Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – When watching films or viewing photos and videos set 20 or 30 years ago, we seem to travel in time and can see what the past looked like. Of course it will look very different from what it is today.
If you also pay attention, most teenagers in the past had an older appearance compared to teenagers their age in today’s digital era.
Take, for example, a photo of a junior high school student listed in a Google search in the form of “old school junior high school students.” There was a group of children wearing new white uniforms typical of junior high school students aged 12-15 years. They took photos with faces with mustaches, thick, slightly long hair, quite large bodies and wearing tight blue trousers.
So, what are the reasons that made teenagers in the past look older than teenagers their age today?
There are two main reasons. Firstly for reasons of selection bias.
If we compare it with the present, generally junior high school students today appear without mustaches and beards, and their hair should not be long. Moreover, this appearance is often accompanied by a glowing face thanks to skincare, cool hair and modern clothing styles.
This difference is what makes us think that ancient photos contain old people. However, this difference can actually be answered with a simple argument. That, we should not look at the past from the perspective of the present, which according to Michael Stevens from Vsauce is called selection bias.
Take, for example, the fashion styles of middle school students in the 1970s. Their slightly long hair, raised in bangs and thick mustaches, was normal at that time. Perhaps, this happened because their lifestyle was influenced by things that went viral at the time they lived.
Such as following Elvis Presley’s hairstyle or following Rhoma Irama’s dressing style, both of which went viral in the 1970s to 1980s. So, it was natural for them to follow the flow of the crowd at that time.
This kind of phenomenon also occurs nowadays when many people follow trends spread by influencers on social media. Of course, if we move forward 1-5 years from the time the trend appeared, we would think such behavior was outdated, old-fashioned, and strange.
The second reason that causes this view to occur is biological factors. This factor was revealed in 2018 by a joint research team from the Yale School of Medicine and the University of South Carolina with research entitled “Is 60 the New 50? Examining Changes in Biological Age Over the Past Two Decades.”
Based on the results of this research, there are indeed differences between the physical appearance of people who lived between 1988-2010. Those who have lived in the last 20 years are noted to look younger than their predecessors. The reason is because of lifestyle.
Different from the past, now people live in a time of rapid health technology which raises awareness about the importance of health. For example, in the presence of health services, the dangers of smoking make people reduce their consumption of cigarettes, resulting in a more youthful physical appearance.
Then, the presence of health technology in the form of various kinds of skincare has also made people compete to stay young. Of course, all these efforts if successful will clearly have an impact on a more youthful appearance.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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This is the reason why teenagers in the past looked older
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