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As the eldest Gen Zers start turning 30, many have pointed out that they seem to look a lot younger than their parents did at the same age. Is it a real phenomena, or just a symptom of our youth-obsessed social media era?
Are Gen Z ageing slower than their parents did?
If you’ve been on TikTok or Instagram the past few weeks, you may have noticed growing discussion around turning thirty and keeping up appearances.
Various posts are comparing young(ish) celebrities today to those of a similar age in the 1980s and 1990s, deliberately stoking debate as to whether Gen Z tend to look younger for longer. There’s an X account dedicated to showcasing 1980s footballers who looked several decades older at the time; over the past few years, publications have written think pieces on Gen Z’s supposed obsession with ageing and have analysed why people now appear as if they’re twentysomethings for several decades rather than one.
So, what’s going on? Have millennials and older Gen Zers somehow inherited super genes that grant them eternal youth? Is it something in the water? Did the pandemic shift our body clocks back a few years?
While those may all sound like tedious rhetorical questions, the actual answer is complicated.
Watch any film or TV show from the 1900s (apologies if that phrasing made you feel older, millennial readers) and it’s likely that the cast will be younger than you’d guess. Outfits, styles, cosmetic maintenance and overall standards were significantly different to what they are today. Throughout most of the twentieth century, formal wear was more common, heavy smoking was routine, and there was significantly less pressure to look ‘good’ if you were a man. There was no need to be Instagram ready back then, after all.
Gen Z appear to have a greater awareness of their own health and habits at a younger age than Gen Xers did too. They’re drinking less, going to the gym and exercising more, avoiding cigarettes, and focusing on nutrition in their early twenties and onward. Better health decisions from an earlier age tend to lead to an improved physique and a more youthful appearance, especially as far as our skin and facial features go.
Economic hardships and inaccessible housing markets also mean that Gen Z are far, far less likely to have things ‘figured out’ by thirty today compared to the noughties and decades prior. As we’ve analysed before, a majority of Gen Z buyers rely on generational wealth and help from mum and dad to get onto the property ladder. As a result, they don’t feel ready to have children and aren’t in a good enough position to commit to traditional, big life milestones in the way their parents were.
This delay in accepting responsibilities and commitments means that a sizable chunk of Gen Z and millennials are extending their ‘young’ adulthood by five to ten years, shifting their personal goalposts to the mid-30s or even later. Given all of our other existential threats like climate change, political polarisation and wobbling world stability, many are starting to question whether they should conform to an expected life path at all and instead simply live for themselves while they can.
The beauty and cosmetics industry is booming, with greater resources available to keep us looking fresher-faced well into our fifties. Anti-wrinkle creams, diverse makeup palettes and products, hair transplants, face lifts, and other procedures all help to keep the inevitable signs of age at bay, especially for celebrities; there’s a reason why barely any footballers appear to be losing their hair these days.
With all these different options available for looking young, is it possible that Gen Z has a problematic obsession with getting old? The anti-ageing market is estimated to be worth upwards of $50 billion USD, with that number only set to increase in the coming years. The rise of Ozempic has also reignited an infatuation with weight loss and being ‘skinny,’ making us all even more self-conscious and aware of our own bodies than ever before.
There seems to be a very real, intense dread toward getting older today that was nowhere near as fierce forty years ago. Bryan Johnson, the multi-millionaire who has created a personal brand based on ageing ‘in reverse,’ is perhaps one of the most notorious victims of our modern, youth-obsessed sensibilities. Many of us are scared to be thirty, of reaching ‘unc’ status, and ultimately being cast aside by a cultural landscape fixated on the romanticism of our twenties.
As Gen Z continues to grow older and gather more life experiences, they may start to view ageing differently. It’s a privilege that not all of us are given, and new perspectives can mould how we regard mortality in ways we wouldn’t have expected. As a writer who just turned thirty themselves, it’s not that scary…though I wouldn’t say no to a little extra cash for a facelift further down the line.
See also:
- The rise of #RichTok, Gen Z’s latest escape
- How are publishers pushing Gen Z to read?
- Why Marty Supremes’s Gen Z marketing worked
