Why Boomers will never grow up

Boomers invented youth and they’ve dragged it through the decades with them

“Are you still doing that?” Maybe you’ve heard this a bit lately. I certainly have. It usually comes from strangers/acquaintances, and it mostly refers to a vineyard that my husband and I planted at a stage of life that often precludes work involving knees, biceps and sunscreen.

It’s the emphasis on the word “still” that gives a clue to what the person is thinking. It means, they don’t think you should be doing that anymore. Bluntly, they think you’re too old to be doing that and they’re surprised you haven’t got that message. Yet.

It’s not just those nearing a biblical age who hear chronological chidings. Kids hear it – are you still playing with dolls? Youth hear it – are you still on Snapchat? Young adults will be reminded they should no longer be doing shots/skating to work. Middle-aged women are told exactly when they should give up short skirts, stilettos and dreams of finding a partner.

But it stings when you’re at that age when the alternative to “doing that” is doing not much at all because those who have anointed themselves timekeepers of appropriate behaviour have decided there’s not much to do after a career finishes, unless you like sitting on a wharf with a rod or dragging a bag of sticks around a golf course.

Obviously, I missed the message about growing old. Not that I’m in denial, I just haven’t planned a lifestyle around ageing. I’m not alone in this because just a little bit of research into the science of ageing proves that age defiance is a human condition.

Science has shown that after the age of 25 years, most people have a mental age that’s younger than the one on their birth certificate. In fact, their mental age is almost always 20 per cent younger than their real age. This is why you startle when you catch your reflection in a well-lit mirror or when you’re chatting with colleagues and one of them says “My mum loves that too”.

This time warp would place me in my early 50s – a time when kids are fledged, careers are front-of-mind, holidays are adventurous and heels are still possible, if only for a few hours of cocktail chatter.

Scientists aren’t sure why this happens but it is often associated with an optimistic outlook on life. Pessimists, on the other hand, are more likely to feel their real age and tell others exactly how it feels to be that age.

The other scientific information that helps explain age-defying behaviour is social contagion. This theory holds that the people you spend time with don’t just influence your politics, they determine what you do and even what you look like. So, if your family and friends are mostly obese, you have a much higher chance of obesity; if they smoke, you’re much more likely to smoke; if they binge drink, you’re at the bar with them. Contagion also has positive outcomes. If your friends exercise a lot, you’re more likely to hike along; if they eat healthily, you’re going to eat kale and if they act younger than their calendar age, you’re more likely to have fun.

And the biggest gathering of like-minded people are the generations and – you could see this coming – the noisiest of the generations are Baby Boomers. This is the group that invented teenagers, nailed a misspent youth and hung on to their board shorts long after they swapped boards for fins.

They invented youth and they’ve dragged it through the decades with them, reinventing life stages, fashion sensibilities and expectations. And if you ask them why they’re still doing it, they might reply just because they can.