There are many weird posts which lead me to think that my worldview of height which is already slightly distorted, is not as distorted as the majority of the forum members.
They seem to (falsely and perhaps to too great extent) think that:
1. height is important for career success
2. height is important for girls (and I don't know why girls would come into the equation unless you are very much below average, but okay?)
3. The average height is >2-5 cm taller than the official statistics
4. That the younger generation is taller when it is negligibly so based on the data we now have
5. Height is causing their depression/whatever mental issue, or failure in life, when they are already of above average height
6. 6' is not tall. 5'11 is not tall, etc. And they wanna lengthen to 190 cm.
7. 190 cm is not tall enough 'for business'. (what?)
They also think too much about proportions, but that is a diferent story (yes, it shocks me)
How distorted do u think are the members' worldview of the importance of height?
My reply
1) it is not the case In asia but I read a post that says that westerners have a f-ed up conception of height and it was this concept that was brought to Asia, that now we start to have this problem (but less)
2)yes, women prefer tall over very tall. however, according to a street survey, most women interviewed said that they don't mind as long as the dude is taller and/or average height. but this was done in Singapore.
4) not true; someone posted figures up. for a few countries. the average height remained the same (at 176 cm, or 179 cm etc) for various age groups. I also did a test on a social app. The younger generation, ie, 18/19/20 are not taller than the older generation (I did data up until 25 year old). in that post, a few members , we agreed that It is fortunate that the average height is Not going up. From the figures, for guys from 18-40, the average height is the SAME. I think it is perception, you notice younger dudes more often and compare urselves to them. there are many short younger dudes these days, so say my friends. ie, we have many very tall pple and some very short. (I heard it is opposite in America, it is pretty averaged)
5)I do not have mental issues. I did this to feel better about myself and cause I do not want to wear lifts anymore. I am actually 174 cm which is 2 cm above my national average. I also feel short at times when playing basketball
6) 5'11 is tall in most or all Asian countries
7)yes, see the thread posted by kevin11 in LL discussions, if I recall his username right
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1. height is important for career success
Its not a requirement, but many of us have found shorter men to be taken less seriously/have to work harder
Agree;but there are many short successful people, at least in asia where there is less of a height culture (I heard)
2. height is important for girls (and I don't know why girls would come into the equation unless you are very much below average, but okay?)
In most cases, it is. While most women don't require their dates to be over 6ft, most want men at least a few inches taller than them, and when you are close to the average female height you''ll find your options getting limited.
6 feet is not required but it appears that many women want guys at six feet or above, or at least 1.80, in Asian countries. The bare minimum appears to be 170 cm in Singapore. (2 cm plus below national average).
\3. The average height is >2-5 cm taller than the official statistics
This is probably just an illusion created by those knuckleheads who exaggerate their heights
I think it is distorted worldview. Just take 100 people and eyeball them. Chances are, the average is the average.
4. That the younger generation is taller when it is negligibly so based on the data we now have
You're right, younger generations are only taller if the previous ones were severely malnourished and had stunted growth. Evolution takes longer than 30 years/a generation to happen!
Yes, statistics (we had a thread on this with a few PDF files) have shown that the various age groups have the SAME HEIGHT. sometimes the older age group even has a higher height. in America, average height stagnated at 176 cm and 178 cm for all americans and white americans respectively. a young American (white) is 178cm tall. An older American is, also 178 cm tall, plus or minus less than 0.5 cm. The same goes for Danish youngsters (179 cm, is the height for youngsters and middle aged and even 40+) and Norway.
In western countries that have been developed for a long time, the height of youngsters IS THE SAME as the general population (maybe, excluding the 60s guys)
In countries that are newly industrialised ie, developed a lot in recent years, perhaps Singapore,, Korea, etc, the average heigt did increase, but it increased only a few centimetres over 10-20 years.
5. Height is causing their depression/whatever mental issue, or failure in life, when they are already of above average height
Some of them do have issues way deeper than their height...but think about a guy that's 5'10 and shorter than all his family and co-workers...is it wrong for him to feel not tall in enough? In his little world, he IS short. Height is all relative.
I agree. my brother is 180cm and it feels so weird. I feel short even though I was above average. I always feel short in my university. my perception of average is 175 -176 cm but the national figure is 172 cm.But I don't buy the "youngsters are taller" story.
6. 6' is not tall. 5'11 is not tall, etc. And they wanna lengthen to 190 cm.
When members who DON'T live in Northern Europe/Netherlands say this, its sometimes because they have gotten into the "more height is always better" mode. They don't wanna stop at average, they actually want to be tall.
more height is not actually better. I think past 6 feet , in most countries, the returns are negligible (or even negative returns)
7. 190 cm is not tall enough 'for business'. (what?)
I'm not even going to comment on this one...
this was posted in the forum, he wanted to be 195 cm
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4. That the younger generation is taller when it is negligibly so based on the data we now have
Ture, Young people is taller
Its not, surprisingly to me as well. In USA, Norway and Danish males, at least.
And no for the second time I repeating, I do not have mental issues
I did not see any psychologist or anything though at points I thought it might be good to see one, or a counsellor at least.
But I realised my view is distorted by myself because:
1. the average height for my country is really 172.4. even a 2009 hospital study on 18 year olds says that and measures it to be 172+ cm. the average height did increase from 169 cm, about 10-20 years ago. But it is pretty stagnant. This is confirmed in Korea with average military enlistee height being 173 and Koreans seem so much taller than singaporeans so it seems logical that Singapore's average is 172+. I thought the average is 175-176 at least. And so do many people here in my country. I don't know what to believe, honestly.
2. I feel the younger generation is taller, but the above point invalidates my perception. (Unless people grew taller in the last 5 years which is absurd since our nutritional status has been good since 1990s since we are a developed nation)
3. I went on dating apps and averaged guys heights. The average 18 year old, 19 year old, 20 year old, 21 year old, 22 year old were all 172 cm+ tall. 15th percentile was 178. Bu when I saw the profiles I just saw SO MANY guys taller than me, I thought that (when I saw the profiles) that the average was about 174+ at least. But with my Excel spreadsheet, it is MUCH lower. At 172 cm. All this is psychological perception. We magnify the negatives. There ARE so many short people out there and we just do not pay attention to them. Hence we think the average height is taller.
4. Univeristy where I go to, the average seems even higher at 176cm-ish. 180+ cm guys are so common. I don't know if this is because uni students are from richer families with better nutrition. This I cannot confirm.
I hope this post would help someone else rationalise all this.
From all this I realised I have a slightly distorted PERCEPTION of AVERAGE height or the INCIDENCE/how common 180cm+ people are in my country.
Regarding opportunities for the short, it has always not been a problem in Singapore. I don't know the case if you are very short, but 5 cm below average height is pretty fine.
Hi program, please see my thoughts In bold:
Quote from: programdude on February 18, 2015, 05:20:44 AMI think the members get a bit demented when they get caught up in things like fighting ability etc.
I think those who get obsess with being 6 2 are a bit out of touch, or simply haven't had one operation to see life at 5 10- 5 11 is not so bad.
I obsess with getting to 6' or close is that bad?
I think those who are around or above 5 7 and blame failures on women are setting themselves up for MAJOR disappointment when they realize height is not the end all be all. If you are 5 6 or lower I do think there will be a tangible difference in this field, but the expectation that women will start throwing themselves at you is deluded.
The thing is I am 180 cm with lifts and I hate taking them off when I invite girls over to my place, or I go to their place. So even though I was about 5'8, it was so troublesome to "hide" my insoles by having thick socks and putting them in my shoes.
I do agree height helps for business and confidence, but I don't think it would outweigh the costs of going to one of the top dr.'s as an investment.
I would think that its effect is negligible in Singapore. BUt since everyone thnks so, I suppose there must be at least some measurable difference and so I am glad I did this
As far as mental issues like depression, I think other than those well below average, most who are really distraught over it have some kind of problem in the first place that develops into height neurosis, which can make it feel like it is the source for everything. For example, I had no problems in my life and yet became obsessed with those 3.25 inches completely and almost out of nowhere. For others it is gradual, but I think most are similar who are above 5 8.
A big part of if height is a root for depression etc. in someones life is likely to be how early they realized they were short, and/or had an instance where their height held them back or humiliated them. For me it was only when I was 22/23 I even realized I was below average or considered it an issue. If I had when I was much younger, I imagine my life would have been a lot worse.
A common misunderstanding is depression is as a result of circumstances. that's false. you can be disabled, and NOT depressed, for instance. it is all the chemicals in the mind; dopamine, serotonin, etc. But yeah I wanted to be tall since young....... It dragged on and on to 25 and I thought since YOLO, I shd do it.
Quote from: Puertoricanwasp123 on February 18, 2015, 05:50:57 AMWhen I was a young kid the girls flirted with me which stopped exactly when the rivals catch up and get ahead in height and I wasn't even that cute in my late childhood so good height is that good at any age you happen to be taller than average and in P.R. women do flirt so you know if you can make a move on them. You don't get that at a short height.
I do know women do prefer tall guys but not too tall; but is it that bad?? I put my height as 183 cm on my profile. it used to be 178-ish. There's no difference! But I do get complimented once in awhile for my height.
Quote from: Puertoricanwasp123 on February 18, 2015, 06:03:15 AMThere's no difference because most of the women saw you updated your height, only the new ones will not know.
I mean the number of new females talking to me, or are interested when I talk to them, is the same, as before I changed my height.
Maybe this is Asia. Where height is not that important (ie, 178 vs 183), The other reason is of course our average is 172 cm so 178 cm is already tall, and 183 is probably close to too tall
Quote from: programdude on February 18, 2015, 11:59:49 PMPeurtorican- From my experiences it really isn't true that height matters so much that you are discredited. at least at 5 8 I got a lot more girls than most guys who were taller than me.
Itsmylife- It depends. If 6 ft is an unrealistic goal then yes. I want 6 foot as well, but part of LL is accepting your limitations.
Wearing insoles with women does seem awkward. The important thing is becoming comfortable in your own skin and not needing them. I think in many ways the process of LL is actually healthier than the somewhat demented mindset of needing to always have thing stuffed in your shoes to be happy with yourself, and constantly worried about them coming off.
I totally agree. I hated myself cause I was a lie, at least with the insoles in..... I felt so insecure. It was so bad. Perhaps if I did not wear insoles I would have come to term with my height. So insoles are.. kinda evil? But at 6 feet, even if I wore small insoles, I will still feel confident about my height as statistically I am tall in Asia.
Quote from: Slim_tim on February 19, 2015, 03:42:38 AM
You where already average at 5'8 in asia, now your 6 foot. and your asian. lol must look odd
You have bad grammar which is why I think you're on drugs? Sometimes your sentences are totally illogical. But I will explain.
There are many six foot youngsters here.. I wish I can put the figure at 10%. But it is probably 15-20% of young people.
I live in Singapore, not China, or India where everyone is shorter due to malnutrition.
Here, 180 cm+ is a common sight (maybe 1.5 to 2 out of 10 in town) for young people below 30.
178 cm is even more common in youngsters(3 or 4 out of 10).
Basically, I suspect that, in Singapore, the short guys are pulling the average down.
I don't think 6 feet is odd at all in Singapore. There are in fact quite a few (quite common) 6'1 and 6'2 in university.
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