Until the internet became a thing, there were a lot of us who had lived for most of our lives in rural and sparsely populated areas without ever knowing any other atheists. Being able to experience community with other free thinkers is a real treat in my senior years.

Welcome to the asylum. Enjoy your stay.

The kids are figuring it out.
Time takes time.

While it may be your observation that people on this site are older, I don’t think it is fair or correct to assume that it reflects that young people are religious. I think this site is just used by older people. Go to Twitter or Instagram and you’ll find many non religious young folks. This just isn’t a platform younger people use.

BTW, I’m 46 but have been atheist since I was 16.

I don't think membership on this site should be used as an indication of generational atheism because there are too many variables involved, not the least being the availability. I raised my daughters as freethinkers and they've always thought outside the box, as have their friends. Sometimes we educated one of their friends who was visiting, which was cool and perhaps expanded some minds.

I think the younger generations have something we sadly lacked at their age: access to others who think like us (via the Internet). I've told all of my girls about this site, and welcomed them to join, but they have no interest in it, mostly because they don't find their atheism to be fundamental to their key common interests (which are mostly art and music). When they meet someone new, they just assume them to be free of religion.

A lot of younger people are turning away from religion. I have 2 nieces aged 26 and 23 and they can’t be bothered with it, and all their friends that I have met feel the same way. After all it took me 9 years to declare myself an atheist after I stopped attending Sunday Mass Brainwashing.

As with Bigwavedave, I too became an atheist at 13 when I found out that such things existed. I did suffer doubts that there was an all powerful loving one god prior to that. 'I've seen things man'... Mostly on the news, but also overhearing one of my grandfathers talking about wiping an Italian town off the map with a heavy bombardment a day after the German army had 'buggered off back across the Po'. How could a Christian loving and all powerful god allow his beloved children do that to one another.
I've encountered argument about how faith is belief and that is all you need, but I work with evidence, so why dose god or the gods, there are many to choose from with at least 42 (~ oh the irony for Hitch hikers guide fans) of the one and only true ones.
Back when I was 23, I had a girlfriend who wanted me to attend her evangelical church to open my heart to Christ as none can enter heaven who have not done that - thus, until this Jesus fellow started converting people then heaven was empty. Well, in the end it only cemented my disbelief of any gods.
In the beginning there was nothing, and then it exploded - Terry Pratchet

@lady_bugI have been an atheist since I was 13. No internet then and no ability to even talk about it. What about your peers? Are they atheist or agnostic?

It's also kind of relative to how you grew up. For instance, I was never a believer. To me I never had the hardships that some who were raised religious, coming to grips that what they believed in was BS. That is fairly hard on a good number of people.

With that. I've also through my years have noticed that it is usually the newly de-converted, for lack of a better word, are also some of the most vocal about their non-belief, and write or post, or what ever all about it. Which I am not knocking. It's just for some of us, those whole conversations about religion, or God, etc. Are not really an every day kinds of things. It's honestly not that big of a topic, much like the whole "what lable do you use"? I just don't think about that

Not saying I don't get into those conversations, I do from time to time, but usually in response. Most of the time, those conversations or ideals I've had for my whole life. A discussion about god, is right up there with a discussion about Bigfoot, or Santa, And I've thought that way since I was young, so it's not always older folk.

In some respects I do think education is the key though.

Welcome. BTW, I have not debunked "reality." People act as though religion is the reality but in the world today those that sell apps and devices are trying to create our reality. I do not let them do that for me. As for older, I am 74 and soon to be 75 in June. In the significant other realm I have went older twice and younger twice. My current ex is younger and also black, having come here from Kenya. Anyone can have a shallow mind, young or old. Life is what you make it.

As someone yet to gray, I’d like to announce my secular presence. A lovely faithless day to you as well, ma’am.

Welcome! I have found out that being an atheist is about the persons views and values, not a group.

Possibly because older people have more time on their hands

i guess an emerging thought is that our leaders will do everything possible to keep us divided, even to "providing" $600 or $1200 checks on credit, and will do pretty much anything to keep us from coming together, "social isolation" being basically sheer genius i guess

It seems the proportion of nonreligious population is growing with each new generation. There must be some other explanation for the older average age on this site.

PEW research says "generational replacement appears to be playing a role. Religiously unaffiliated Americans are younger, on average, than the general public to begin with, and the youngest adults in the group – that is, those who have entered adulthood in the last several years – are even less religious than 'nones' overall."
[pewresearch.org]

The age distribution of this sample looks pretty normal. (But I'm sharing it because the survey is interesting in its own right.)
[secularsurvey.org]

A great day was had, thank you. Definitely agree about education, but this is not an instant fix. The UK has had free (?) education for 150 years or so, yet still has basic literacy and numeracy problems.

Welcome to the world and Universe of Reality, it is truly a place place live btw.

I think it was Aristotle who said that an unreflective life was not worth living. Just because some of us may have been around for a while and may have experienced a lot, that doesn’t mean we have thought more deeply, questioned more widely, or gained more insight because of it, sadly.

I wish we could acknowledge our common humanity, realizing that we ARE united by all the many things we share. Yet we keep using our differences as excuses for division and chauvinism, rather than seeing opportunities to learn from each other. We often try to do the same things, only in different ways.

Who ya callin old?

Uhm hate to break it to you but I was 8 when I realized the whole thing was a sham

Welcome

these stats are from back in 2014. I sincerely hope the trend has continued

You'll understand, when you get older.

It seems like most of the atheist people on here have replaced their lack of beliefs in gods with a desire for an all powerful government to look after them.

When I was at university (I'm 72 now) I can remember a speaker at a Humanist group presenting a graph showing religious belief going up with age in later years. I wonder if that applies now?

Scholars don’t agree on what “religion” is. What does it mean to you?