Still trying desperately to cling on to your youth? Watch out: you could be a Young 40 | Emma Beddington

Millennials in South Korea are being mocked for trying too hard to follow fashion. It’s far better to accept the march of time

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pparently, 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.