I’m still in my 20s, but as of a few years ago I started forgetting what’s my exact age. I always have to stop and recalculate it each time someone asks me. I get asked fairly infrequently, but when I do it’s a bit weird/embarrassing that I have to say “wait, let me calculate”. (I know when I was born, of course.)
It seems as if there’s no good reason I’d remember it, since it changes all the time and it is rarely mentioned in practice. But others, including people much older than myself, know their own age immediately.
I’m also terrible at remembering people’s names, I don’t know if that could be related?
Do you forget other stuff? Would you prefer to offload the mental effort of remembering and just calculate it when it comes up? Maybe look into ADHD.
This is a wild comment. It’s incredibly common and in no way implies neuro divergency.
K
I am somewhat forgettable in general, I guess. Or just disorganised. But I don’t think remembering such a thing is any sort of mental effort, surely people memorise it spontaneously?
I did and I don’t even know how long I was wrong or when I lost track. I thought I was 27. I signed up for some forum, and put in my birthday on my profile and it automatically put my age on my bio. I was like ‘lol stupid website that’s wrong’ then I did the math and realized that I was the stupid website that was wrong.
My birthday never changes, but my age changes every year. I forget it for like 9 months of the year.
I have an august birthday and I keep forgetting sometimes until like January or something of next year then I just go have another and the cycle repeats
I wouldn’t say I frequently forget my age, but it happens. For what it’s worth, after your late 20’s or so you’re basically the same person mentally and what changes are details like how much a day spent working in an office chair screws up your neck and back.
Lifehack: when someone asks your age, just reply “I was born in 2001”
Let them calculate
My guess is it depends on how important it is to you. I have forgotten mine basically every time I am ever asked.
This is normal. As a kid, you’re asked about your age much more often, and you’re often thinking about it as you look forward to hitting milestones - reaching a certain grade, your next birthday, legal age for driving, voting, drinking, and so on. Once you’re in your mid to late 20s it starts to matter a lot less, and people tend to have to do math, or if you’re like me, just ask your spouse.
I usually have to stop and think about it, not recalculate it but it takes a few seconds for the query to run.
I’m not big on celebrating my birthday, I just kind of check off some milestones
Old enough to drive, vote, drink, rent a car, run for president (not quite there yet, look for me on the 2028 ballot though) get an AARP membership, retire, and then that’s pretty much it, then I’ll coast the last couple of decades of my life no longer needing to know how old I am.
I occasionally forget mine, too, but I was fortunate in that I was born in 1970, so it’s really easy to calculate it on the fly.
Ima go with no. It’s not normal. At least not in your 20’s. I’m over 40 and still remember my age. It definitely becomes less important, but I haven’t ever “forgot”.
I thought I was 43 for probably close to a year, and even told everyone that asked I was until I had to get my own health insurance and found out I was actually 44.
Yup, that’s not too weird.
I started forgetting it at 25.
Seems a bit early, but yeah, completely normal. As an adult, you no longer put as much stock in birthdays and neither does anyone else. It sucks sometimes, but it’s not important to life, so whatever.
On the other hand, I was watching a documentary the other day and it hit me that I just passed the average life expectancy of that society, so …. Shit
Think of it this way - you beat that society! In a “that society vs you” contest, you’re in charge, you’re the boss, the head man, the top dog, the big cheese, the head honcho, the number one…
I’ve been getting it wrong since I was around 23. It’s often a case of “hang on, am I 23 or 24?” where I’m off by one year. It was easier during university because I knew of my peers’ ages and that made my age mean something relative to them. Now, age doesn’t come up regularly at all, so I’m more likely to forget and have to work it out as you describe
