[HN Gopher] Why did people in the past look so much older?
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Why did people in the past look so much older?
Author : helsinkiandrew
Score : 34 points
Date : 2023-08-16 05:58 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.dazeddigital.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.dazeddigital.com)
| fxtentacle wrote:
| Because their cameras didn't include fully automated digital skin
| filtering?
|
| I agree that everyone (and their mom) looks young on Instagram
| nowadays. But meet them in person and you'll sometimes wonder if
| they sent their parents instead ...
|
| Also, old camera tech used to have a good local contrast but bad
| overall dynamic range. If you use a high contrast HDR tonemapping
| on modern photos, that alone will also really highlight wrinkles
| and skin impurities and make the person look old.
| [deleted]
| jiggawatts wrote:
| You can see this effect even with normal SLR film photos that
| haven't been retouched.
| crazygringo wrote:
| So many of these examples are about TV and film though.
|
| And while Instagram lets you do that kind of smoothing, it's
| virtually never done on TV and film except as very explicit
| (and very expensive) VFX. Because it obviously doesn't work to
| do cheaply in HD on somebody in motion.
|
| Contrast isn't the answer either. Modern high-definition TV
| shows highlight wrinkles and skin texture more than film _ever_
| did (digital cameras simply resolve more detail). And so TV and
| filmmakers cover them up today exactly the same as they did in
| the 70 's: with makeup.
| CKMo wrote:
| Lack of sunscreen
| andrewstuart wrote:
| The past is a longer time ago, so people look older. What's not
| clear about that?
|
| Dinosaurs are fossils in rocks now. That should explain it to
| you.
| patmorgan23 wrote:
| They don't mean that people look like they are from an older
| time. They're talking about the age people look (as in this
| person looks like they're 30 or this other person looks like
| they're 70).
|
| Physical aging features like wrinkles and spots on their skin.
| Gerard0 wrote:
| There is a Vsauce video[1] about this.
|
| [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjqt8T3tJIE
| atleastoptimal wrote:
| Older style/clothing that we associate with older generations,
| higher alcoholism/smoking prevalence, higher androgen levels (in
| men).
| snovymgodym wrote:
| Yeah, all this plus more men working physical labor jobs and
| working outside.
|
| Sunlight ages your skin pretty hard, especially at lower
| melanin levels.
| est31 wrote:
| Dating apps in both southern europe as well as northern
| europe show such a massive difference in how old people look
| compared to their actual ages.
| willsmith72 wrote:
| In which way? Are the northerners older-looking because
| their skin can't handle the sun? Are the southerners older-
| looking because they get more sun?
| runnerup wrote:
| I'd also be curious about any disparate economic
| conditions 30-50 years ago as were judging older peoples
| appearances.
| m463 wrote:
| I wonder about photography.
|
| Current photography benefits enormously from lots of automatic
| and manual technology that make photos look bright, modern,
| smooth and generally very attractive.
|
| compare this to film photography, which did not have the
| dynamic range, light sensitivity, color balance and other
| benefits, and could generally be improved only by sustained
| manual effort.
|
| (and older photography was black and white, and which added
| years and psychological distance to any photo)
|
| Just think of the benefits from a modern phone camera taking a
| candid photograph of yourself, at night, at arms length.
| bobthepanda wrote:
| You don't have to go very far back for this hypothesis to
| fail. Consider that on the classic American show _the Golden
| Girls_ , a sitcom of seniors, the youngest of them was 53
| (played by a 51 year old actress.)
|
| We simply dress and act differently in our older age these
| days.
| weinzierl wrote:
| Age wasn't seen as negatively as now, so people cared more about
| clean attire than particularly looking young.
| adrianmonk wrote:
| As far as I can tell, it used to be more important culturally to
| look and act your age.
|
| If you were 40 and still dressing and acting like you were young,
| a lot of people would assume you weren't a serious, responsible
| person and were foolishly trying to hang onto your youth too
| long. These days the attitude is more like just because you're a
| grown up with responsibilities doesn't mean you can't cut loose
| and enjoy life sometimes.
| [deleted]
| taeric wrote:
| Surprised not to see
| https://twitter.com/nealbrennan/status/956253921827176448 on this
| post. Roy Orbison, in particular, looks older than I would think
| a 52yo would look.
| siva7 wrote:
| The guys on the left to Tom Petty don't look as old. It has to
| do a lot with genetics
| raydiatian wrote:
| I figure it's a hard-to-detect bias. You see a video of the 90's
| you know you're looking on at the 90's. You unconsciously know
| your reference frame to the 90's.
| justinator wrote:
| When my Father was my age, he had four children and I do not.
|
| I look younger.
|
| Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
| [deleted]
| cyanydeez wrote:
| Also, sunblock makes your skin stay young.
| justinator wrote:
| You're right! Incidentally, he died of skin cancer (this is
| not a joke, please cover up, wear sunscreen, get checked by a
| doctor).
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