Ageism

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Have any of you experienced ageism?
No, I don't think so.

Do any of you commit ageism?
I admit I tend to be wary of teenagers. xD Especially teenage boys. Too many incidents on trains and things with them being a bother. They make me kind of nervous, especially when they're in groups. I know it's bad, but I can't help but assume they will probably be annoying. Also when seeing drivers on a Probationary license (here that means they have been driving for less than 4 years), I assume they are more likely to drive dangerously and show off. I guess that's not directly tied to age though, since older people can still be Probationary drivers.

What can be done to reduce stigma with age and specific ages?
I guess just trying to speak to people of different ages would help. The same with any kind of "ism" issue. If you start seeing people instead of age/race/gender/whatever you will probably realise that everyone is pretty much the same and has good and bad points.

Do you think most ageism is justified?
I wouldn't say most, but some is probably justified. I'm sure there have been studies that show that elderly people are less safe drivers. The same way that teenagers probably do the most risk taking behaviour. But people are individuals and stuff like personalities have little to do with age. There are biological generalisations that can be made, like teenagers' brains are still developing and therefore they are more likely to make poor decisions, or that reflexes degrade with age and therefore elder people are less able to react to things when driving and therefore more likely to be involved in accidents etc.

Do you have respect for specific people who are younger than you, or older than you?
I think I generally respect everyone regardless of age, until they give me a reason not to. Honestly, I forget a lot of people I interact with online are younger than me. xD

[Corey]

Do any of you commit ageism?
I admit I tend to be wary of teenagers. xD Especially teenage boys. Too many incidents on trains and things with them being a bother. They make me kind of nervous, especially when they're in groups. I know it's bad, but I can't help but assume they will probably be annoying.

I'm a teenage boy and even I'm wary of teenage boys. xD

But yeah, my answers are the same as Sarah's. I sometimes jokingly exaggerate people's age, though. Like when my teacher talks about her cell phone I say, "What? They had cellphones in 1201 BCE?"