People Who Are Middle Aged Or Older Usually Have 8 Specific Habits That Everyone Pretty Much Notices Right Away
Krakenimages.com | Shutterstock Habits and routines change with age. That's not exactly surprising. What is surprising is how the habits you adopt as you get older give away your age immediately to anyone looking.
Your skincare may be on point, and you might have a baby face, but the fact that you leave reading glasses all over the house or prefer making your morning coffee at home instead of hitting Starbucks on the way to work tells everyone around you that you can't drink water two hours before bed. Chances are, you've reached that age where you really don't care, though, and that's pretty awesome.
Habits of middle-aged and older people that instantly give their age away:
1. Using larger text size on their phones
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As you get older, there are certain inevitabilities in life. A few decades ago, they looked entirely different. However, today, older millennials, Gen Xers, and boomers are having a harder time reading the factory-setting font on their phones. The sound is turned up, and the text size is increasing, all for the sake of ease of use.
It’s not a bad thing at all. It might signal you aren't a young buck anymore, but if it’s helping, it’s a good thing. You've spent years staring at screens; reading glasses are normal, and so is increasing that font size.
2. Turning down music to read street signs
If you’ve ever been in the car with a middle-aged person and they're driving somewhere they haven't been before, dollars to donuts they'll turn the volume down when they need to pay attention to the street signs or find a house number.
Luckily, it’s not for nothing. A 2023 study found that music with lyrics tends to mess with your thinking, so take that, youngsters. Turning down the sound is all about concentrating! You might not do it now, but you will.
3. Being able to drive a stick shift
Stick-shift cars are becoming few and far between, and most young people will never learn to drive a manual. However, for the 40ish-and-older crowd, driving stick was part of getting your license, and chances are they still enjoy it.
Even if they’re not regularly driving stick, having the skill is an instant giveaway that they’re at least middle-aged. That or they really love muscle cars.
4. Printing boarding passes and documents
Even though most Gen Xers are comfortable with the digital world, the folks that are a little older, like Generation Jones and boomers, still like to have print copies of important stuff for peace of mind.
Whether it’s physical boarding passes for flights or essential documents stored in a filing cabinet, knowing they have these things on hand is a comfort. Who knows? Maybe they're onto something. Having a hard copy of things like wills is necessary because most courts won't recognize digital ones, so maybe their tendency to hold onto paper copies is actually smart.
5. Saying ‘back in my day’
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While Gen Zers are just beginning to spread their adult wings, most aren’t yet at the point of saying “back in my day” when talking to anyone younger. They’re used to being the youngest at work and in social settings, so there’s nobody to preach to.
However, the second someone references their youth this way, it’s pretty easy to assume that they’re middle-aged or older. Honestly, if they say it, they're not hiding it, either.
6. Writing in cursive
Considering cursive was removed from curricula for Gen Z early on, it’s not surprising that it’s become somewhat of a disappearing habit in daily life. For the most part, it’s only older generations carrying the tradition, but that might actually be changing.
Learning cursive and putting pen to paper has serious developmental benefits for kids that many Gen Zers missed out on. But for now, when someone writes in cursive, it’s obvious that they’re at least middle-aged, because unless they went out and learned it on their own, most Gen Zers don’t have the skill at all, even if they should.
7. Getting to the airport 3 hours early
Even though a recent study found that arriving more than 2 hours early for a flight is often a waste of time, there are plenty of cases where the early bird is actually at an advantage. Especially when wait times are unexpectedly long or flights change at the last minute, it’s the passengers already at the airport who have an advantage, literally and mentally.
However, this habit is conventionally associated with older people. In fact, plenty of Gen Zers spite their parents, especially their fathers, who were strict about waiting at the airport for hours, by showing up during crunch time.
8. Balancing their checkbook
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Even though most generations aren’t writing checks at all, going through their bank account and balancing out their expenses is still largely an older person's habit. It’s not a bad thing either, especially considering they’re more likely to catch inconsistencies. Even better than that, it gives them a monthly opportunity to evaluate their spending.
It’s this kind of intentional financial literacy that young people often lack. They prefer to do everything online and appreciate the convenience, but overlook the power of analog financial habits like this or budgeting with cash.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a senior editorial strategist with a bachelor’s degree in social relations & policy and gender studies who focuses on psychology, relationships, self-help, and human interest stories.
