Isn't 35 a bit young to be considered "middle aged" ?

Post Reply New Topic

Despite the world wide average life expectancy being around 70 years of age, I have a hard time with anyone in their 30s being considered "middle aged". Even today, as people are more youthful than previous generations, we still use 35 years old as the demarcation line for the end of youth. People talk still about being "over 35" etc. Is this still like 1972? I see many problems with this. There is a social and societal perception of middle aged- as being the point in life where you're preparing for "getting old". When your body starts declining and you have less energy and don't get the latest technology or start needing bifocals or all of those connotations. That does not seem like a typical person in their 30s or 40s. It seems as though to me- that the natural adjustment of mid life is some time in a person's 5th decade. I see so many people in their 40s that still do not strike me as not being young or youthful. I hate to use the term "social construct"- as that seems to the buzz words used by liberals, but for once, that seems to definitely apply here. Does anyone else think so?

i don't know, have never put any thought to it. the line might depend on the person more than a specific age.
did you just turn 35? lol

I once heard some teenagers say that 25 is 'middle-aged'.

It's very rare for a 35-year-old to be considered "middle-aged."

I'm 56, and I'm just starting to be "middle-aged," in my opinion.

Most people would find it absurd for somebody in their 20's or 30's to refer to themselves as "middle-aged." They would think there's a screw loose somewhere.

According to some of the age jokes I've read, I should be huddled in a rocking chair right now while my whole body wastes away. And I'm like, give me a break!

But since all people on the spectrum supposedly don't live past 50, then I guess we are middle-aged at 25.

^^ Oh, how I hate that jingle! Especially when they stopped using the lyrics and put those god-awful crunching effects in place. It's like the idiots who make commercials want to MAKE people on the spectrum miserable with their constant shouting and noise. But this is off-topic.

I thought 50 was middle age?

I'm 42 and I don't even feel middle aged. Maybe it's because I'm not ready to be a mature adult. I still want to keep young and have fun.

would the onset of middle age in women line up with the onset of menopause?

i like to think that they share a line...but what do i know.

From what I've gathered, the term "middle aged" was never intended to mean literally the middle age of an average life expectancy (such as half of 70, for example) -- but instead it's apparently supposed to refer to stages of life, also because it isn't just one year of life but an entire period lasting years and years.

Thus it ought to more accurately be named "middle stage." It's meant to refer to the section of life that is no longer youth or the young years, but not yet elderly and the end stage of life.

Merriam Webster defines it as between the ages of around 45 to 64. Most definitions similarly place it as starting in the mid 40s also.

So it's said to last until about retirement age, yet 64 is half of a lifespan of 128! So clearly it's not about literally the middle age of your lifespan, but about a phase, a stage that lasts for a whole period of time.

Years ago I was only 31 when a 21 year old friend of mine called me "middle aged"! ! I exclaimed that 31 is NOT middle aged! He replied that he figured he was going to live no longer than 60 so in his mind I was middle aged at 31.

I told him that's not the definition of middle aged. . .

Three or four decades ago it was fairly common to hear people talking about middle age as beginning in one's mid-thirties. But now that 'fifty is the new forty' or whatever, I suppose the whole timeframe has been pushed back by ten years or so.

I always thought middle aged was 50s-60s. Kind of surprised to hear 30s mentioned at all, actually. Seems to be a recent development for me.