When you’re in your 20s, the idea of being 40 sounds absolutely terrifying. It feels ancient. Then you get to 40 and realize it’s actually not that old at all. That’s the funny thing about aging. It always looks worse from far away.

And it’s going to happen to all of us, if you’re lucky. You’re going to get old. The real question is what “old” even means anymore, because that answer seems to change depending on who you ask. According to a new poll from Age Without Limits, Gen Z thinks old age starts at 62. That same polling found they believe people stop looking good in current fashion at 56, start struggling with technology at 59, and begin facing cognitive decline at 62. That is a pretty ruthless timeline from a generation that has barely gotten out of college. 

The other part is that Gen Z doesn’t sound especially optimistic about its own future either. The poll found that 20% don’t think they’ll look good when they get old, 27% don’t expect to be in good health later in life, and 25% don’t think they’ll have many family members or friends around them as they age. Yeesh. It also suggests this isn’t simple arrogance so much as a generation absorbing the same anti-aging panic the rest of the culture has been force-fed for years.

This Is Age You’re Officially Old, According to Gen Z

Harriet Bailiss, co-head of the Age Without Limits campaign, put it well when she said, “Taking a simplistic view of ageism, one might assume that younger generations are likely to hold more dismissive opinions of older age. The reality is much more complex.” Gen Z might have some brutal opinions about when people become old, but the survey also found they’re more hopeful than baby boomers about older people still being valuable in the workforce.

And 62 as the beginning of old age doesn’t exactly match what’s been discovered about aging. Research found that people increasingly see old age as starting later in life. Other studies cited in coverage of the poll suggest psychological functioning actually stays strong into the late 50s and early 60s. A more noticeable decline doesn’t show up until later. So, basically, Gen Z could be calling this one a little early.

What this poll really gets at is how warped the conversation around aging has become. People are expected to fear it, fight it, disguise it, and somehow also do it gracefully. So when Gen Z says 62 is old, they didn’t invent that bias from scratch. They are inheriting it. They’re just saying it in a poll.