Why did young people in the 50's look so old? (England, 1960s)
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The OP is specific about H.S. kids. Looking at my high school years books - I was in high school from '52 to '56 - what I see is kids who look plainer than kids do now, but certainly not older. In fact, I'm rather struck by how kiddish many of us look, even at 17 and 18.
I do have to wonder if part of our bland appearance isn't due to lack of stress. Despite the fact, as has been mentioned, that some of us worked both before and after school, high school social life was not as competive as it is now. And kids were not ram-jamming scheduled activities into every single waking moment. In the Fifties the limits on teenage expectations and conduct were much clearer and much more taken for granted.
What I see and read of teenagers today (and even in the Seventies and Eighties already) adolescence is far more stressful, not least of all because you have a major part of the economy focusing its attention on getting this age group to want want want want want, so that they or their parents spend spend spend spend....this is a major part of the American consumer economy. And the wanting and the spending is fanned like a forest fire on a windy day by millions of dollars poured into aggressive advertising directed at this age group. This phenomenon was in its bare beginning in the Fifties, and even in the Sixties, when I worked in advertising, it was only a pale shadow of what it is today.
Myself, I find the teenagers of today as the ones who look "old." They look hardly younger than many of the MTV music performers they watch, who are in their late twenties and thirties. And while I find them on the whole sounding pathetically stupid and poorly educated, their social affect is on the whole one I find rather "adult," with an egregiously deluded self-confidence.
But then what "adult" is today is another topic altogether.
What I see and read of teenagers today (and even in the Seventies and Eighties already) adolescence is far more stressful, not least of all because you have a major part of the economy focusing its attention on getting this age group to want want want want want, so that they or their parents spend spend spend spend....this is a major part of the American consumer economy. And the wanting and the spending is fanned like a forest fire on a windy day by millions of dollars poured into aggressive advertising directed at this age group. This phenomenon was in its bare beginning in the Fifties, and even in the Sixties, when I worked in advertising, it was only a pale shadow of what it is today..
Let's not overblow this. As someone who has recently raised teenagers I didn't note that they and their friends were overly stressed out. I also didn't note much physical difference from when I was their age in the 70s. They do seem more polite and less troubled than kids I grew up with. However, that could be a cultural thing of them growing up in Northern VA rather than Southern CA.
I look at pictures of high schoolers from the 50's, and they look like old people to me. Maybe women's hairstyles were all short back then and this is the main reason why. It's sad how little in common their generation has with the young people of today. I think the teens of today will never really get old, and the baby boomers were the generation that thought they were the first "cool" generation, but now a lot of them seem old anyway.
The reason the high schoolers from the 50's look old to you is that your "style" today is so different. Back then they were "cool" and that was the fashion of the day.
Its not difficult to figure out why boomers seem to not have anything in common with the teens of today..y'all have your faces plugged into cell phones or ipads or whatever mechanical device you own that you MUST HAVE in order to be cool. When was the last time you tried to have a conversation with a "boomer" without making fun of us?? There is a wealth of history behind where boomers have been and what they have done and believe me when I tell you, we could more than likely hold your interest longer than any mechanical device if you IN FACT could remember how to have a conversation with a REAL person.
I guess by now, you have figured out I am a Boomer and we are perhaps one of the generations that was the "coolest ever" and one that has left a huge impression on people in general. Look at all the hub-bub (yes a "boomer word") over what has happened to Social Security because of us..oh..you don't know what that was all about?? Another story, another time.
By the way...be ready to get old because it will happen to you too. Only problem is, I do think that the teens of today won't experience anything beyond the keyboard, the cell phone, the ipad or gaming devices. Sad...will all be walking around with computer butt from sitting in a chair all day and thick glasses because you have ruined your eyes being online constantly.
Come on....come get me now..This Boomer is ready for any derrogatory remarks you wanna have come back this way! Geeze Louise!!!
The reason the high schoolers from the 50's look old to you is that your "style" today is so different. Back then they were "cool" and that was the fashion of the day.
Its not difficult to figure out why boomers seem to not have anything in common with the teens of today..y'all have your faces plugged into cell phones or ipads or whatever mechanical device you own that you MUST HAVE in order to be cool. When was the last time you tried to have a conversation with a "boomer" without making fun of us?? There is a wealth of history behind where boomers have been and what they have done and believe me when I tell you, we could more than likely hold your interest longer than any mechanical device if you IN FACT could remember how to have a conversation with a REAL person.
I guess by now, you have figured out I am a Boomer and we are perhaps one of the generations that was the "coolest ever" and one that has left a huge impression on people in general. Look at all the hub-bub (yes a "boomer word") over what has happened to Social Security because of us..oh..you don't know what that was all about?? Another story, another time.
By the way...be ready to get old because it will happen to you too. Only problem is, I do think that the teens of today won't experience anything beyond the keyboard, the cell phone, the ipad or gaming devices. Sad...will all be walking around with computer butt from sitting in a chair all day and thick glasses because you have ruined your eyes being online constantly.
Come on....come get me now..This Boomer is ready for any derrogatory remarks you wanna have come back this way! Geeze Louise!!!
You sound like a very early boomer. Ones my age (late 40s, early 50s) are much more like our kids than our parents, or even our older boomer siblings, were like us. If you came of age in the 60s, you lived in a very different culture than those who immediately followed. Although I have noticed lately that kids in their 20s dress up more than we did at that age. They also have taken more to living urban lifestyles, eschewing car culture for bikes and walking. I'm sure if we'd had cell phones we'd have had them glued to our ears too. Remember CB radios?
Here's a quote I found from a smilar forum online. It echos everything I have said:
We live in a youth-oriented culture today. Starting with the baby boomers and including today's young people, being seen as young is viewed as an asset. These days it can be difficult for someone who looks old, whether they are or not, to get a job, a date or much in the way of respect.
In the 30's, 40's and 50's, when I was growing up, looking young was a disadvantage; it justifiably identified the individual as callow, inexperienced and only minimally capable. People called you "kid" or "boy" or "sonny", if you were male and "girl" or "Missy" if you were female. Thus, people, at least young people, wanted to look older than they were in order to be taken seriously. Women, then, sought to acquire a look of sophistication that, viewed by today's standards, looks older. Now, older people put a lot of emphasis on looking young.
Also people in those days worked a lot harder physically than they do now, they were leaner because of it. Smoking was more prevalent in the 40's and 50's and smoking ages ones face. And, nutrition was much more primitive than now. These are the people who survived the great depression, WW-II and the Korean conflict. Life in general was harder and it shows on a lot of faces.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This quote describes why a 36 year old man (such as the one in my picture) would want to look and act 56.
My Mom graduated from Minneapolis Washburn High School in 1940. The young women all wore white shirts and black skirts and the young men ALL wore suits and ties for the graduation picture.
Now the school is covered in grafitti and they have security guards to watch the gangsters. I think I would take the 40's and 50's over what we have now.
My Mom graduated from Minneapolis Washburn High School in 1940. The young women all wore white shirts and black skirts and the young men ALL wore suits and ties for the graduation picture.
Now the school is covered in grafitti and they have security guards to watch the gangsters. I think I would take the 40's and 50's over what we have now.
Very well said!! Young people today seem to never want to grow up. A boy in High school during the 1950s-early 60s would be told by his father, that he was a; "young man", and it is time to start taking responsibility. This type of mindset formed the early adulthood that defined those of the greatest generation.
One reason the youth of today acts the way they do, is because of their parents. The average teenager in 2012, has parents who grew up in the 1960s-70s. This turbulent period had a great influence on the formation of the parents of today. The youth movement of the period proliferates through the influence of their children today. Thus, we have the same problems that kids had during the hippie 1960s.
Sometimes, I am beginning to believe it is worse today. At least kids back then had the intelligence and ingenuity to have a good time without the ever present, “IPhone” or “IPad”. More freedom was given to young people back then, but responsibility was expected in return. I think our culture of today, could learn a great deal from the culture of the 1950s.
One thing that is important to remember. The 1950s did not end in 1959, or begin in 1950. The period more or less began in 1946 after WW2 and ended in 1964, as the hippie culture began to take over.
Very well said!! Young people today seem to never want to grow up. A boy in High school during the 1950s-early 60s would be told by his father, that he was a; "young man", and it is time to start taking responsibility. This type of mindset formed the early adulthood that defined those of the greatest generation.
One reason the youth of today acts the way they do, is because of their parents. The average teenager in 2012, has parents who grew up in the 1960s-70s. This turbulent period had a great influence on the formation of the parents of today. The youth movement of the period proliferates through the influence of their children today. Thus, we have the same problems that kids had during the hippie 1960s.
Sometimes, I am beginning to believe it is worse today. At least kids back then had the intelligence and ingenuity to have a good time without the ever present, “IPhone” or “IPad”. More freedom was given to young people back then, but responsibility was expected in return. I think our culture of today, could learn a great deal from the culture of the 1950s.
One thing that is important to remember. The 1950s did not end in 1959, or begin in 1950. The period more or less began in 1946 after WW2 and ended in 1964, as the hippie culture began to take over.
All of my high school buddies look real old- They took the wrong jobs- did what was right - worked their butts off and aged prematurely...I was born in 1950...but took the artistic route and never took working to seriously- I did what I liked-- when I was 50 I looked 35...it was my attitude..but eventually I could not hold time back...and people started to envy me..because I was having fun and not aging quickly...So I went through a period where I got a lot of flack and was forced to grow older...some people just hate it when you live a carefree and happy life...Now my beard is white and my blonde hair is also changing....and you know what I am going to do..............
.............I DECIDED THAT IT IS TIME TO BE OLD....I am going to grow my white beard right to the ground- get a little place on the ocean...wear white robes and wander about talking to God and the sparrows..............why not- I was young to long...so I guess being 120 is my new goal.....Might just carve me a real nice staff and be a holy man....why not? It will be fun.
The 50's were real cool...My mother had a business on a lake...She ran a little dance hall....When I was 8 years old it was 1958...We had a juke box ...I heard all the new tunes...the week they came out...I was fascinated by these people that the adults called "teenagers"...Loved watching their foot work when they danced...and the fighting....There was a style of street fighting that was very popular...Guys wore these super pointed shoes and when they were about to fight they would say...."So you wanna SHOOT THE BOOTS....?
It was pretty remarkable- The guy with the highest kick was the hero...This was pre-marshal arts...The best fighters rarely used their fists..They could kick the other guy in the jaw or side of the face with their toe or heel....There would be a flurry of high kicks and a few punches....Then the police would come...Usually each area had one lone cop that everyone knew...Our cop was "Doug" He had an old Harley Davidson with a side car....If he needed help he would call for back up...and a cruiser would arrive...
I remember Dave one of the teenagers- he was a high kicker...When the cops were investigating the disturbance...they played a game called "Kick the Cherry" - Dave in one leap would spring on to the roof of the cop car and kick the single red light off the roof (the cherry)...I watched all this from my mothers roof top...Yes the 50s were exactly the way they are portrayed in the movies- but worse.......
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