A video of high school students from the late ‘80s went viral on X, formerly Twitter, and users could not help but notice the contrast between then and now. The most obvious thing from the clip, which currently has over five million views, was how teenagers back then looked more mature than they do now.
The kids were seen moving around and making funny faces while “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears played in the background. The audio also stated that “life moves pretty fast; if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it,” which could not be more accurate.
Social media users react to ‘80s high school students looking so old
@onlyjayus Why do teenagers from the past look so much older? 👴🏻👵🏻 #fyp #highschool #college #80s #90s #2000s #teenagers #age #edutok #onlyjayus ♬ Champagne Poetry – Drake
A user noted, “It truly never makes sense to me how teenagers in any decade before Y2K always looked VASTLY older than we looked growing up. Like we (born in the early 90s) looked like kids. These people are adults. I’m sure their faces look the same today. We went thru stages, and still are.”
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Another asked why they looked “at least 27 years old,” while some tried to give reasons, including someone who “was a freshman in 1987.”
“Our makeup was different. We didn’t use concealer/bronzer/highlighter/etc. It was basically a liquid foundation, pressed powder, blush, eye shadow, eyeliner, and mascara. No blending, primer, etc, or YT videos to teach us how,” they noted.
Why did kids back then mature so quickly?
Someone else believes that “people weren’t trying to look young” back then, hence the mature appearance across the board. “I think it’s mainly the hairstyles. and they wanted to look older,” they posited. A Reddit thread from years back also tried to give reasons for the older look of ‘80s teens, including that they “were probably more stressed out than kids today, and stress tends to age people.”
Others suggested style, behavior, diet, and hormonal factors. “I’m sure these kids spent more time outside doing activities than the current generation (sun ages as well),” a Redditor noted. “But again I’m no expert at this, I’m just guessing and I’ve always thought about this myself!” Another thing worthy of note was the joy on their faces, which some acknowledged as well. “Everyone actually looks like they’re having fun at school,” user Catherine wrote.