At what age does one start to become invisible?

[raccoon]

Well, not exactly totally invisible, but less visible.

[kentauros]

1. I suppose you could say it starts in grade school

when you're the last one picked for the team, if you're picked at all ;)

[Juche]

2. invisible to whom

[Left Is Write]

36. That's the question! Invisible to whom?

I may be invisible to teenagers, but I don't know that I'm invisible to my own peer group.

[MorningGlow]

3. Forty

Says the 43-year-old. ;)

Caveat: That goes for normal, average-looking people, not those freakishly hot "older" folks.

[Haole Girl]

8. That is when I first noticed it

People would look right past me, as if I wasn't there, sometimes. It was a wake-up call. And pretty depressing.

[raccoon]

16. At least, you were aware. Took me a while to catch on. nt

[applegrove]

28. Around the time I turned 39 my eyebrows fell. I'm a single gal not looking for a relationship. I

laughed and laughed because me getting older will not matter to me or anyone in my life. I have that freedom at least for all that I lack for not being in a relationship.

[timtom]

33. Did your avatar used to be a wine glass?

[applegrove]

37. Yes. I must have told this story before eh?

[timtom]

38. No.

I recognize your user name. I haven't seen it in a couple of years.

[applegrove]

39. I've been around. Though perhaps less than the first year. I've been working.

[Blue_Tires]

4. once you leave that prime 18-29 marketing demographic

[Patiod]

5. I'd second forty

Although a few of my cougar friends have lasted until about 45...

[Robb]

6. About the same time your "fireballs out of the eyes" powers manifest

It depends. ;)

[KitchenWitch]

7. For me it was 40

I am 45.

[TZ]

9. My first 39 years. N/T

[cwydro]

10. I've been invisible on here

many many times.:P

[MissMillie]

11. for women? 33

unless you have breasts like Pam Anderson and/or legs like Tina Turner.

[TZ]

12. Even younger if you aren't a size 0-6

[NJmaverick]

13. So many variables it's really hard to say

[CrownPrinceBandar]

14. I gotta agree on the 40 number..........

but I've been invisible most of my life. Its kind of a talent I have.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23C9xMRCOPY

[guitar man]

15. I don't know but

...as long as they keep saying I'm "old and in the way" I guess they can still see me :D

[grace0418]

17. I don't think I've ever been fully visible, except in a negative way.

It really depends.

[distantearlywarning]

18. Depends on when you stop being a size 2

:(

[Tuesday Afternoon]

19. I was born with this ability.

Simple really.

[Deja Q]

20. In marketing terms?

[Kali]

21. I got less visible as I got heavier.

It has been kind of interesting.

[Lucian]

22. I've been invisible my whole life.

[BeachBaby]

23. I'm not sure it has anything to do with age.

I think it has a lot to do with attitude and looking your best.

[ismnotwasm]

24. I'm not planning on being invisable ever

But we aren't talking about the same thing I'm sure.

If you mean sexually desirable, I suppose that would depend on how much work you put into it. I see women 60 years old turn heads. I had an 85 year old patient complain to me about the perfidy of her ex-boyfriend. She had another lined up.

[raccoon]

25. What I meant was, people just don't pay as much attention to older people.

I'd say sexual desirability's is certainly a part of it.

[ismnotwasm]

29. Now that is true

Youth culture. It will be interesting to see if the "baby boomer" demographic changes this a bit. One way of looking at, is older people don't thrive on as much attention as younger ones do. Then I think about some work place and a 50 year old woman, (or man) with wits, talent and experience being taken for granted or overlooked. It's almost more about respect as well as a bit of fear maybe. Gray hair and wrinkles are frightening to us mere mortals.

[Juche]

44. Wouldn't you pay more attention to older people

Obviously younger people will be more sexually desirable, but older people are going to have more experiences and more challenges they have overcome. If anything you'd expect the older you get the more people listen to you, even if they find you less attractive than they would've 30 years ago.

However it was fun in my mid 20s when I could approach women in the street and hit on them, and have about 60% of them enjoy it. I probably can't do that when I am 50 anymore.

[raccoon]

47. You'd think so, but it usually doesn't work that way. nt

[Kali]

26. that is part of it. but I didn't really take it especially that way

because even when you are perceived to be youthfully sexually attractive, a lot of times your "audience" does not pay the kind of attention you might be wanting. I'm talking about being taken seriously in real conversation. Then become an average looking, heavy, middle aged woman. It is interesting to see the looks of surprise when you express an intelligent, insightful idea. Similar to the looks when it happened back in the "good looking" era. Only then you had the added sign of that moment when they realized you were actually speaking, plus having an idea.

[Sky Masterson]

27. I've been invisible for years

It got even worse after 40 :cry:

[kimmerspixelated]

30. This is a sad question.

One that Anne Tyler might have addressed in one of her novels, when she said she(a character) had reached the age when no one got all excited to see her come through the door, such as children or husbands....

[old mark]

31. I seem to hear a voice, but no one's there......nt

[lizziegrace]

32. When I got divorced

the transformation from visible to invisible was complete. :-(

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

42. You, too?

Seems like if you're not part of a couple you're not there at all. Your married friends pretty much forget about you and you don't get invited to stuff any more.

And if you want to be really invisible, try being both divorced and old. You go beyond mere invisibility to something like a human black hole.

[lizziegrace]

43. Yep, me too

I'm divorced and 48. I hardly exist.

[raccoon]

48. Never mind--that question has pretty well been answered. nt

[Moondog]

34. Invisibility can be a very good thing. Revel in it.

Two basic truisms -

Camouflage is the first law of survival.

If you've got it, hide it.

[raccoon]

49. Yeah, I've noticed it does have its advantages. ;-) nt

[Midlodemocrat]

35. Couldn't tell ya. Some teenager in a wife beater

said 'Hey, Girl, How ya' doin?' to me as I picked up pizza for the Fam Friday night.

But, I Robert DeNiro'd him and the little punk backed down. He did it solely to be a bigshot and intimidate in front of his friends.

I got the last laugh. Although, I was tempted to tell him that I would kick his ass from here to NYC and not break a sweat.

[rug]

40. About the same time your eyesight goes, so it all works out.

[struggle4progress]

41. Y'know, when I was younger, fitter and more studly, people ignored me, and when they didn't

ignore me, the most common reaction was rude

As an example -- this actually happened and wasn't that unlike many reactions I got -- I was one day minding my own business and doing some routine shopping, when out of the blue a young woman who I'd never seen before suddenly walked over to me and screamed I'd never go to bed with you and then walked quickly away. It wasn't an especially comfortable public moment, with people staring at me as if I'd just propositioned someone I hadn't even noticed until she started screaming

A few years later, I went to an environmental conference in Illinois; since I was headed back through Pennsylvania on my way home, one of my friends asked me to give one of her friends a ride back to small town Pennsylvania, and I obliged. The passenger was intelligent, very married, and wonderful company for the trip. Near her home, she offered to buy me lunch at a large local diner that she liked. We sat at the counter an hour: the wait staff pointedly refused to notice us, except for looking daggers at me from time to time. Finally, she said, Well, this has never happened before!, and I drove her home. I spent a few pleasant hours there with her and her husband, got a nice tour of the woods and streams on their property (wildlife!), and then went my way

As a middle-aged guy, I seem to attract less hostility. I just don't allow myself to be invisible: I rather like talking to people

[KT2000]

45. Grey hair

makes you totally invisible.
If you drop things, smash into things, swear out loud, you can prolong the less visible stage.

[clyrc]

46. I became invisible when I was 29 and I got fat

I noticed a serious change in the way people treated me, and not being blessed with tons of confidence anyway, it hurt. Then I moved to the Middle East, and suddenly people notice me. The blond hair, the fact that fat is ok here, my status as an expat, the respect people have for older people - all of them made me much more visible. Last year, I spent a month in the States and had to get used to being invisible again. A few days after I got back home, I went to a crowded grocery store. I was in line waiting for my husband to show up, and I turned around to look for him, and I think every eye in the store was on me. It seemed like a hundred people were staring, and after a month of invisibility it was strange. Where I live there aren't just a whole bunch of fair skinned and haired people, so I stand out. I get used to getting stared at, and frankly to getting treated better than I do in the States.

[Burma Jones]

50. About the age when you know how to take advantage of Stealth

But, once you've passed, say about 40, people think you no longer have promise, only expectations.

[Wapsie B]

51. What is this visibility of which you speak?

Someone who's naturally more extroverted is fighting invisibility til the day they die. Others have rarely if ever had time in the limelight. In fact in some instances being part of the woodwork is reinforced on a daily basis; at work for example. While some can have the type A alpha personality once someone is pigeon-holed into the role of a quiet furry fuzzball any attempt to change that is met with hostility.
:rant: