Is it weird I don't typically answer how old I am anymore, because literally nobody besides my family believes me?

Submitted ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Talonflame@lemmy.cafe⁩ to ⁨nostupidquestions@lemmy.world⁩

I’m 29 but I get told I look 18-19. And the people who tell me this regularly see a lot of people on the daily, from police officers to nurses to salon workers. When I tell them my actual age they literally gasp or laugh at me. The older I get, the more pronounced their reaction is. Doctors were saying “you definitely have something wrong, I can tell just by looking at you” but then the hormonal results all came back normal and they just shrugged. Another weird thing is anti-loitering devices hurt my ears, and those aren’t supposed to affect people older than 20.

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Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I have the same problem with being handsome. I’m just really really good lookin. Nobody believes it. When I met people and tell them I’m really good looking, they’re like no way. My doctor wouldn’t send me for tests but was shocked.

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BombOmOm@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Please go submit yourself to the agency for anti-aging research. The world needs you!

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VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

Another weird thing is anti-loitering devices hurt my ears, and those aren’t supposed to affect people older than 20.

That assumes that your hearing is damaged at the average rate. Don’t blast your music or TV and wear hearing protection when using a lawnmower or other loud device and you can keep hearing those high pitched sounds into your thirties.

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- EdanGrey@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I’m almost 40 and can still hear those damn things.
  
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  - Panda@lemmy.today ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Yeah I’m 36 and can hear them as well. They’re so annoying and give me a headache. :-/
    
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  - Siethron@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    34 here and have occasionally felt the need to punch random people who are experimenting with those in public because they can’t hear it.
    
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- aceshigh@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I didn’t realize anti loitering devices were a thing. What part of the world are they used?
  
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  - trolololol@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I’m going to guess somewhere people think they’re free or something silly like that
    
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- grissino@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I remember, in my teens, being able to hear CRT screens when they were on (without of course seeing the screen), sometimes even from the adjoining room. But I haven’t had the chance to be next to one in almost 20 years so I can’t know if I still have this ability.
  
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- HasturInYellow@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  It’s a part of your inner ear that calcifies as you age. It doesn’t harden for everyone. But most people around mid 20s
  
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aceshigh@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
It’s a great superpower. In my 30s I got to experience my 20s (I pretty much wasted those years working) and had a bunch of early/mid 20 friends. I didn’t stand out. Everyone thought I was their age, but I had the brain of a 30++ year old so men couldn’t take advantage of me. It was awesome. Had I done that in my actual 20s, I would’ve made a lot of mistakes…

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BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Had the same problem, now I’ve got a touch of grey hair at my temples and it has helped immensely.

I got carded for alchohol up into my late 30s.

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- Apepollo11@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Same - growing a beard helped massively too.
  
  Once I started working, I used to grow a beard every winter - mainly because I got bored with shaving every day. I noticed that once I had my beard, I never got age-checked, when I shaved it off, I’d still be asked.
  
  Mind you, I’ve had a beard for eleven years now - who knows how haggard I look underneath nowadays!
  
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- SL3wvmnas@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Same here. Once I stopped coloring my hair, people never doubted my age…
  
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- JandroDelSol@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  You’re supposed to be carded if you look under 40, so late thirties isn’t that surprising
  
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  - BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    It’s only if you look under 25 here…
    
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ApollosArrow@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
You’re not… supposed to tell these mortals about being immortal… it’s literally in the first page of the handbook.

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toomanypancakes@piefed.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I had that problem until the bags under my eyes gave me away, nobody's surprised anymore. Just gotta give it time.

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Today@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I used to get that a lot. I was constantly carded. Once they wouldn’t sell to me, even with my ID, because I had the babysitter with me and they thought we were both underage trying to buy alcohol. When I was about 25 I started adding10 years to my age when people asked, just to see the reaction.

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- NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  When I was about 25 I started adding10 years to my age when people asked, just to see the reaction.
  
  I love it. This is the way.
  
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- RBWells@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Yeah my brother said you should always tell people you are older than you are, so that they think you look good for your age.
  
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cobysev@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
When I was a kid, I always got confused for an adult. Nobody believed I was a minor. I once got confused for a college student when I was just about to graduate from elementary school.

Now I’m 41 and I have the opposite problem. Everyone thinks I’m in my late 20s/early 30s. Even with a white patch on my beard, people still think I’m just a young man who’s going gray young.

It doesn’t help that I retired at 38 years old. No one believes me when I say I’m already retired. I’ve had a few people ask me if I’m just living with my parents and calling it “retired.” Ha!

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- Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Are you by chance a vampire? Or possibly some other immortal being?
  
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- bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Lucky!! Nice work
  
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abbadon420@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
That’s what a vampire would say

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hexagonwin@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I’d say this is actually a good thing…

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RBWells@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Yeah I tell people when they ask, they gasp, but then they forget. It’s mostly people younger than me who do this, though. And when I was 12 people often perceived me as a grown woman (I was tall. Didn’t even have my period yet, just the height and my overall look and face I guess read ‘adult’) but just stayed the same for a long time. I am aging, I can see it. But nobody seems to think I look like their idea of my age.

We have an intern at our work who does look like a 13 year old. I think he’s 21 or so but really does look like a child. I can imagine it’s annoying.

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zxqwas@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Could try to make something funny of it instead.

“I lost count after 65”

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prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
If you’re the type with testosterone, growing a beard helps

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- Noodle07@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Assuming it grows
  
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Walk_blesseD@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Are you some kinda sorcerer? It's okay, I'm not the sort of mortal who'd burn someone to death over that, you can tell me.

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RebekahWSD@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
People think my identical twin is young because they’re only like 4’11" and height equals age. It sucks a lot as we’re pushing 40.

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- garbagebagel@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Huh, TIL that identical twins can be different heights.
  
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  - RebekahWSD@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Birth trauma happens and sometimes one never catches up in height ever again.
    
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Sanctus@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I’m old now but look nearly identical to how I did in high school. Its annoying to answer after a while and have everyone be completely in awe or disbelief. So no, its not.

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- 52fighters@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I get told that whenever I run into people from high school, unless I’ve got my beard. My beard is gray enough to show my age.
  
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Grimy@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Just get face tattoos.

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StrixUralensis@tarte.nuage-libre.fr ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Bryan Johnson: interest intesifies

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NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I don’t have much to say other than I once worked with someone in this exact situation. She was 30 but looked like she’s still in highschool. It’s surreal.

What you do with it is up to you! Like most things, it’s a blessing and a curse. Try to look on the bright side. As I’m sure you’ve been told hundreds of times, when you’re way older you’re going to reap a lot of benefits of looking young.

If it were me (for reference, I’m 31 male) I’d probably just keep giving straight answers and make the best of whatever reactions I get. Obviously in different contexts you’d prefer different reactions but in any case you get what you get.

Please tell me most people, when they eventually believe you, say you look freaking amazing!

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knightly@pawb.social ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I’m regularly mistaken for being more than a dozen years younger than I am. =D

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