How old do I look?

May 8, 2004 4:56 PM

How old do I look? This is a fascinating project -- almost like an intellectual's HotOrNot, that plays with our perception and societal ideals of age and beauty. I was close to right only about half the time, otherwise I was waaaay off.
posted by mathowie (64 comments total)

I am so bad at this. I can never tell how old people are.
posted by Orange Goblin at 4:58 PM on May 8, 2004

I'm sure there's a reason why I'm not bad with white people, but was way off on people with different ethnic backgrounds.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:06 PM on May 8, 2004

Aaak! Everyone thinks I'm in my 30s! (I'm 26). At least I still get carded at the liquor store.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 5:09 PM on May 8, 2004

Hey, there's a Haughey in there! I was fairly close on a lot of them, but I didn't get any exactly right. I was even off a year with Matt.
posted by anathema at 5:09 PM on May 8, 2004

I've found him, repeat, I've found him.
posted by armoured-ant at 5:11 PM on May 8, 2004

Just an impression but people really tend to overestimate the age of females.
posted by dgaicun at 5:18 PM on May 8, 2004

Well. At least people aren't guessing I'm 16, like I thought they would.
posted by Zosia Blue at 5:21 PM on May 8, 2004

I'm actually 7. I just have a gland problem.
posted by jonmc at 5:35 PM on May 8, 2004

First two tries:
22/22
16/16

both female. Hmm.
posted by NortonDC at 5:35 PM on May 8, 2004

People are guessing me, on average, about 5 years older than I am. ... my photo was taken about 5 hours into a night of heavy drinking. I think there's a lesson in that for all of us.
posted by Jimbob at 5:40 PM on May 8, 2004

So... how old IS tubgirl? I think we may find out eventually...
posted by tittergrrl at 5:47 PM on May 8, 2004 [1 favorite]

Mostly I guessed 1 year out, except a couple of the less hair-blessed guys who I added several years to, and a number of the younger girls - the same.

(Maybe someone can do a spin-off called jailbait.)
posted by Blue Stone at 5:49 PM on May 8, 2004

People are guessing me a year younger than I am. Maybe glucose makes a good preservative.
posted by jonmc at 5:49 PM on May 8, 2004

I'm better when the person in the photo is closer to my own age.

Is that unique?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 5:52 PM on May 8, 2004

I posted two pics under two different names.

First one came up as an average of 22 (16 guesses so far). Second one comes up with an average of *41* (13 guesses so far).

Both pics were taken within a couple weeks of eachother in January or so.

I don't know how to take this! ;)
posted by tittergrrl at 6:03 PM on May 8, 2004

Oh, and I am 30
posted by tittergrrl at 6:06 PM on May 8, 2004

aaaauuuuuugh!
posted by quonsar at 6:10 PM on May 8, 2004

People are guessing me eight years too young (101 guesses). I generally think women are younger than they are and men older, both here and in real life.
posted by TimeFactor at 6:12 PM on May 8, 2004

No fair. I guessed Matt to be 120, six times and it still averages out to 30 years old!

So far people have guessed me younger. I feel better already.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 6:21 PM on May 8, 2004

Interesting, how something as little as a smile affects my perception of how old/young a person is.
posted by invisible ink at 6:41 PM on May 8, 2004

I am consistently guessing three years under people's ages. Maybe I'll figure that out and just guess +3 what I think initially...
posted by Animus at 7:12 PM on May 8, 2004

I was pretty close most of the time with a couple of surprises where the person was younger than I guessed.
posted by bz at 7:46 PM on May 8, 2004

I'm twenty one, but I was taken for fourteen or under at an airport a few months ago - while waiting in line, my father and I were asked to fill out a form as a child traveling alone. The guesses so far peg me at 26, though. Gah.
posted by Hypharse at 8:15 PM on May 8, 2004

People are guessing that I'm six years younger than I am. No wonder I'm so damned immature.
posted by interrobang at 8:22 PM on May 8, 2004

Damn, I'm old.
posted by moonbiter at 8:31 PM on May 8, 2004

I totally thought David Hasselhoff was older than this.
posted by moonbiter at 8:48 PM on May 8, 2004

dudes, I'm totally bummed...people are guessing me way into my 40's... so, so, so sad.

I'm thinkign that that the average voter is about 16...and any of us in late 30's are officially 'old people".

Sad. very sad. Especially since I spent the night with trophy wifes trying to convice me that I needed plastic surgery if I were to keep my husband.

Well...fuck...maybe the barbies were right. damn.
posted by dejah420 at 9:15 PM on May 8, 2004

No, no, dejah, I guessed you right. In fact, I guessed everyone right or within a year. One thing you get as you get older is how people look within their respective decades. :) Back on topic, tho, never listen to barbies, especially when it comes to plastic surgery. My advice, if you want to look younger, is to let your eyebrows fill in a little and add bangs to your hairstyle. You'd be amazed at the difference it will make.
posted by Lynsey at 9:25 PM on May 8, 2004

I am much better at this than I thought I would be (I generally consider myself a very poor judge of age). I think I've been within 3 years in every case except one.

[great link]
posted by uncleozzy at 9:26 PM on May 8, 2004

Interesting link, but 90% of the people seem to be in their 20s.
posted by MegoSteve at 9:29 PM on May 8, 2004

Very interesting site...I like it. Harder to guess accurately than I thought!

Jon, based on that picture, I would have guessed you to be about 36 or 37. Sorry.
posted by davidmsc at 9:30 PM on May 8, 2004

add bangs to your hairstyle.

My last stylist gave me bangs, I tried to kill her. ;) Bangs, with curly hair and people who doen't own blow dryers and a bad, bad mistake. I epitomize the "there was a little girl, who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forhead...and when she was good, she was very, very good...and when she was bad, whe was better." ;
Besides, I've aleady planned the methods by with the Stepfords will all pay once I rule the world. I won't be pretty, mnid you...but it will be fun. ;)
posted by dejah420 at 9:34 PM on May 8, 2004

I've learned: I'm really really bad at estimating people's ages.
posted by normy at 9:34 PM on May 8, 2004

Well, most people are better at guessing than me. On most I was high, and I hate to say it but all the teens threw me off. On the other had a few years back I felt like admonishing a teen to not smoke, I thought she was under 18. The setting: outdoor concert, middle of the day, she < 10 feet away. Thankfully, I did not as she was 21 (my gf later told me the girl was celebrating her bday). Oh well.

On my pic, after 60+ views, it has avg. 43 (actual is 46).
posted by tallpaul at 9:39 PM on May 8, 2004

What's with those people who are wearing big, age-muffling headgear? Why not just upload a photo of you in a burqua, if you want to disguise your age?
posted by Guy Smiley at 10:07 PM on May 8, 2004

I am just horrible at this. Though I am usually horrible tilting young, so everyone take heart. Must be all those years of watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I fret for our police force.
posted by furiousthought at 10:28 PM on May 8, 2004

I was surprised by how many I got right as I've always been hopeless at guessing people's ages. If they act young then I tend to think they are and vice versa. I used to think quonsar was about 19!
posted by Tarrama at 10:33 PM on May 8, 2004

and what changed your mind?
posted by quonsar at 10:36 PM on May 8, 2004

I don't think I like this game! After three guesses the average guess for my first picture was 55. I am 28... I refused to give that picture any more of a chance to damage my ego and removed it. A new picture has been uploaded and now, thank goodness, I am averaging 24.
posted by amro at 10:58 PM on May 8, 2004

Lesson for the day : never underestimate people's vanity.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:59 PM on May 8, 2004

As soon as I saw your user page and how cute you look in your little pink dress, I realised my mistake. I used to think you were a guy too!
posted by Tarrama at 11:00 PM on May 8, 2004

*gasp*

The Age Project is my site! I can't believe it made it to Mefi... and posted by #1 himself, no less. I'm having such a moment right now. Thanks everyone!
posted by 4easypayments at 11:00 PM on May 8, 2004

Fascinating site, 4easy. Of course I immediately added my picture.

A similar site I'd love to see somehere, but would be tough to do just right: a "Hot or Not" that asked for judgements across the lines of sexual orientation, i.e., if you're a straight male, you judge men, and if you're a gay man, you judge women, et. al. (yes, freeflowing bisexuals would have an advantage.)

What interests me about that is how many straight guys have said to me over the years that they "have no idea if a guy is hot, I can't think that way" (how utterly boring -- and either false or hideously programmed-by-society. I mean, c'mon, straight guys make judgements on other's guys' looks all the time, if only when competing for women; I would imagine that straightwomen are much more consciously conscious of judging one another.)
posted by digaman at 11:08 PM on May 8, 2004

Holy crap! Who thought I was 39?
posted by PrinceValium at 11:36 PM on May 8, 2004

Holy hell . . . I'm 36 but the average guess is 47.
posted by wdpeck at 12:54 AM on May 9, 2004

Now that was a delightful little ego boost. Just what I needed after a sweaty day of shed building and yard work.

I think I'll start lying about my age now since it seems that I might be able to get away with it. :D
posted by Orb at 12:55 AM on May 9, 2004

Hey, there's a Haughey in there!

Matt still looks like he gets carded at Burger King.
posted by RavinDave at 1:09 AM on May 9, 2004

Great site, 4easypayments - completely fascinating.

I've just uploaded my photo - if anyone can find it, it's your one and only chance to find out my real age, since I always lie.
posted by taz at 2:43 AM on May 9, 2004

I had to do a touchdown dance when I guessed Lemonhead's age and found out I was right on the money!

I'd post my pic but I'm prematurely gray and don't need the aggrevation. Maybe I'll color my hair neon green or wear a backwards baseball cap, since that seems to take about 10 years off.

Very nice 4easypayments.
posted by Devils Slide at 3:06 AM on May 9, 2004

What a total fucking idiot.
posted by ed\26h at 9:29 AM on May 9, 2004

Maybe someone can do a spin-off called jailbait.

Jailbait or Legal: Are these girls over 16? (b3ta quiz)
posted by Ljubljana at 9:57 AM on May 9, 2004

how do you see the user names?
posted by Recockulous at 9:57 AM on May 9, 2004

if anyone can find it, it's your one and only chance to find out my real age, since I always lie

Which is why I haven't passed this really fun link on to my friends who know my age yet. They'd completely ruin the feel-good-vibe I am currently getting as the general consensus there is still 10 years under my actual age ... which feels really, REALLY good. ;)
posted by Orb at 11:50 AM on May 9, 2004

I haven't submitted my photo, and probably won't. I've lied about my age for so long now that when it's necessary to give the correct age (say, at a new doctor's office), I have to actually calculate it. Anyway, I'm over 40, but I still get carded about 60 percent of the time when I buy booze. The only part I hate is when I show them my license and they make some remark along the lines of "Geeeez!! You don't look that old!"
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:07 PM on May 9, 2004

well, they've got me exactly.

are you recording the guess details in a database as well as the average and number of guesses? in other words - are you identifying who is guessing, when possible (ie when they're logged in)?

i'd really like to see a plot of the error distribution. also, a scatter plot of real against guessed ages (with colour dots for gender) would be neat. and how about a scatterplot of error in guesses against age difference between guesser and guessee (someone suggested above that younger people would make worse guessers)?

get analysing that data! there's some facinating results in there...
posted by andrew cooke at 12:24 PM on May 9, 2004

should i be flattered that so far, people are on average exactly on the money? hm.
posted by ifjuly at 3:37 PM on May 9, 2004

"A similar site I'd love to see somehere, but would be tough to do just right: a "Hot or Not" that asked for judgements across the lines of sexual orientation, i.e., if you're a straight male, you judge men, and if you're a gay man, you judge women, et. al. (yes, freeflowing bisexuals would have an advantage.)"

If you really want to know, judgments of attractiveness are highly consistent regardless of gender and sexual orientation. This is hardly surprising, because judgments are also consistent cross-culturally and between adults and two-month old babies!
posted by dgaicun at 4:51 PM on May 9, 2004

Which is why I haven't passed this really fun link on to my friends who know my age yet.

You have now Orb. muaaahahaha You keep forgetting half your friends are MeFi lurkers too *laughs*

I should try this.. I bet people would guess my age pretty well.
posted by dawna at 11:31 PM on May 9, 2004

People routinely think that I'm about five years younger than I actually am, which is borne out by the site. I usually crow "Black don't crack!" when hear this, secretly dreading the day the inverse is true...
posted by black8 at 1:38 AM on May 10, 2004

Being in the early part of my 30s, and still adjusting to this, I've talked about the perception of age a lot with my friends lately. The consensus of people I know is that I look considerably younger than I am, although I think this is less how I look and more that I am not at the expected stage of life that most people assume women in their early 30s would have reached by now. (No kids, unmarried but living with my S.O., going back to school in the fall, moonlighting as a waitress, weekly bar attendee...)

Anyway, I'm very interested in what people guess.

As I'm guessing ages, I find I am using clues about the types of photographs posted and any surrounding scenery (moody webcam photo = under 20, outdoorsy photo = mid-twenties, cubicle self portrait = 30 and up) to guess the ages more than what the people themselves look like, and I'm usually within 3 years.
posted by jennyb at 7:36 AM on May 10, 2004

I'm very accurate at guessing age usually, but I've been terrible at guessing these ones. I think pictures can just be too much of a variable.

[posts photo of herself, braces self for assault on her self-esteem]
posted by orange swan at 8:39 AM on May 10, 2004

In retrospect, I shoulda put my quote as "I can't believe how young I look in this picture."
posted by smackfu at 10:43 AM on May 10, 2004

It's like popcorn... popcorn of pain. And who would have thought I could fall in love again?
posted by squirrel at 9:49 PM on May 12, 2004

I can't stop! It's like a sore tooth that I can't stop probing with my tongue. Great link!
posted by squirrel at 10:39 PM on May 12, 2004