"I'm old" - I bet you aren't

[AndreaMarvell]

So many times I see people write this, and I bet that they are no more than 65.

This is entirely subjective on my part, but I also think that there are two specific markers right now that separate the young from the not-quite-so-young: having already been well into your adulthood before the year started with a 2; and having grown up before the Internet.

Explaining to an incredulous teenager now about clipping order forms out of magazines to send off with a cheque to buy the few things that happened to be highlighted by the sellers, by mail (allow 28 days for delivery); and just the concept that there were so very many things that you just didn't know and had no practical way of ever finding out (not to mention that, if you missed a TV programme when it was broadcast, you would probably never be able to see it again)... just makes you feel like you're 1,000 years old to them!

I did chuckle at the post on TwiX whereby a university lecturer (not even a primary teacher) was dumbfounded at being asked if the student could cite a report 'from the 1900s' - and it was actually from 1994, which was obviously only a few months ago

My MIL was officially referred to as an 'elderly mother' when she was pregnant at 28!!

ARGH!

But 65 IS old… it’s retirement age. Aka technically OAPs. How else do you define old?

As pp said "old" is someone 20 years ahead of you in the age stakes!

At 68, I honestly don't feel any different to twenty years ago. However, my intolerance levels have risen sky high, and I don't suffer crap as much anymore. I can get away with having a rant these days - "she's getting on a bit, let her be, ha ha".

I'm always given a seat on the bus/tram/train now. The first time that happened was the day I realised L'Oreal Age Perfect wasn't working for me anymore, so I lean into it now and take everything I'm given, Senior reduction, tick, seat on the bus, tick, free travel, tick and so on.

I was out yesterday with my in laws (they're nice) and my brother in law is 92. He is unreal, fabulous skin (unlike mine), no aches, pains, arthritis or any other illness, and he sea swims every second morning at 7 am. I am in awe of him.

65 is old though? You can’t have a state pension and a free bus pass and insist you’re not old!

It won't be when they raise the pension age to 90.

I'm in my 60s and know that I'm not as young as I was, except when Jump Around comes on the radio and then I'm 20.

Lots of people are still working full time at 65 and retirement age is rising to 67.

Being old is s good thing isn't it? Better than not getting old.

It's better than people aged 70+ insisting they aren't old. Though I haven't encountered much of that recently.

I saw Meghan Markle described as a 'young' woman (it might have been on MN) and I thought, she's 44! She's practically middle-aged.

I'm 60 so I'm old.

On mumsnet though "old" means "horrible piece of shit" for some reason.

I suspect some insisting that 65 is old will change their minds when they turn 65.

Nope, it's 67. Or will be very, very soon.

You can't have a state pension or a bus pass at 65.

I'm a youngster at 56, doing a very active job, on my feet all day. Age is just a number and doesn't define anyone or tell you anything other than how many years they have lived.

I don't feel any older than I did at 30 but I'm probably more active. I have more patience, no fucks left to give but that seems to enable me to let things go when they don't really matter. I'm less stressed (despite a young teen to raise), no health issues and yes I will go out clubbing and dance the night away because I'm past caring what anyone thinks of me so I'll have fun.

0-18 child
18-40 adult
40-60 middle aged
60-80 old (I mean that in a good way, not in the mumsnet way)
80+ elderly

Why do you care? Are we gatekeeping when people are allowed to feel old now?

Kindly, I am 65 and my retirement age is about 66.5. Those born a few months after me will retire at 67 and those born from 1970 something will not be able to retire until they are 68.

Age is a state of mind as much as a state of body/health. I am older than someone who is 55 in chronological terms. I am not necessarily older than them in health and outlook terms.

Still working by the way, in a complex professional role - and listening to the 30 somethings who arrive after me and leave before me complaining that they are tired.

Yep - no state pension until Im 67 - 61 now and 6 years seems like a long time 🤪

My definition of "old" has changed as the years have passed.

When I was 12, I thought people in their 50s were old. At 40, I deemed anyone who was over 65 was old. Now that I'm in my late 60s, I don't think of myself as old, though! It's all relative, as far as I am concerned.

I have friends who are in their early 80s and, curiously, I don't think of them as old either. Yet, 20-odd years ago, when my parents and in-laws had their 80th birthdays, I thought they were very old.

I think, in truth, that old age begins at the point when decrepitude sets in, ie when chronic disease and various health issues start to impact your mobility and prevent you from doing the things you'd like to do.

My view has always been that you are not 'old' (in a healthy-bodied, non-disabled person) until you can't stand up straight and you start hunching over. That's always how I measure it.

Another wave from the oldies bench: I've just turned 73 but since I had my hip replaced, I don't feel much different to when I was mid 50s - though I am less tolerant of ignorance, arrogance and stupidity.

I don't understand people saying that you can't be old if you're still working/not yet eligible for your state pension.

Plenty of old people are still working and not on pensions yet - that's just how it is. The one doesn't automatically preclude the other. Everybody who qualifies for a state pension is old; but not everybody who is old qualifies for a state pension.

That amazing chap who ran the London Marathon in his 80s - and did quite respectably for a time even when compared with much younger participants - was clearly extremely fit, healthy, energetic and full of determination; but he was still old nevertheless.