memes @lemmy.world

1y ago

Why is this?

147 comments

More people using sunscreen and lotion on the regular prevents skin damage. More people are eating healthy, working less physically demanding jobs. Also there's a pretty huge bias with seeing pictures of older people and seeing them as older than they actually look. It has to do with seeing older styles of clothing and how people tend to keep their core styles longer. This makes people in the present see past photos as "older people" regardless of how young the faces look.
Also the microplastics are preserving us from the inside out. We're all deli-wrapped now.
- People also smoke way less now. See the skin of someone at 30 who started smoking at 15, to see someone who looks like 40.
  
  And everything around us smokes less too.
  In 1950 cars had basically no emission standards, factories didn't either, and a LOT of people heated their homes with coal or wood.
  
  Specifically, top panel man is smoking, bottom panel isn’t. That’s why they look like that. Mystery solved.
  
  It's very much the smoking. That V Sauce video about it being clothing wasn't convincing. Comparing just faces negates that possible perception issue. And when constrained to only faces people in the past still look older.
  
  I believe it. I was buying smokes without an ID by the time I was 17.
- Each cell wrapped for our protection.
- Also smoking was banned indoors
- Can't destroy my body and skin if I don't go outside.
- Tanning beds also used to be a HUGE thing. The people that really frequently went to get a tan have much more leathery skin.

- HRT really is incredible.
  
  Okay but it actually is. I look younger at 29 and on my 3rd year of HRT than I did when I was 24.

Sunscreen probably has something to do with it.
- And cigarettes. Plus personal grooming and style.
  
  No doubt on smoking. Plus people didn't even care about second hand smoke around kids until after the 80s.

Smoking
Smoking
Smoking
There are already a lot of good answers but I want to highlight this. Chronic tobacco smoke causes increased aging due to multiple mechanisms. Moreover, environmental tobacco exposure from second hand and third hand smoke prior to the 1990s was MASSIVE. So even if you didn’t smoke you got insane daily exposures to the same chemicals.
- This is also why gen z is looking so old vape.
  
  Nah, stop equating vaping to smoking, it’s a bad-faith argument compared to something we know it’s extremely toxic for a fact.
  Studies on vaping have been Inconsistent at best, popcorn lung was related to a flavoring that isn’t used at all now and was only limitedly used before.
  So like I get the easy joke, but it is misinformation at this point
  Edit: okay, guys stop assuming I’m talking about nicotine. I’m just talking about vaping (vaporizer) vs smoking (combustion). I’m also 31 years old and have never smoked or vaped nicotine myself, it’s not a personal habit of mine.
  
  Slightly educated guess medical opinion here?
  As far as risk is concerned:
  Smoke>>>vape>nothing.
  Vaping will definitely have adverse effects we start cataloging more in 10-30 years. My guess? Likely some form of lung disease (maybe more of a restrictive pattern due to the microparticles in vapes—I could see if being like silicosis or pneumoconioses) and some forms of cancer.
- No... I hate to tell you this but you are completely wrong. I smoked since i was 18 and even grew up with parents that smoked. I eventually stopped daily smoking when i was 25 years old. I only smoke every once in a while when i get together with my friends. About 2-3 packs a year now if we have to put a number on it.
  I am not even 40 yet and I TOTALLY HAVE HAIR, TRUE MAN I DO. I HAVE HAIR, AND LOTS OF IT. "I have the most hair anyone has ever seen" end sentence with index and thumbs together touch each hand in an 'okay sign' pointing at each other
  
  I mean you basically don’t smoke then. Most of the effects of smoking are based on pack-years, which is the number of years you’ve smoked a pack per day. So two packs a day for 10 years? 20 pack years.
  You have barely any pack years, and you stopped so young that the adverse effects are definitely reversed (10 years of cessation to reverse risk of lung CA/COPD).

Smoking.
- And alcohol.
  
  And lead exposure.

I don't see any links to Vsauce's video on this so I'm going to assume every response is wrong. TLDR: Styles become associated with eras and people in those eras become associated with our perception of that age bracket.
- Also, because of increased healthy lifestyle awareness, we are actually ageing slower than we used to. The clue is in the cigarette the top cartoon smokes. Today we smoke less, we exercise more, we use more sunscreen and we eat healthier, all allowing our bodies to produce more firm collagen in less damaged skin cells.
  
  This. Remember the cool kids from high school smoking, drinking, taking drugs? Yeah they look like 50 in their 30s now.
  
  yep! but the difference is only a couple of years in apparent age. so really, nope.
  
  exercise more
  X to doubt
  
  I saw something speculating that Americans still age faster than other countries due to all the hormones they consume in animal products.
- Appropriate username.
  Also with names. Like picture a Mildred or even a Vicky, and you probably conjure up a person of a certain demo
  
  "Agnes" is one hundred percent a fossil you saw driving on the highway.

Why is this?
Smoking.
- And not using sun block when working outside all day.
  
  I smoke and don't use sun screen and am 40 and look like exhibit b. Why can't I grow a fancy beard like jet and look like I've been around the block using just my face....
- I smoke, just turned 39, and people still regularly guess I'm in my early 20's. Frankly, I'm surprised we don't look older considering how much stress can cause visible aging. Where are the 13 year olds that look 102?
- Also being outside in the UV radiation of the sun ☀☢️

The micro plastics sustain me
- I put that shit on everything!
  
  I laughed way too hard at this. Thanks, I hate it.
- I crave the certainty of PLASTIC
  
  One day the crude biomass you call the temple will wither, and you will beg my kind to save you. But I am already saved, for the Plastic isn't biodegradable… Even in death I suffocate turtles.
  
  On Mondays we wear pink!

We're a lot sadder now, so we don't smile much. The lack of smiling saved us from face wrinkles which keeps us looking young.

Because we were 6 in the 80s.
- I have bad news. You're in your 40s.
  
  ...I'm aware

It is because when you look back to old pictures of people from when they were younger, the people in it have clothing styles and hairstyles that we today associate with older people.
Look up a video on YouTube from VSauce called "Did people used to look older?". They explain this phenomena well.
- That argument isn't convincing. Crop photos to compare people to negate the clothing perception. People in the past still look older after doing so.
  
  Film of the era also made people look older. Old film is sensitive to UV light, which exaggerates/makes visible "flaws" in skin you wouldn't see or notice otherwise.
  
  It's almost like you cropped out the other half of the argument
- Hey Michael
  
  Vsauce here
  
  Where are your fingers?

It’s because of the WEF using hormones to turn the frogs gay, obviously.
- But... I'm not a frog
  
  ...or are you?

For me it was the hormone therapy

Perspective. You were a kid in the 80s and they looked way old. Now you're in your 40s and those little whippersnappers look like the babies they are.
- Ignoring all of the improvements to health from the past 50 years, I see...

Lots of good answers here. Another minor one is Hollywood bias - older male actors got starring roles in romantic films. Random example, Cary Grant was 59 when he played the lead role in Charade opposite Audrey Hepburn who was 34.
Add to that the low quality of TV broadcasts, different styles of filing and lighting in movies, and less subtle use of makeup and people in film and TV from stuff from the 90s back have an other-world quality to them if you look back at that compared to the high definition world were in now. Even older magazines and pictures can be available at lower quality to us on the Internet than at the time, as we don't get to see the true originals but lower quality scans on the Internet compared to modern digital photographic.
It's amazing looking at old film from the 1800s that has been well kept or restored - not just people but the whole world actually looks real unlike what we're used to.
We're so used to looking at history in low definition or the artificiality of old fashioned TV/movie techniques and biases.
- Plus everything has filters on it now. Movies, online and magazine pictures, even the selfies you take at home have heavy anti-aging filters. After looking at all your selfies, go look at an actual mirror and you'll be surprised at how rapidly you aged.

I had that same beard, hairline, and sunglasses when I turned 30 in 2011
I still do now at 42 honestly, but my facial hair is just less pointy lol

Cowboy Bebop came out in 1998.
- What it was really like being 30 in the 80's:
  (It's a metaphor for being afraid of AIDS)
  
  Not enough giant nutsack
  
  Is it? My understanding is that Japan didn’t have a lot of awareness of the AIDS crisis (and still doesn’t really?)
  I thought the body horror was more associated with fears of scientific progress. I’ve only seen Akira once so I’d love to watch it again in light of other interpretations.
  
  (It’s a metaphor for being afraid of AIDS)
  Is that really what Akira was about? Or is that just some overzealous weeaboo grad student's opinion?
- Neon Genesis Evangelion came out in 1995.
  
  Shinji's fifteen or something, no?

We've finally reached the next stage of evolution

Give me 30 year old Jet any day. Dude is the perfect ship mom/dad combo rocking a bald and beard.

People are aging more slowly than in the past, we have better information on how to take care of ourselves. But there is wide variation when you get older. I will say though, that I still feel really good in my mid 50s, nothing hurts, I am still strong and healthy and think that would have been less usual even just 20 years ago.

The curse of Eva. Duh.

Sunglasses skyrocketed in price while shavers are cheaper than ever before. That's why inflation is a bullshit concept. Price rises in some areas and goes down in others independently
- Sunglasses are stupid expensive because the Italian company Luxottica owns just about every major brand as well as the stores they're sold in, and jacks the prices through the roof because they e essentially bought up all the competition. Name brand sunglasses are a fucking scam.
  
  You know I was joking, right? I have no idea about any of these prices. Only the last sentence was only half joking because inflation doesn't differentiate between cost of living and luxury products so inflation doesn't have to do with working people's everyday lifes
- That's why the basket of goods for inflation changes.
  It's very hard, but useful, metric.
  I got my sunglasses from amazon for like a hours wage. Polarised, 100% UV protection (I even got them independently checked), they lasted like 4 years so far.
  People are stupid when they buy glasses.

in the '80s*

The need to use animated characters probably explains it and that is, it is really not true.

Wokeness? /s (in case)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjqt8T3tJIE

Masculinity no longer has any acceptable outlets.

Lower testosterone is probably a big part of it. Look at 23 or 24 year old enhanced bodybuilders. they look like theyre 35. For whatever reason peoples T levels have been going down about 1 percent per year for the last 50 years. Its bound to have an effect.
- How much testosterone you have is not directly related to how 'masculine' you look. It's far more complicated than that. There are people with baby face that have very high levels of testosterone, and people who look very masc that have low levels.
  
  Source?
  
  thats dumb it literally changes your bone structure rapidly, adding bone to your brow and jaw. GH will cause all your bones to get thicker too.
  I wasnt talking about masculinity, i was talking about apparent age. Test converts to DHT over time which in turn causes male hair patterns. Beard growth, receeded hair line, etc. Other than that though, it just makes you look older.
  examples :
  sam sulek before/after 3 years of roids
  natural example : eddie hall looking like hes 25 at 16
- This is nonsense

Omnivores vs plant based eaters
- You know damn well they couldn't afford beef...it was always bell peppers and beef...minus the beef.
- My mans clearly never seen the show lol
- U mean based plant eaters?? 🫡

In seriousness? Likely testosterone levels going down. Due to life style changes and chemical exposures.
- This is a serious response? Lol
  
  I think testosterone levels in cis men actually have been decreasing on average. I don't know how testosterone affects the aging process, so I can't speak on if the other person is being reasonable, though.
  Also, last I checked the reason was still a mystery.
  
  When me and my friends were in our final years of highschool, we noticed how all the younger kids looked like elementary kids, and we looked younger than the older kids when they were our age then.
  There are a few studies showing that there's correlations between testosterone and, well looking older, so that's been my guess for a while now.

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