressly Who Turns 46 Today! Pictured Here As Joy Turner On The TV Show My Name Is Earl
I Am Old Enough To Have Collected These In Grade School. I Believe They Were Called Wacky Packs
Never Forget! (25 Years Since They Saved The Earth.)
What Were You Watching On The Cable Box ?
This Car At Today's "Classic Car Show" Was Built When I Graduated From High School
Damn, I Loved This Dumb Show
Tried to ID them, but checked the reddit source: D**k Van Patten, Erik Estrada, J.J. Walker, Dan Haggerty, Valerie Bertinelli, Melissa Gilbert, Scott Baio, Kristy McNichol, Gary Berghoff, Joyce DeWitt, Cloris Leachman, and D**k Clark. I had all but Leachman and Gilbert, whom I didn't recognize at all somehow
Anybody Remember Shakey's?
It's Weird That Car Antennas Just Disappeared With No Notice
Jason Alexander Was 29 When Seinfeld Started
Like how though? He is wearing at least fifty years of defeat on his face in this pic alone.
Man We Were Stupid- Chasing The Mosquito Truck In The Early 70s
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was instrumental in getting DDT banned in the US warning about the impacts of the indiscriminate use of pesticides.
This Timeless Classic Premiered 32 Years Ago. Hasn't Aged A Day
I Was Poor And Always Hungry As A Kid..,but Not This Hungry
Oh I was DEFINITELY this hungry as a kid. Put anything on a cheap cracker at that age and I was down.
In 2023: Ralph Macchio(Age 61) & William Zabka(Age 57)
Steve Perry Is 74 Years Old. He's Been Top Right Photo Years Old In My Mind For The Last 35 Years Until I Came Across This Today
To Make You Feel Old And To Remind You How Poor You Were
Even As A Kid, I Found This Flavor A Bit Too Nasty
Who Remembers This Bad*ss Monster?
Girls Of The Karate Kid
How Long Has It Been Since We Went Some Place And Saw This??? Too Long???
A College Grad's Post. Saw Her Necklace, Thought, "Year She Graduated From High School?" Nope, Birth Year ☠️
27 Years Ago Today, Skinner Purchased Fast Food To Disguise Is Own Cooking
Billie Joe Armstrong Is The Same Age Rue Mclanahan Was When “The Golden Girls” Premiered
*story time* a while ago I gave what I thought was solid info in a reddit comment and someone replied "yeah 20 years ago maybe!" And I was like, haha no, what do they think, that I'm giving outdated info from the 80s?! Haha... ha. Wait.
I once made a reference to I forget what, something 90s, playing Jackbox stuff with a group of broadly aged internet pals and someone who's about 28 pipes up with "Is that generational humor?" and it was absolutely devastating. She's hilarious. I haven't recovered.
Load More Replies... "Young old" is supposedly 65-74. "Middle old" is 75-84. "Old old" is 85+. I will be 75 in 5 weeks exactly.
Today's youngsters may not know or remember that back in the day, all our radios, LPs, CDs, cassettes, clocks, TVs, game consoles/screens, encyclopedias, desk/wall phones , and much more that took up tons of living space now all fits in one pocket.
I never thought of myself as getting old until the time I needed my first pair of glasses with varifocal lenses. That in itself didn't bother me. It was when the young lady,barely more than a child, said, "Oh well, it's to be expected at your age." I had just turned 40...fücking 40. Since then, it's been downhill faster than Franz Klammer! ( Google him, kids)
Lol!! Anyone read the article? The subreddit is called Fvck I'm old but BP just renamed it to "heck"
What makes me feel old is watching the news. All the politicians look much too young to be allowed to run our country.
I’m in a rehab facility right now and an hour ago a girl came in to tell me that I was being moved to another room. NO!! I’m not moving and went on to tell her how jacked up this place is. Then I added that she must have drawn the short stick if she had to come in and tell me that. I know that she had no idea what the short stick comment meant! Damn do I miss being around people who get me!!!
You probably shouldn't blame Americans for posts that Bored Panda scrapes from other sites like Reddit.
Load More Replies...
*story time* a while ago I gave what I thought was solid info in a reddit comment and someone replied "yeah 20 years ago maybe!" And I was like, haha no, what do they think, that I'm giving outdated info from the 80s?! Haha... ha. Wait.
I once made a reference to I forget what, something 90s, playing Jackbox stuff with a group of broadly aged internet pals and someone who's about 28 pipes up with "Is that generational humor?" and it was absolutely devastating. She's hilarious. I haven't recovered.
Load More Replies... "Young old" is supposedly 65-74. "Middle old" is 75-84. "Old old" is 85+. I will be 75 in 5 weeks exactly.
Today's youngsters may not know or remember that back in the day, all our radios, LPs, CDs, cassettes, clocks, TVs, game consoles/screens, encyclopedias, desk/wall phones , and much more that took up tons of living space now all fits in one pocket.
I never thought of myself as getting old until the time I needed my first pair of glasses with varifocal lenses. That in itself didn't bother me. It was when the young lady,barely more than a child, said, "Oh well, it's to be expected at your age." I had just turned 40...fücking 40. Since then, it's been downhill faster than Franz Klammer! ( Google him, kids)
Lol!! Anyone read the article? The subreddit is called Fvck I'm old but BP just renamed it to "heck"
What makes me feel old is watching the news. All the politicians look much too young to be allowed to run our country.
I’m in a rehab facility right now and an hour ago a girl came in to tell me that I was being moved to another room. NO!! I’m not moving and went on to tell her how jacked up this place is. Then I added that she must have drawn the short stick if she had to come in and tell me that. I know that she had no idea what the short stick comment meant! Damn do I miss being around people who get me!!!
You probably shouldn't blame Americans for posts that Bored Panda scrapes from other sites like Reddit.
Load More Replies...