What age is considered old by societys standards?

Question

40 years old is "old" for societys standards such as getting into the military, starting a career, graduating from college, getting married, and starting a family. Not to say you cant do these things at 40. I just think society thinks you are too old to START at 40. what do you think? Or is it 30?

Answer 1

It depends what you're looking at - for the things you mentioned you're probably right about 40. But I think for a majority of things you probably are old old when you hit 60. The increase of longevity these days means that old is older than ever. Although if you're talking which age is past prime - it could very well be 30. Everything in society is aimed to the current generation - 18 to the late 20's.

Answer 2

What Age Is Considered Old

Answer 3

I think when you hit 40 more or less, (over the hill) however, with so much emphasis being placed on outer beauty and developments on surgeries and constantly coming up with tricks to look and feeling younger, it will soon be a thing of the past. Think about it, you see people out there and at least where I live I have 2 friends that got face plastic surgery and many people I know are getting different things done, this has helped them tremendously and yes they don't look the same, it's getting harder to know how old a person is. I think age is just a number and you can do anything you want if you set your mind to it, no matter what age. I personally don't think society really cares, we are all heading there.

Answer 4

The age that is considered "old" is typically 10 to 15 years older than the person making the determination. In other words, if you are 40, then 55 is old. If you are 55 then 70 is old. If the population demographics are made up of a majority of 30 year olds then 45 will be considered the beginning of old age. If society is made up of a majority of 50 year olds, then 65 or 70 will be the beginning of old age.

Answer 5

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What age is considered old by societys standards?
40 years old is "old" for societys standards such as getting into the military, starting a career, graduating from college, getting married, and starting a family. Not to say you cant do these things at 40. I just think society thinks you are too old to START at 40. what do you think? Or...

Answer 6

Age and becoming older is all done in perspective. When I was 16, those that were 30 I considered a long way off, thereby being old. As I reached the age of 30, I was married and my third child was born. My father was 39 when I was born, he died when I was 18. I loved and respected my father during the short time I knew him, but feel shorted because as a boy, we and a group of neighbors would gather on Sunday afternoon to play baseball. It was then that I realized my dad was actually old enough to be the father of my friends fathers. So when he passed away due to disease at 55, I felt cheated because now looking back I wish I could have known my dad as an adult, hang out, have a beer, scream at the TV during a game, maybe even talk girls (respecting mom of course). But I in no way blame my dad, he fought hard to stay alive. This is why when I got married, my wife being an only child, I told her we can have as many children as she wants, just so long that she understands I am done at 30. I want my kids to know their dad, something I missed.
That being said, now that I will turn 60 in just a few months, I have friends that are 70. I feel like I can still do most of what I did in my 30's. I still own a dirt-bike, although I did recently break a leg on that dirt-bike and now my now grown children (3 girls) and my wife are making it perfectly clear the Dirt-Bike has got to go. So I guess now, at a rapidly approaching 60 years of age, I am ready to give in and say "OK, I'm reluctantly getting old".
When I was forty, what I call the medium age, I had friends that were 22 and 60. Mostly explained probably because I worked for a very large corporation that had thousands of employees of all walks of life and ages. Still being friends with several of those younger folks that are now at the age 40 that I was when we first met and unfortunately, one of those that were 60 then and a very good lifelong friend recently passed away, which also helps me realize how fast those years have gone by and I too will wake up in not too many years from now at that age when death will be knocking at my door and those younger guys will be turning 60 like I am now.
My summary: We all get old and we will all die at some point. But until that time, enjoy the friends and relationships you have, regardless of their age or yours. Remember when you were 10, the kid that was 16 was a lot older than you? Age you progress in years, that age difference will mean less and any interest you share or shared, your beliefs and character, integrity and everything that defines who you really are will stay the same until the day you die. And those friends that have stuck with you all those years, regardless of years different in your ages, should be cherished until that end day of your life. Because really, age doesn't matter. Maybe you can't or shouldn't ride that dirt-bike or play that game of football, but you can still watch and enjoy watching and conversing with your younger friends that still do. Because time WILL fly by where they too will face the very dilemma we all will face. Remember to have fun, enjoy your life, enjoy your friends and relationships, take an occasional risk otherwise you'll regret that you didn't one day.
As for me, I turn 60 soon, yes I am getting older, I'll always remember those friends both younger & older than I and the great times we've shared. And I plan on still doing the fun things I've always enjoyed to the best of my ability, at least until I break something that leaves me laid up in a cast, cause it is true, the older you get, the longer it takes to heal and for me, four hours of fun riding off-road on a dirt-bike is not worth the 3 months waiting for my fibula to heal having to use crutches to get around, that sucks!!

Answer 7

Professionally many companies consider 35 and up to be too old for many positions. In fact, a pretty well known company in the valley had a strict "insider" policy of not hiring programmers above the age of 25. Still to this day, their CEO is well known for making statements publicly about how they avoid hiring "old" tech's and engineers. In fact, the tech industry is notorious in general for being an extremely ageist industry. Other industries can be just as bad. I worked for a medical company that refused to hire anyone over 50, overweight, or deemed "unattractive". The company was run by serious health freaks and at one point.

Answer 8

What Age Is Old

Answer 9

Say what? YOU think 40 is "Old" by today's standards?

I wish you could see the class makeup in the local college where I live (and I, like my fellow Retirees, are also Retired from the Military) -- the average age at the college right now is 36, and there are plenty of classes where there are about half retirees (who want to stay active and have fun) and half traditional college students.

So ... although I've already retired, raised my children (as a long term single parent), and already had my Degrees (UGrad and Grad) -- yes, I AM going back to College (like other retirees) -- this time for FUN and to stay Active (Mind and Body), and to learn skills from courses that just were not there when we were originally going through our degree programs -- things like WebDesign, Website Development, Digital Photography, and other courses as well.

Answer 10

Depends on the average life span of the society and country. I would say those in the approximately the top 20% of age in a society & country are old.