The telltale signs you are getting old... how many do YOU do?

UK Daily Mail ^ | 2/18/2026 | Ed Holt

[fruser1]

Sitting down to put your socks on, seeing previous clothes come back into fashion and asking 'who?' when watching the Brit Awards are all signs you are getting on.

The study was by American Pistachio Growers, which has partnered with actor John Thomson, 56, to urge mid-life adults to age positively.

1. Talking about aches and pains with friends

2. Groaning when bending down

3. Preferring quiet venues to noisy ones

4. Preferring a quiet drink over a night out

5. Enjoying an early night

6. Not caring about the latest fashion trends

7. Thinking that new music isn't as good as it used to be

8. A recurring ache that doesn't disappear

9. Using phrases like 'back in my day' or 'remember when*?'

10. Sitting down to put socks on

11. Caring less about how you look

12. Taking shoes off as soon as you get inside - slippers have become a necessity!

13. Noticing something you wore in your youth is now back in fashion

14. Starting conversations with 'Do you remember when*?'

15. Reading menus at arm's length

16. Talking to yourself

17. Moaning about politics

18. Feeling more confident/self-assured

19. Getting up at 6am naturally

20. First 'Who?' when watching the Brit Awards

21. Looking forward to gardening

22. Feeling confounded by AI

23. Listening to the radio or podcasts instead of club music

24. Getting excited about new home appliances

25. Checking the weather forecast hourly

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TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: aging

[fruser1]

A list of what medical procedures that are denied you under socialized medicine by age would be helpful.

[ClearCase_guy]

7. Thinking that new music isn't as good as it used to be

Any teenager who knows anything at all is on board with this thinking.

[one guy in new jersey]

what’s club music

[NeverTyranny]

Ha! I do many and I am happy with that. Thanks for posting. It gave me a chuckle. : )

[BipolarBob]

Everything but 19. I get up later. I’m usually done puking by noon.

[ansel12]

“”””””what’s club music””””””

I think it is like this song, it is about a big club.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTs6a0ORdQU

[TheThirdRuffian]

Apparently I’ve been old since I was a teenager, excepting all the aches and pains. I’ve always hated loud parties and gotten up early.

Of course I grew up on a ranch.

[Kharis13]

7. Thinking that new music isn't as good as it used to be

At the risk of sounding 'old', newer music isn't as good -- or more specifically, SINGERS aren't usually as good. Autotune has completely changed who can make music. In the older days, if you couldn't sing, you couldn't sing. Period.

There are still some great singers today (Adele, Michael Buble, etc.), but they're more an exception than the rule.

[SuperLuminal]

Remembering a time that this was a relatively free and proud Nation...

Speaking of details of living through WWII and having people look at you with a blank stare...

[equaviator]

7. Thinking that new music isn’t as good as it used to be

I don’t just think it, I know it. Today’s popular culture is inferior.

[cyclotic]

I turn 63 in a couple weeks. I guess that’s old.

I can balance on one foot while putting my socks and shoes on. I don’t own slippers unless you count my down booties I wear when winter camping.

Modern music does suck. Stores play 70’s soft rock, not current techno autotune garbage.

I’ve always moaned about politics and I’ve never enjoyed a loud raucous night out nor have I really cared about fashion or how I look.

[Tell It Right]

26. Fixing cars 5 decades old easier than fixing new ones.

27. Challenging your offspring to swim races in the pool just to prove that you still got it.

[quantim]

“6. Not caring about the latest fashion trends”

Haven’t cared about this crap for over 50 years.

“16. Talking to yourself”

And the reason I talk to myself is that I aways get the right answer.

[TheThirdRuffian]

Loud pounding crap that sounds good only if you have a generous blend of cocaine, Molly, and alcohol in your system.,

[Bernard]

Now that I think about it, I don't remember ever standing to put on my socks. Is this one of those Archie Bunker/Meathead things about putting on one sock, then the shoe, then the other sock and shoe, instead of putting on a sock and shoe on one foot and then the other? I remember that episode.

And arms-length menu reading? I am more likely to use the flashlight on my cell phone to see it.

[FLT-bird]

3. Preferring quiet venues to noisy ones

I got there when I was in my 20s.

4. Preferring a quiet drink over a night out

I got there when I was in my 20s. I always found it annoying to pay a lot to sit in a loud bar such that you could hardly hear the person next to you. I'd much rather go someplace quiet, enjoy my drink and the conversation with whoever I was with.

5. Enjoying an early night

Do naps count? If so I got there in my teens.

6. Not caring about the latest fashion trends

Again, got there in my teens. I never went for acid washed jeans for example. I correctly identified them as stupid and a waste of money right away. The clothes I buy have been "in fashion" with men since before I was born (eg, 2 button polo shirts, black or brown leather dress shoes, khakis, etc etc) I rewatched Thunderball which came out in 1964 recently and noticed that everything Sean Connery was wearing then would not be out of style for men now.

7. Thinking that new music isn't as good as it used to be

I got there around the year 2000 when there was much much less of what we now call Classic Rock being played on the radio. I was 30 then.

9. Using phrases like 'back in my day' or 'remember when*?'

see my previous answers.

13. Noticing something you wore in your youth is now back in fashion

See above answer. If you dress on the more conservative side - especially for men - other than a brief period of insanity in the 70s - men's fashion really hasn't changed in 60 years at least.

16. Talking to yourself

Who doesn't have an inner monologue? That's all of us. I've always done that.

17. Moaning about politics

I noticed things really started going to chit when Obama was elected in 08.

19. Getting up at 6am naturally

I almost never sleep in that late.

23. Listening to the radio or podcasts instead of club music

Then I've been old since I was in my early teens. I hate club music and dance music and always have.

[Steven Tyler]

I have always removed my shoes when entering my home from the outdoors...

[READINABLUESTATE]

All except getting up at 6:00 I’m usually up at 1:30 -2:00.
(Gotta pee) then I can’t get back to sleep.

[who knows what evil?]

I talk to myself because I enjoy intelligent conversation.

[Skywise]

7 is just true these days.