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Izzy_Dolphin
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Joined: 3 Jun 2009
Age: 35
Gender: Female
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07 Jun 2009, 11:13 pm

Often people who meet me online or in a professional setting think that I am far older than I acutally am, but when I meet people who are more my age socially, they all think I'm much younger. Mostly case in point is that I'm a moderator (for almost 3 years) on a marine biology forum, and everyone thinks I already have a B.S. and am working on (or even have) my PhD. Up until this year, I was a high school student (I just finished my first year of college), and have always been very up front and honest about my age. (Often when I am, it sparks pages of discussion that say "Wait, Izzy's only in high school? I thought you were already a PhD). And when I meet people who are all older than me, they tend to treat me like an adult. But when I'm around people who are "my age", like, college/high school (16-24ish, I'm 19) they all think I'm much younger. Is this something anyone else has experienced/is experiencing??


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~Izzy


Ebonwinter
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Joined: 25 Apr 2009
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07 Jun 2009, 11:50 pm

same happens here even through ventrilo I'm very low picthed and oddly I people who talk to me say my voice some how is
cold so I know how you feel plus I've studied some marine biology one of my since childhood obsessions



Hovis
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08 Jun 2009, 3:51 pm

I think one of the reasons may be because, due to our interests and the way we like to collect and analyze information, a more formal or impersonal setting that may consist largely of exchanging information may make us 'look good'/seem older when we can provide more information than many other people of the same age would be able to. However, when social skills are what is called for, we seem younger because we lack in this area and so don't have the abilities that most of our age would have been expected to develop.

I have experienced the same thing. An online friend of the same age thought I was 15-20 years older than her because I seemed, "so much more mature." But when I was doing some temporary work alongside younger people a few years ago, they were astonished to find out I was as old as I was (31 at the time).