Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
Twitter Remains Convinced That People Aged Faster In The Past, Continues Posting Photos That “Prove” This Theory
When Brandon McCarthy asked Twitter users whether they agree that people in the past aged faster, he didn't know he was opening Pandora's box. But what's done is done. Everyone immediately started posting pictures that support this theory, and they haven't stopped yet.
We're talking 24-year-old soccer players who look like they're going to break in half when they kick the ball, young moms and dads who could pass off as great-grandparents... Heck, someone even included Pablo Escobar in the collection. Continue scrolling and check out the most important evolutionary discovery of our age for yourself!
This post may include affiliate links.
It's true, people age at different rates. Now, the attention is on what can we do about it. A geriatric epidemiologist and Canada Research Chair in Geroscience at McMaster University, Parminder Raina is leading the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), one of the largest and most in-depth studies on health and aging ever.
Its aim is to understand the factors that influence how we age and find ways to slow down, cure or even prevent age-related diseases.
#2
Leslie Burleson 4 years ago
That's an old picture of Brad Pitt ... he looks pretty close to his age actually
"We now have more centenarians than ever before, and not all of them are senile and functionally dependent," Raina said. "Many live very full lives."
According to him, understanding how we age, why we each age differently, and what causes disease and disability as we rack up the years is critical to developing programs and interventions that will promote independent and healthy living for as long as possible.
With a team of more than 160 researchers and contributors, the CLSA is following over 50,000 randomly selected men and women between the ages of 45 and 85 over a 20-year period to understand why some people live longer than others. The biggest funders of this project are the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, and other participating provinces.
#4
Meredith Glenn 4 years ago (edited)
He was 51 when the movie was released, so, yeah. Something must be in the water
"We know that the changes in our body that come with aging represent a common risk factor for disease," Raina said. "What we learn from this could tell us a lot about how chronic inflammation is linked to cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer's disease; how responses to stress can accelerate aging and risk of disease; how work history and wealth contribute to our health and well-being; and more."
What a time to be alive! Now all we have to do is stick around until we get the results and who knows, maybe you and I will be able to add a few extra birthdays to our calendars.
#9
#10
Douglas Campbell 4 years ago
It's the glasses and the hair style we associate with older people.
#18
Nia Loves Art 4 years ago
Drug use, stress, and eating disorders aged her. She was considered prematurely old looking even at the time.
#26
Peter Anka 4 years ago
Sting once said, that without Sex Pistols today every rocker would be look like just like this...
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Sara Messina 4 years ago
I think we just associate certain styles with being old because our parents/grandparents wore them and we think of them as adult even in old pics. Also a lot of these people were aged by smoking, drinking or drug problems. Being grey or bald early is going to automatically make people think you're older too.
Brivid 4 years ago
Exactly. Plus a lot of people, women especially, use sunscreen and much better moisturizers than they had access to back then. And even though Judy Garland was a movie star, she had lived a crappy life with substance abuse and she was on her 4th husband by the time she was 45.
Load More Replies...
Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch 4 years ago
less smoking and drinking. We're outside less so not as much sun. More plastic surgery, hair restoration, botox, etc.
WillemPenn 4 years ago
Smoking perhaps, but drinking trends have remained pretty consistent. wboizgown0...r7ibja.png 
LaDec 4 years ago
It has to be that all the preservatives in our food now a days keeps us younger? Lol
Iggy 4 years ago
You may not be that far off the truth. Apparently, corpses now take longer to decompose than they used to and that is given as the reason.
Load More Replies...
CbusResident 4 years ago
Here's my pic of Andre the Giant. Now here's one of Peter Dinklage, born several decades later. Indisputable roof that people used to be huge and now are really short! - Or proof that many people regularly engage in really shoddy reasoning.
Martha Meyer 4 years ago
I think at least in some of these cases it's just the old-fashioned hairstyle and clothes that make these people look older in the eyes of today's beholder. With colored hair, styled in modern fashion and in modern clothes, they would look their age to us too.
Aunt Mandy 4 years ago
I think we're alot more health conscious now. I mean, didn't a cigarette come with a McDonald's meal back in the 50's? 🤣🤣
Zee Khokhar 4 years ago
Maybe they weren't getting old early, but this generation is growing up late.
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
How many of these "modern" photos are of people who are, in fact, NOT the same age as claimed? Or are photoshopped, airbrushed, botox'd, dyed, injected, and so forth? B/c without it? I can tell ya from personal experience of three "names" in Hollywood who look way older than their (alleged) age... If you see 'em on the street, instead of in publicity shots.
Full Name 4 years ago
Back in the day the women had those glamour shots with perfect skin. That's because they specially processed the pics. There were devices that vibrated a table in the developer that would make the skin look smooth (it's the exact same as adding gaussian blur in Photoshop) while making the eyes and mouth so they'd stay sharp. They also used low contrast filters to help out the same way, plus the lenses weren't as sharp. Faking glamour shots has been done since the Golden Age of Hollywood, if not before.
Load More Replies...
Leodavinci 4 years ago
There's a difference between "aging faster" and looking older". A lot of common things (stress, bad diets, smoking, etc., and drug abuse in Judy Garland's case) of times past did shorten people's lives and made them look older, but that's not "aging faster". Progeria is aging faster. And some people just simply look older. Ever hear of Ian Wolfe? Famous character actor who appeared in the movie Sherlock Holmes In to Washington (1943) at 47... and the Star Trek episode All Our Yesterdays (1969). Looks like he didn't age a day in 26 years.
Rob Chapman 4 years ago
My mother was 18 in this picture. My grandparents...in their mid 50's. 91406019_1...33dd8f.jpg 
April Simnel 4 years ago
I'm recently 50. Skin is (currently) unlined, hair is (still) brown. Thank goodness, because I'm looking for a new job right now! While I don't smoke, I don't have kids to care for and be worried about, I get a good night's sleep most nights, I'm not baking myself in the sun daily or on a tanning bed every week, I eat relatively healthily, and drink lots of water, the main reason why I look as young as I do for my age is that I inherited excellent genes. My mother's side are young-looking people. But, like someone said under one of these, are they happy? That's the most important thing. No matter how "great" you look, life is short, and looks matter very little compared to being content with your life.
Tina Stalcup 4 years ago
Back then good foods and resources were more limited. As time advances so did a lot of different products to help us look younger. Factor in the clothes in those days now look "old" to us. A lot of them also lived in harder times in their youth which could have caused faster aging. Add in smoking and drinking being a daily norm amongst other fun recreations I'm hoping many people didn't use or at least not daily. Scientifically speaking, we could be slowly evolving with better access to medical care and chemicals and vitamins added to majority of foods it's no wonder we're looking younger and living longer in some cases. Theory only. It's just my view on it. I'm open to anyone who has anything else they'd like to share. By all means you can disagree and share why. I won't disrespect or demean you for a different view. I'd love hearing more opinions!
Wendy Boustani 4 years ago
This is totally sexist, but nothing before has ever made the point quite so well to me that men also suffer from body issues. Yes, okay, some of the photos are on point with the subject. But to me it seems like a lot of them are just men being 'sloppy' as we see it today. Combovers, hair plugs, good angles; a lot of them could have looked younger if they wanted to. There was no reason. There's still no reason! We all are spending too much time being camera ready. I didn't realize how much it was automatic for both genders, is what I'm saying.
Thomas Es Thomas 4 years ago
Nah. Just for Men didn't exist back then, and neither did Maybelline. Most makeup was powdered or contained lead, so slowly poisoning. People just can't believe either that people waited until their 30s to have their kids. It was common then (1895-1955) for a couple to wait until 35 to start trying for a family. Many of the men were off at war in their 20s. It was also common, before grants, for students not to date during college. They were paying for their educations themselves, so they had no money for a wife and kids.
Seabeast 4 years ago (edited)
If you're referring to Maybelline cosmetics, that company has been around since 1915. Makeup was actually quite heavily done in the 60s, with fake eyelashes and heavy pancake foundation. I should know, I was around back then. Men have been dying their hair forever as well, just not with Just For Men.
Load More Replies... 
John Louis 4 years ago
The high school I attended had pictures of the graduating class going back to the 1930s. Almost all of those 18-year-olds looked like they were in their late 20's early 30's. I am I wrong about this?
Matthew Mangan 4 years ago
Probably intentional hair dye or make-up so they could portray older characters, or maybe people were judged by their young age more Wrinkly and moustached 30 year olds in the 1950s? Probably just the style at the time But there is definitely a pattern
lorfalconswan 4 years ago
Some people just look old when they're young. It's as simple as that. Not everyone, just some. Even in this current batch of youngsters. I noticed someone who at 24, looked 35, and compared him, in my mind, to my son who is 22. My son, looks like 18, if that.
Random Panda 4 years ago
Eh, genetics, make-up, dress and hair style has a lot to do with this. Back in 2009 I had a classmate who, at 19, looked like she could be my 30yo+ teacher.
Roxy Eastland 4 years ago
Well, this is something and nothing. Firstly, in earlier times looking as young as possible was not desirable, in fact people wanted to look a bit older, with a bit more gravitas, a bit wiser, and so on. Before teenagers were invented clothing styles went from child to adult and a twenty year old would have worn the same as a fifty year old (and be proud to be a grown up). A lot of these if you look beyond the clothes, glasses, and the hair styles the actual faces do look the correct ages. Secondly actors play up to the image most likely to get them cast. If they know they are more likely to get slightly older roles then they will style their look that way. The same person could look a lot younger with a different hair style, perhaps the grey dyed out, different clothes, even hold themselves differently. And it is worth pointing out that nowadays our culture is much less accepting of people looking older, so we don't see images of these actors, sportsters etc
Elizabeth Gardner 4 years ago
I really believe that people did age faster and looked older early in life back then that is my generation as well. But my mother always looked younger than her years right up until she died. I have friends who look way older than many ageing people today. We grew up faster went to work earlier , did not have the privileges that they have today, life was not so easy money was short and no one had luxuries including cars and everything else.
An Opinion 4 years ago
My theory is that since the year 2000 time has reversed and now we are slowly travelling backwards at a rate of 1 week per year, meaning that it is actually only May 12th, 2019.
Vanessa Lapato 4 years ago
It's worth noting that at least with a lot of the celebrities listed, many were chronically ill or suffered from addiction. Roy Orbison, for example, had a lot of heart problems even as a young man. That may have had a lot to do with why they aged prematurely. Even today, people with those kinds of problems look older than their true age. I also think people weren't as wrapped up in youth culture in previous generations. If you were in your 20s and married with a couple of kids, there was no shame in looking like a middle-aged adult. In fact, you didn't want your clothes and hair to look like something a teenager might wear because you wouldn't be taken seriously. With today's culture of social media and celebrity worship (and people staying single later in life), there's a lot more emphasis on holding onto youthful looks as long as possible.
boredpandana 4 years ago
Like i said, style, diet, it all plays into how old they look. Plus, botox and cosmetic surgery is getting increasingly popular, especially among those in hollowood
Lynda Momalo 4 years ago
Some things are often just genetic though -- there have always been people who look older or younger than their age. My grandmother, my mother, and I all look/looked younger than people would guess.
Kenny Kulbiski 4 years ago
Meat and potatoes diets and lots of untested food additives. Nah, I don't know just an amateur guess.
Nicola Roberts 4 years ago
I am quietly working away and suddenly thought about this post. How about James Stuart in Its a Wonderful Life. George Bailey and his friends all looked 20 years older than their characters!
Roman Hans 4 years ago
Incredible but true: Angela Lansbury was just 23 during the filming of Murder She Wrote.
Sara Messina 4 years ago
I think we just associate certain styles with being old because our parents/grandparents wore them and we think of them as adult even in old pics. Also a lot of these people were aged by smoking, drinking or drug problems. Being grey or bald early is going to automatically make people think you're older too.
Brivid 4 years ago
Exactly. Plus a lot of people, women especially, use sunscreen and much better moisturizers than they had access to back then. And even though Judy Garland was a movie star, she had lived a crappy life with substance abuse and she was on her 4th husband by the time she was 45.
Load More Replies... Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch 4 years ago
less smoking and drinking. We're outside less so not as much sun. More plastic surgery, hair restoration, botox, etc.
WillemPenn 4 years ago
Smoking perhaps, but drinking trends have remained pretty consistent. wboizgown0...r7ibja.png
LaDec 4 years ago
It has to be that all the preservatives in our food now a days keeps us younger? Lol
Iggy 4 years ago
You may not be that far off the truth. Apparently, corpses now take longer to decompose than they used to and that is given as the reason.
Load More Replies... CbusResident 4 years ago
Here's my pic of Andre the Giant. Now here's one of Peter Dinklage, born several decades later. Indisputable roof that people used to be huge and now are really short! - Or proof that many people regularly engage in really shoddy reasoning.
Martha Meyer 4 years ago
I think at least in some of these cases it's just the old-fashioned hairstyle and clothes that make these people look older in the eyes of today's beholder. With colored hair, styled in modern fashion and in modern clothes, they would look their age to us too.
Aunt Mandy 4 years ago
I think we're alot more health conscious now. I mean, didn't a cigarette come with a McDonald's meal back in the 50's? 🤣🤣
Zee Khokhar 4 years ago
Maybe they weren't getting old early, but this generation is growing up late.
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
How many of these "modern" photos are of people who are, in fact, NOT the same age as claimed? Or are photoshopped, airbrushed, botox'd, dyed, injected, and so forth? B/c without it? I can tell ya from personal experience of three "names" in Hollywood who look way older than their (alleged) age... If you see 'em on the street, instead of in publicity shots.
Full Name 4 years ago
Back in the day the women had those glamour shots with perfect skin. That's because they specially processed the pics. There were devices that vibrated a table in the developer that would make the skin look smooth (it's the exact same as adding gaussian blur in Photoshop) while making the eyes and mouth so they'd stay sharp. They also used low contrast filters to help out the same way, plus the lenses weren't as sharp. Faking glamour shots has been done since the Golden Age of Hollywood, if not before.
Load More Replies... Leodavinci 4 years ago
There's a difference between "aging faster" and looking older". A lot of common things (stress, bad diets, smoking, etc., and drug abuse in Judy Garland's case) of times past did shorten people's lives and made them look older, but that's not "aging faster". Progeria is aging faster. And some people just simply look older. Ever hear of Ian Wolfe? Famous character actor who appeared in the movie Sherlock Holmes In to Washington (1943) at 47... and the Star Trek episode All Our Yesterdays (1969). Looks like he didn't age a day in 26 years.
Rob Chapman 4 years ago
My mother was 18 in this picture. My grandparents...in their mid 50's. 91406019_1...33dd8f.jpg
April Simnel 4 years ago
I'm recently 50. Skin is (currently) unlined, hair is (still) brown. Thank goodness, because I'm looking for a new job right now! While I don't smoke, I don't have kids to care for and be worried about, I get a good night's sleep most nights, I'm not baking myself in the sun daily or on a tanning bed every week, I eat relatively healthily, and drink lots of water, the main reason why I look as young as I do for my age is that I inherited excellent genes. My mother's side are young-looking people. But, like someone said under one of these, are they happy? That's the most important thing. No matter how "great" you look, life is short, and looks matter very little compared to being content with your life.
Tina Stalcup 4 years ago
Back then good foods and resources were more limited. As time advances so did a lot of different products to help us look younger. Factor in the clothes in those days now look "old" to us. A lot of them also lived in harder times in their youth which could have caused faster aging. Add in smoking and drinking being a daily norm amongst other fun recreations I'm hoping many people didn't use or at least not daily. Scientifically speaking, we could be slowly evolving with better access to medical care and chemicals and vitamins added to majority of foods it's no wonder we're looking younger and living longer in some cases. Theory only. It's just my view on it. I'm open to anyone who has anything else they'd like to share. By all means you can disagree and share why. I won't disrespect or demean you for a different view. I'd love hearing more opinions!
Wendy Boustani 4 years ago
This is totally sexist, but nothing before has ever made the point quite so well to me that men also suffer from body issues. Yes, okay, some of the photos are on point with the subject. But to me it seems like a lot of them are just men being 'sloppy' as we see it today. Combovers, hair plugs, good angles; a lot of them could have looked younger if they wanted to. There was no reason. There's still no reason! We all are spending too much time being camera ready. I didn't realize how much it was automatic for both genders, is what I'm saying.
Thomas Es Thomas 4 years ago
Nah. Just for Men didn't exist back then, and neither did Maybelline. Most makeup was powdered or contained lead, so slowly poisoning. People just can't believe either that people waited until their 30s to have their kids. It was common then (1895-1955) for a couple to wait until 35 to start trying for a family. Many of the men were off at war in their 20s. It was also common, before grants, for students not to date during college. They were paying for their educations themselves, so they had no money for a wife and kids.
Seabeast 4 years ago (edited)
If you're referring to Maybelline cosmetics, that company has been around since 1915. Makeup was actually quite heavily done in the 60s, with fake eyelashes and heavy pancake foundation. I should know, I was around back then. Men have been dying their hair forever as well, just not with Just For Men.
Load More Replies... John Louis 4 years ago
The high school I attended had pictures of the graduating class going back to the 1930s. Almost all of those 18-year-olds looked like they were in their late 20's early 30's. I am I wrong about this?
Matthew Mangan 4 years ago
Probably intentional hair dye or make-up so they could portray older characters, or maybe people were judged by their young age more Wrinkly and moustached 30 year olds in the 1950s? Probably just the style at the time But there is definitely a pattern
lorfalconswan 4 years ago
Some people just look old when they're young. It's as simple as that. Not everyone, just some. Even in this current batch of youngsters. I noticed someone who at 24, looked 35, and compared him, in my mind, to my son who is 22. My son, looks like 18, if that.
Random Panda 4 years ago
Eh, genetics, make-up, dress and hair style has a lot to do with this. Back in 2009 I had a classmate who, at 19, looked like she could be my 30yo+ teacher.
Roxy Eastland 4 years ago
Well, this is something and nothing. Firstly, in earlier times looking as young as possible was not desirable, in fact people wanted to look a bit older, with a bit more gravitas, a bit wiser, and so on. Before teenagers were invented clothing styles went from child to adult and a twenty year old would have worn the same as a fifty year old (and be proud to be a grown up). A lot of these if you look beyond the clothes, glasses, and the hair styles the actual faces do look the correct ages. Secondly actors play up to the image most likely to get them cast. If they know they are more likely to get slightly older roles then they will style their look that way. The same person could look a lot younger with a different hair style, perhaps the grey dyed out, different clothes, even hold themselves differently. And it is worth pointing out that nowadays our culture is much less accepting of people looking older, so we don't see images of these actors, sportsters etc
Elizabeth Gardner 4 years ago
I really believe that people did age faster and looked older early in life back then that is my generation as well. But my mother always looked younger than her years right up until she died. I have friends who look way older than many ageing people today. We grew up faster went to work earlier , did not have the privileges that they have today, life was not so easy money was short and no one had luxuries including cars and everything else.
An Opinion 4 years ago
My theory is that since the year 2000 time has reversed and now we are slowly travelling backwards at a rate of 1 week per year, meaning that it is actually only May 12th, 2019.
Vanessa Lapato 4 years ago
It's worth noting that at least with a lot of the celebrities listed, many were chronically ill or suffered from addiction. Roy Orbison, for example, had a lot of heart problems even as a young man. That may have had a lot to do with why they aged prematurely. Even today, people with those kinds of problems look older than their true age. I also think people weren't as wrapped up in youth culture in previous generations. If you were in your 20s and married with a couple of kids, there was no shame in looking like a middle-aged adult. In fact, you didn't want your clothes and hair to look like something a teenager might wear because you wouldn't be taken seriously. With today's culture of social media and celebrity worship (and people staying single later in life), there's a lot more emphasis on holding onto youthful looks as long as possible.
boredpandana 4 years ago
Like i said, style, diet, it all plays into how old they look. Plus, botox and cosmetic surgery is getting increasingly popular, especially among those in hollowood
Lynda Momalo 4 years ago
Some things are often just genetic though -- there have always been people who look older or younger than their age. My grandmother, my mother, and I all look/looked younger than people would guess.
Kenny Kulbiski 4 years ago
Meat and potatoes diets and lots of untested food additives. Nah, I don't know just an amateur guess.
Nicola Roberts 4 years ago
I am quietly working away and suddenly thought about this post. How about James Stuart in Its a Wonderful Life. George Bailey and his friends all looked 20 years older than their characters!
Roman Hans 4 years ago
Incredible but true: Angela Lansbury was just 23 during the filming of Murder She Wrote.
Related on Bored Panda
