Think you can still strut your stuff wearing the latest fashion and impress people? Waltz into an interview and expect to get the gig? Or sort out an IT problem? If you’ve reached a certain age, it’s time to think again…

If you believe our society is ageist, you’d probably be right… not least when it comes to fashion, the workplace… and even technology.

According to new polling from the anti-ageism campaign “Age Without Limits”, the Great British public think that people no longer look good wearing the latest fashions and cease to be seen as a desirable hire by employers when they reach their mid-50s.

In fact, if you want to pin an exact date on when the portcullis comes down, around two thirds of the 4,000 people polled think that the average age that someone no longer looks good wearing the latest fashion is (wait for it) 56.

If that sounds bad, one in ten of the population think that people no longer look good wearing the latest fashion trends by the time they hit 40.

And when it comes to the workplace, the average age when people think someone stops being seen as a “desirable candidate” for employers to hire is 55 – a full 11 years before the current State Pension Age.

Fortunately, these opinions are not (entirely) universal.

Around one in three people (32%) think there is no specific age when someone no longer looks good wearing the latest fashion trends while one in ten (10%) do not think there is an age where people stop being seen as a desirable candidate for employers to hire.

So… just how ageist are we?

The new polling highlights the prevalence of ageism in the UK as the Centre for Ageing Better launches the third year of its campaign, “Age Without Limits”, highlighting how the persistent acceptance of negative attitudes towards ageing has the potential to limit all our lives as we get older.

Their CEO, Dr Carole Easton OBE, said: “The absurdity of ageism is that it is a prejudice against our future selves, as we all hope to get older one day. It is in no one’s interests to impose limits and barriers on what we can do as we get older.

“Our survey shows it can also be a prejudice against our current self, with people in their 50s, 60s and beyond assigning themselves age limits to what can and can’t be done in later life – something known as ‘internalised ageism’.

“Our polling shows how all-encompassing ageism can be with societal judgements around what we can wear, our working lives and how people’s capabilities are perceived based purely on age judgements.

“Ageism limits work, health, relationships, ambition and confidence and ultimately whose lives are seen as worth investing in.

“Ridding society of ageism would have such a transformative impact on so many lives.”

Technology and ageing

And there’s more…

The new polling also highlights ageist attitudes towards people’s abilities to use technology and the quality of their brain function as they get older revealing that:

• The average age at which people think someone struggles to adapt to new technology is 61 – even though data shows that over-70s spend more time online than any generation besides Gen Z.
• The average age at which people think someone starts experiencing cognitive decline is 63 – which is three years before “early ageing” of the brain occurs and more than 20 years before “late ageing” of the brain occurs. Other studies have shown the overall functioning of the human brain reaches its peak between 55 and 60.
• The average age that someone is considered “old” is 65 – the average age when old age is thought to begin varies between different surveys as well as being dependent on the age of the person being asked the question (Children aged 7-16 said “49” in a previous survey) showing how much old age is a personal and social construct.

Ageing attitudes as we age

The polling also reveals some interesting differences in the likelihood of ageist attitudes between different age groups including:

• The age group most likely to think that someone stops being seen as a desirable candidate for employers to hire at the age of 50 or younger was the 45 to 54 age group (41%) – a possible reflection of the ageism this group experiences themselves in the workplace.
• Almost twice the proportion of 45-54-year-olds (23%) thinks cognitive decline starts at 50 or younger compared to the 55-64-year-old age group (13%) – a possible indicator that such fears about cognitive decline are not realised in the older age group.
• Nearly one in five (18%) of the population thinks people struggle to adapt to new technology at 50 or younger but this rises to almost one in three (32%) of 18-24-year-olds.

Harriet Bailiss, Co-head of the Age Without Limits Campaign, said: “Our campaign is calling on everyone to question ageist language, stereotypes and behaviours that they experience in daily life and to challenge the flawed thinking that they are founded upon.