And by "old", I mean you reach a point where you can no longer socialize with college-aged people or early twenties grads and feel like you're one of them.  I mean, a 26 year old can go to a college party or bar and fit right in.  A 30 year old might be able to pull it off, but it depends on the person and their mindset.  A 35 year old?  If at 35 they are still hanging with and acting like college students and young twenties professionals, they seem like somebody sad and desperate to hang onto their youth.  I know at 30, I could go to a bar with mostly young professionals and still fit right in.  I go in the same bar now at 33 and everybody seems so young.  For a lot of people this transition happens when they get married and it just so happens most people get married during the second half of their twenties or very early thirties.  But with Millennials waiting longer to get married I wonder how it will effect this life transition.  I know for me, 2018 is the first year that I really feel a lot of distance from people in their early mid twenties.  So what are your thoughts?  When do you think people become old?  At what age can people no longer fit in with college-aged and early twentysomethings?

I see myself becoming one of those people desperate to hang onto their youth.  2018 is the first year I'm really starting to feel a distance from my college years and young professional years.  I really felt the change begin in January 2017 when Obama was no longer President and the rest of 2017, for me, was very much a journey out of that world.  2018 basically feels like an epilogue.

And by "old", I mean you reach a point where you can no longer socialize with college-aged people or early twenties grads and feel like you're one of them.  I mean, a 26 year old can go to a college party or bar and fit right in.  A 30 year old might be able to pull it off, but it depends on the person and their mindset.  A 35 year old?  If at 35 they are still hanging with and acting like college students and young twenties professionals, they seem like somebody sad and desperate to hang onto their youth.  I know at 30, I could go to a bar with mostly young professionals and still fit right in.  I go in the same bar now at 33 and everybody seems so young.  For a lot of people this transition happens when they get married and it just so happens most people get married during the second half of their twenties or very early thirties.  But with Millennials waiting longer to get married I wonder how it will effect this life transition.  I know for me, 2018 is the first year that I really feel a lot of distance from people in their early mid twenties.  So what are your thoughts?  When do you think people become old?  At what age can people no longer fit in with college-aged and early twentysomethings?

I see myself becoming one of those people desperate to hang onto their youth.  2018 is the first year I'm really starting to feel a distance from my college years and young professional years.  I really felt the change begin in January 2017 when Obama was no longer President and the rest of 2017, for me, was very much a journey out of that world.  2018 basically feels like an epilogue.


Having travelled through the journey of life, I have always considered "old" to be 80 and plus of that.

Somewhere around 23-25 according to this forum.

Somewhere around 23-25 according to this forum.
Therefore, what does it make me?

Somewhere around 23-25 according to this forum.


I was still in college then (it took me 8 years to get my 4-year degree)  :-[

Somewhere around 23-25 according to this forum.
Onoo, then the 2020s definitely don't need to start for me ;D

I don't think you mean old you just mean being an adult

I don't think you mean old you just mean being an adult


Well a 25 year old is an adult but I wouldn't consider them old.  I guess at what age are people expected to be "settled down" at would be a better way to phrase it.

Perhaps around 50. Most people live upto about 80 years of age, so once you hit the big five-oh, you're essentially at the last third of your life. Even if one is extrememly healthy & potentially lives upto 90 or 100 (God willing), 50 is still the start of 'feeling old' because of the societal views on people in their 50s in general. People typically start having back problems & other serious health related issues during these years. Most people begin to retire, or at the very least are not in much of an active role in management & or the careers as before. Social security benefits start to trickle in one's 50s. Among other things. So I'd say 50.

Somewhere around 23-25 according to this forum.


Ironically, that is still in a way before the peak of one's life.

I think it has a lot to do with state of mind/self-perception.  I am nearly fifty but I am often still surprised when I hear young mums tell their children to 'mind the lady' and realise it's me they're talking about. I still go out to the pub with friends, and we're often the last ones in there (and this is a university town). I have two children (one is at uni, one in his mid-teens) and I can talk to their friends on an even footing (at least I don't think they're just humouring me).

At what age should someone settle down? Somewhere between their mid-twenties and early thirties depending on uni and early career moves I think.

Therefore, what does it make me?


It's binary. You're either old or not old. After around 23 you are old and no longer relevant, because pop music is not targetted at you anymore.

(Just kidding :P)


I was still in college then (it took me 8 years to get my 4-year degree)  :-[


It took me a while too (6 years).  :-X 

But I wasn't using university as a benchmark. I remember in another thread, I said undercuts are still a popular hairstyle where I live, and a user replied that you don't see young people sporting them anymore, only older people, which I took as an implication that I wasn't young (according to him). I'm still 25. :o

I don't know. Most of the time I don't 'feel' old, I can remember at 15 thinking 30 was old and here I am rounding the bases to 50 in a couple of years and although I have aches, and I cannot do some of the things that I did when I was younger, I don't feel 'old'. Lately, a few things that some teenage folks have said or did make me feel that way though, and I realize that I was raised in a different time period. It's the little things- they sneak up on you and hit you on the back of the head with the ' you're old' stick.  ;D

And by "old", I mean you reach a point where you can no longer socialize with college-aged people or early twenties grads and feel like you're one of them.  I mean, a 26 year old can go to a college party or bar and fit right in.  A 30 year old might be able to pull it off, but it depends on the person and their mindset.  A 35 year old?  If at 35 they are still hanging with and acting like college students and young twenties professionals, they seem like somebody sad and desperate to hang onto their youth.  I know at 30, I could go to a bar with mostly young professionals and still fit right in.  I go in the same bar now at 33 and everybody seems so young.  For a lot of people this transition happens when they get married and it just so happens most people get married during the second half of their twenties or very early thirties.  But with Millennials waiting longer to get married I wonder how it will effect this life transition.  I know for me, 2018 is the first year that I really feel a lot of distance from people in their early mid twenties.  So what are your thoughts?  When do you think people become old?  At what age can people no longer fit in with college-aged and early twentysomethings?

I see myself becoming one of those people desperate to hang onto their youth.  2018 is the first year I'm really starting to feel a distance from my college years and young professional years.  I really felt the change begin in January 2017 when Obama was no longer President and the rest of 2017, for me, was very much a journey out of that world.  2018 basically feels like an epilogue.


I'd say what you've experienced is perhaps the end of being "young", but just moving into "middle age", and I felt something similar happen over the past year or so as I'm the same age as you. I've noticed the first gray hairs and whiskers, and also find that what's in "style" is now being targeted for Gen Z as opposed to Millennials. 

Now the transition from just middle age to truly "old" happens sometime in your 50s or early 60s, when you start to really notice things like physical mobility, retirement being imminent, people your age becoming grandparents, your favorite toys as a kid now appearing in museums, technology that feels "funny" to the point that you don't care, news of school mates passing on due to natural death, your body feeling stiff like it's never been, knowing that you're truly over the hill, thinking about will planning, and knowing that you shouldn't "fear the reaper".

That said, there's always a network of people if you look out there that share you're interests, and until the final breath, it's never too late to explore new things.

I'd say what you've experienced is perhaps the end of being "young", but just moving into "middle age", and I felt something similar happen over the past year or so as I'm the same age as you. I've noticed the first gray hairs and whiskers, and also find that what's in "style" is now being targeted for Gen Z as opposed to Millennials. 


I agree with this.  I find myself getting more and more out of touch with what is in style, though I am typically more current than most people my age.  Another thing that really highlights this point is nightlife.  In my twenties it was easy to just walk on the dance floor at a night club and find people to dance with.  I was always a pretty attractive guy so it was never something that I really struggled with.  At 30 I could still pull it off.  At 33, I find that to be a bit more difficult.

Maybe you really do get old at 30 like everyone always said.

It depends on what merrit. For sports it's usually around 35 when start to be considered too old, for hip-hop it's around age 40, for copreate America around age 50.  This thread reminds me of the 20's thread millenium started a few weeks back. In the southeast you're expected to settle down around 25 since cost of living is cheaper and people have children earlier.

for me the answer is never

It depends. At 31 I think 40 is still young but it’s not like 20 kind of young, but 40 is so much younger than 60. Then again 60 is so much younger than 80 too and even 80 is so much younger than 100. Tbh there is no set age. But I would say you probably do just begin to get older after 30. Before 30 you’re just growing up but after that you do little by little get older but there’s really no set age when you’re “old” except dead.

If we're talking about college students, in other words when you're too old to be "youthful", I would say around your late 20's to be honest, definitely by the time you hit 30 for sure. Anyways, this topic doesn't really matter to me. My youngest sister is 10, so if I'm able to have a sibling who's 12 years apart from me, then I can look at people around the age of 28-32 as influencers around my generation, or who I look up to as my leaders.

I think you can break up a lifetime into 16 year intervals. Like you’re more of a kid until 16, then young adult until 32, middle aged until 48, older adult until 64, and senior until 80. Then you’re just advanced old.  ;D

When I was young  I certainly thought that 40 and 50-year olds were old.
Now I'm 64 and I don't feel old yet .

I'm closing in on 50 years old and I'm still in my prime.