Apparently, South Korea’s millennials are getting ribbed by gens Z and Alpha as mercilessly as their western counterparts. The BBC explains they are getting labelled and parodied as “Young 40s”. It’s a term that used to have positive connotations – youthful and “with it” (yes, an expression no one youthful or “with it” uses) – but is now more mocking. A “Young 40” is a try-hard, clinging to a dearly held idea of their own relevance.
Some Young 40s the BBC interviewed sounded wounded and confused by their new status. “I’m just buying and wearing things I’ve liked for a long time, now that I can afford them,” one said of his skate gear and Air Jordans. “Why is this something to be attacked for?” Another felt self-conscious in interactions with younger colleagues: “I try to keep conversations focused on work or career concerns.”
Realising you’re irrelevant stings the whole world over, but take heart, Young 40s. It gets better – soon you’ll just be old. A decade on from my own young 40s, no one could accuse me of trying too hard. I don’t know my Olivia Rodrigo from my Sabrina Carpenter, and I’ve stopped trying to keep up with jeans – they lost me at (honestly, way before) “horseshoe”. I’m at peace with not understanding fandom controversies or influencer gossip – I get enough drama from my own body, wondering if its newest weird development is just disgusting and embarrassing or might kill me.
My lot, gen X, are past feeling hurt when people laugh at our band T-shirts and outdated references – we have real problems now, such as osteoporosis, high cholesterol, inadequate pensions and ailing parents. Besides, look at our idols! Documentaries about the edgy music scenes of our youth are peopled with unrecognisable grey-haired men who look as if they lodge well-researched comments on their local planning portal about the ecological impact of new developments on waterfowl, and women who are heavily into lino printing. And, mostly, they, we, seem fine with it.
I’m not suggesting this sense of acceptance is definitive – God knows what’s round the corner – but I can promise the Young 40s it’s quite peaceful.
• Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist
