I'm grateful to occasionally hear people say, 'You look young.' But I haven't put in any special effort, so it feels like I'm getting away with something, and I get quite embarrassed. The truth is, people don't distinguish older individuals as well as they do younger ones. Or rather, it's more accurate to say they can't imagine it. Why is that?

To borrow some other concepts for a moment, there's the theory of schemas and mental models. A schema is a unique knowledge structure built upon an individual's long-term experiences. It's usually stored in long-term memory and retrieved when needed. A mental model is how humans simulate dynamic situations in their minds when encountering new circumstances. At this point, they pull out and combine schemas.

For example, when you walk into a Starbucks, certain information automatically comes to mind (the siren logo, green, baristas, Frappuccinos, etc.). This information is accumulated through personal experience. Then, you see a long line of people. You immediately think, 'I should place a Siren Order.' This kind of situational judgment is a mental model utilizing schemas.

Returning to the 'You look young' comment—while our experiences share many commonalities when we're young, as time passes, it becomes difficult to recall a person's life and achievements based solely on their age. We meticulously categorize people in their teens, twenties, and thirties into early, mid, and late stages, but beyond that, it somehow becomes less clear. We've moved past an era defined by four-character idioms; now, individual tastes are personality and competitiveness. It seems we can no longer gauge even younger people by their age.

As these shared experiences diminish, conversations can feel blocked or clash, like using an awkward UX/UI. Since we don't know each other well, we can't judge each other either. It's clearly a compliment, but it feels like we're forced to say only such things because we find each other difficult. So now, I proactively ask, 'How are you doing these days?', 'What do you usually do?', or 'Is there anything I can help you with?' Even if I don't look young, it's good if I can reach someone.