Do people think you're younger than you are?

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I'm going to be 30 soon but I still regularly encounter people who assume I'm a teenager. This is partly because of how I look, and I think partly because of how I talk and act (not on purpose, I just didn't change very much as I got older).

I think that I'm actually very lucky that people see me this way, because it makes people more patient/kinder towards me.

I worry that once I start getting wrinkles and look my age, people will be less forgiving of my "eccentricities" or my difficulty doing certain things because it won't seem "cute" anymore.

Does anyone else have this experience? Do you see it as a good thing or a bad thing? And if you're an older person, how did people's behaviour toward you change when you became noticeabley older?

Yes, my personality is much like a teenager even though I'm in my 50s.

My diagnostic doctor said I didn't pass age 14 in terms of social-emotional functioning, but sometimes I'm even younger because of trauma.

I look younger in terms of my clothes, my hair, and my demeanour. My face looks a little younger too.

As I've grown older it's actually harder, because the disconnect is more pronounced. My neighbour actually came over one day to tell me my hair was too long for my age. When I used to work I was told to dress like an adult and not a teenager. People stare at me sometimes even if I drive with loud music or if I act enthusiastically in public.

People think I'm 18 or in my late teens. I'm almost 30.

Yeah. I get that sort of thing. Even after I stopped dying my hair blue/green/purple (it's naturally mostly grey) people now assume I dye it this color to be 'edgy'. At least I don't get carded anymore, so there's that.

Typically. I've been carded while buying liquor in the past year...

...by someone I went to high school with.

I just noticed everyone in this thread so far is non-binary. That's really interesting, I wonder if it's related to perceived age somehow

(Also, it's nice to see so many fellow nbs!)

Yes. All the time.

Yes, I attribute it to oily skin running on one side of the family. My grandfather looked 20 years younger than he was until he was in ill health at the very end of his life.

People definitely do, but now that I seem to finally be going a bit grey, that may change. But given how quickly it's happening, it may not take. I've started going grey a couple times before the hairs regained their pigment.

Most of the things about me are a bit behind.

Yup, even at 65 people think I am younger.

I tend to cause a lot of confusion.

Having a baby face whilst being fairly tall for a woman is an interesting experience. People tend to take a really long time deciding whether to ask for my ID or not. Some take one glance and don't ask, others stand there with the most puzzled expression.

I have been told that I have a mature voice. People seem to do a double take when they hear me speak. Some people think that I'm older than I am. Most people guess younger. Typically guesses fall into the 18 to mid 20's range. Nothing too far off.

The pattern throughout my life has been that I have looked consistently three years younger than my age. Which was unfortunate at 18, but it's not too bad now that I'm almost 24. At least I look like I'm in my 20's now. I definitely didn't look like an adult at 18.

Yes, all my adult life, people have thought I was 8 to 10 years younger. Annoying at 30, but not so bad at my age now.

Yes, people often think i am in my early 20s

That was true until 8 years ago when I had when I was hit stroke and cancer.

In this thread people are acting like that is a bad thing. Sure it has its bad sides getting carded at age 30 was annoying but paying children's prices at 18 years old was cool.

Since my 30s people have taken me to be up to 10 years younger.
In my 40s it was not odd to be assumed up to 15 years younger.
But at beginning of 50s my reddish hair and goatee slowly deepened to almost a charcoal color and some grey appeared.
Still haven't got many wrinkles in my face.
But I mostly worked indoors.
And have no children.

In all of that there is only one incident of significance I remember.
Had popped in to a health insurer's office while I was out doing errands to leave a message and since the receptionist described me as something like 15 years younger than I am the person I left the message for couldn't figure out who it was that left the message, which it turned out I had signed with just my given name.

I'm 32, but many have said that I look like someone in his late teens or early 20s.