To wonder why up to 35 is now considered young

Aibu to wonder why this is when it used to be 25 maximum that was viewed as a young person

When was that and who says? Load of bollocks. 26 was never an old person, was it? Or middle aged, or elderly.

I am 76 and ‘old’ has now moved to 80+. It used to be 75!

"Biologically we're not young at 35."

That's been exaggerated by the media a lot. natural-fertility-info.com/natural-conception-pregnancy-over-35.html

You still have so much to live for and achieve at 35. I don't know why anyone would want to make out your halfway to the grave at that point. I know many people living active, fulfilling lives into their 70s. The average life expectancy is in the 80s nowadays.

If average life expectancy is 81, half way through is 40 then 35 is definitely middle aged. It’s a bitter pill to swallow when you realise you’re not ‘young’ anymore as most of us feel no different!

I was surprised when the press and Royal Family kept referring to Harry and Meghan as a "young couple." She's 38 and he's mid thirties, not young. Diana was young when she married, as was the Queen. Perhaps it's because in the SE it takes that long now to get enough of an established career and money to get on the property ladder.

My old friends where I grew up and lived in London have noticed a trend for blokes in their 40's with a younger partner (mid 30's) buying in the area when they are about to have their first baby.

I’m in my 40s and think I’d feel a lot older if I’d been able to complete some of the milestones that I thought would have happened by now. I still feel young because I haven’t had those opportunities yet. For example I’ve never had love, which is usually presented as something people find in their 20s. I’ve never had a proper career which is also something you’re supposed to get in your 20s. I was in my 30s before I could afford my first car and nearly 40 before I could afford a house. Maybe I’d feel more mature if I’d been able to afford a car, house and baby 20 years ago instead of 2 years ago.

Its not just "young" people delaying the on set of further ageing.

Older people are too - either not retiring or semi retiring, once upon a time 65 would have been ancient, now people in their 70s are hitting the gym and wearing trainers with suits and stuff

Age brackets are being blurred and I think it's good

I think it's one of those things where columnists and TV presenters are going into the next stage of their lives (see Caitlin Moran inventing the menopause, for eg) and writing about it as though it is New! and Startling! and so they are now the other side of 35 (some by a very long way) and looking at younger people thinking of them as "young". (Harry and William being good examples)

Look at all the things about parenthood that crop up every time a celeb has a baby? as though nobody had gone through that experience before.

Slightly off-topic, but William and Harry are both older now than Diana was when she died.

I'm in my late 30's and still very much consider myself in the young category!

Some people are accused of never having grown up, though - society does judge childhood, being young, being middle aged, and being old by what the majority are expected to have done by a particular stage of life, whether people who do not fit that mould like it or not! Only scientists judge youth in terms of reaching physical and mental peaks.

I am childfree so I must be a young 52 then or not grown-up.

But then they say "having children keeps you young" so I don't know

I'm 38 and I'd say I'm middle aged - middle aged is probably 35-59 in my understanding (and "young" definitely doesn't go above 25, maybe 18-24 is "young adult" before 25-34 is just "adult").
But "being middle aged" doesn't mean there's anything I can't do or am not allowed to do because of it...so it isn't a cause of any stress.

People use "young" and "old" often quite relative to their own age. When you're a teenager or child a 35-year-old is a proper adult and an old person but then when you're 35 you'll have 50/60-year-olds call you young.

Also in organisations like the conservative party, they allow people in the 'young conservatives' if you're under 40, whereas other political organisations like greens etc cut off is at 30, likely because conservatism is more common to older people. So in some ways, it's relative to what you're talking about.

I think 35 is pretty young. I'm only just starting to feel not quite young anymore and I'm nearly 20 years older than that. I think you'd have to be in primary school to consider 35 middle aged. Middle aged means in the middle of your adult years, surely? i.e. 50something if we say life expectancy is 80something.

Who cares anyway? There was a thread the other week about things that are really weird when you think about them, and for me the fact that we constantly tally up the amount of time we've been alive and consider it important is definitely one.

And, of course, some people are described as “old before their time.”

Harry and Meghan are still referred to as a "young couple" just starting out. They're 36 and 39.

If life expectancy is 82 then 41 is middle age for I'd say 36 is early middle age to 46 is laten middle age. Anything before 36 is young and after 47 is old. Sorted.