In certain respects yes I think age can play into stereotypes. Lets face it at 19 I am in a different place in wisdom and life entirely than that of a 30+ year old. I differ in my place in life from a 16 year old. We are all at different places in life at different ages. However I do not agree that the number representing your age reflects on your maturity level or ability to do something. For instance at the age of 19 I am usually judged as being in my 20’s because of the way I carry myself in terms of how I articulate myself, my intelligence, and my maturity. My sister however is usually mistaken for being younger than what she is, the way she acts at 16 is nothing how I acted. I have always been more mature, and able to interact with those who are older than me.
What I hate is when the number representing your age or even the appearance of being young or old is used against you. For example, if a security guard or cop sees two young looking people (lets say between the ages of 16–20) just sitting in a car doing nothing they are very likely to come up to the vehicle and ask you what you are doing. If they were two older looking people say like 30 or older they are less likely to ask you what you are doing.
Kids and young adults even in there early twenties are always looked at as being up to something, or not understanding anything. Now I know I don’t know everything there is to know and that I have many more mistakes to make in my life I see that every day I get older, but I do not appreciate as being looked at as a child when trying to converse with those older than me. Older people tend to shrug off or assume that what a young person says sometimes is basically bologna and that we know nothing. However in many cases we could know something that the older person does not, I feel like they just don’t want to be proven wrong by a kid. I see this a lot with college kids. We are seen a lot of times as arrogant for knowing things, I do not know why that is but I see it a lot. I guess it can be intimidating when a young adult knows more about something than an older person does.
Now not to be bias I will give my piece on the older generation. For those of you that fit the category of 30+, I feel bad for you. I do not mean this in a bad way, but I do see how younger generations treat older generations. I can not count the times people my age have made cracks about people being old. Anytime an older person instructs or criticizes a younger person the response is always negative. It just seems people my age do not always respect the fact that structure is necessary. If two kids are making a ruckus and an older person says to quite it, the terms “cranky old bitch” come to mind. I do not understand why younger generations think that because older generations do not enforce bad behavior, are just old and cranky and need to mind their own business. I can admit that younger generations can be down right disrespectful and rude, and because of that the stereotypes take shape.
I think we all need to take a breather and just remember to give consideration to all of those around us, and to not be so quick to jump to the stereotypical conclusion.