Unfortunately, our society is obsessed with aging, particularly when it comes to women. The younger you look, the more value you have — both to men and to other women. This is particularly true for anyone in the spotlight, which leads to celebrities being some of the people most likely to undergo procedures to try and stay looking as youthful as possible.
With social media, however, more and more previously average people are finding themselves thrust into the public eye — it seems like everyone is an influencer these days, or at least working toward becoming one. As a result, a lot of young people seem even more hyper-aware of their appearances than ever before; it probably has something to do with how much they’re staring at their own faces while recording videos for TikTok, and being able to spend all day scrolling and seeing content from countless beautiful people surely isn’t helping matters.
All of which leads us to a recent bout of discourse in which millennials, and some zoomers, have argued that many members of Gen Z are aging terribly. One zoomer, Jordan the Stallion, even went so far as to offer himself up as an example of the phenomenon.
@jordan_the_stallion8 #stitch with @staying up podcast #fypシ ♬ original sound - Jordan_The_Stallion8
In the video, Jordan argues that millennials look younger for their age and Gen Z looks old for their age. He’s Gen Z himself, but when he’s out in public with his mom, people think that his mom is his younger sister. He goes on to share an anecdote about a time he met Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and he asked him to sign a poster; The Rock proceeded to sign, “Dear Jordan, Your dad is a great guy!” and joke with Jordan about times being way more difficult “when we were kids.” The Rock is 52, while Jordan is 26. He concludes, “Gen Z definitely looks older, I’m not going to lie to you.”
Got on IG and saw that the Rock responded to him lol https://t.co/ZLVoUBIS7f pic.twitter.com/PceaXsPvx8
— It's Weirdos On This App (@TYDyetheFly) January 19, 2024
To top it off, The Rock responded to the reel on Instagram, although he made no comment about whether he thinks Jordan and he actually look like they could be the same age or not.
There’s a bit of delusion seeping into this Millennials look younger than Gen Z conversation pic.twitter.com/wyuDZlG3L3
— #LONGLIVEKHAMEYEA (@KHAENOTBAE) January 20, 2024
Meanwhile, others have argued that there’s some “delusion seeping into this millennials look younger than Gen Z conversation,” while others have tried to pinpoint exactly why so many people are of the belief that Gen Z looks older than they are. One writer argued that it was because there are no signifiers of age in style anymore, because “30 year olds are dressing like 15 year olds who are dressing like 45 year old old money heiresses.” Another tweeter blamed people embracing things like “preventative Botox” at increasingly younger ages.
Had to find the source of the gen z aging like milk situation. Whoops they’re still in her comments calling her old. pic.twitter.com/r4baT2yfqK
— one of your lil friends ✨ (@jilleeann_) January 19, 2024
Whatever the cause, and whether it’s true or not that Gen Z is aging faster than any generation before them (it’s not), wouldn’t it feel so much better if we could reassess how we view aging in the first place — as a sign of a life well lived, perhaps, rather than a moral failing?
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