Why did teens seem older back then ?

It was the times. Pre-1990s, everyone (teenagers included) tended to look older. A 16 year old girl would try to look 21. 25 year olds came across as full fledged adults, who were sophisticated, worldly and responsible. And middle aged people looked old.

Today it's like the reversal of that, with 16 year olds still looking like they're 12, 30 year olds still looking and acting like they're college-aged...and 55-60 year olds still look like they're 40-ish.

You're so right! I watched the show originally in the 80's and remember thinking BACK THEN they seemd "old" lol. Now in reruns they seem ancient! Like a bunch of grandmas!

I think a lot of it is the CLOTHING they wore up until around 1986/87. They wore outfits only the ELDERLY would wear in 2015! Bulky knitted sweaters with heart patterns? Bulky jeans, LONG floor length skirts...Their clothing reeked of "Older person"

Also, since this show had to be wholesome, the girls RARELY if ever, drank alcohol or partied really hard (unless it was a "very special" episode) They were always doing really dorky activities that are associated NOW with old people. "Fun" for them was decorating a float for a harvest parade, cotillion dances, Working in an old-lady country-time bakery that sold pastries, cheese and homemade pies, etc. All their antics seemed so tame and boring and not a bit like anything kids now do. Plus they spoke well, no "OMG! TTYL BFF!"

Even when they DID throw a party...MAN! What a snoozefest! They served cheese and crackers, chips and dip, finger sandwiches. NO alcohol was to be found and then some guy started entertaining everyone with CARD TRICKS! It was a party a bunch of old people at a country club would have now.

Yea that look was a bit mature for them. I never did care for the shoulder pad look.

I can't really the recall the last few seasons as I haven't seen them in eons, but I vaguely recall Jo looking downright terrible in the last two (?) seasons. She was sporting that mullet and was forever dressed in huge shirts. Nancy McKeon actually looks younger now than she did in the last few seasons. I also recall Blair having a rather hideous hairstyle and wearing multiple layers a whole lot. I think Mindy Cohen actually looked a lot better towards the end but even she was dressed in those huge shirts.

As others have said, the awful fashions of the 80s had a lot to do with it. Everything was either skin tight or boxy - no in between back then! The makeup was also heavier, even more so because it was television, and not terribly flattering. I can remember reading my mom's old Redbooks back in the 80s and the makeup tips of that era were all about piling it on and wearing colors that were rarely found in nature except on a toucan! The hairstyles were also unflattering and aging.

I don't think more flattering looks and the idea that "less is more" were really ushered in until the last fifteen years or so. Not to say everyone who lived before 2000 looked old and heavy, but makeup and hair techniques have come leaps and bounds in the last few years.

I always thought the kids in my Mom's yearbook look so much older than my friends, when I'd look as a kid, so there is some aspect of how people used to dress, wear their hair...

Now I think it is also because so many of us look and act a decade behind where we should be :) When the whole "40 is the new 30" stuff started, 20-somethings turned back into teens.

I think they seem very young, especially Kim Fields, who is a year older than I am. The teen shows today are filled with people who seem way too old to be in high school to me. And in the 90s, 90210 was the worst with casting adults to play kids, wasn't "Andrea" already 30 when she was playing 16?

The girls on this show are more serious about school & work and they do dress more like "grown-ups" when they are not in school uniforms. I am loving getting to remember when every person around didn't have their nose in a cell phone. They actually talk to each other and work and learn. We- I'm a few years behind the Facts' girls but still a "we" - were just completely different than the FaceBook/Selfies/attached- at- the -hip -to -the -cell- phone generation.

This was a wholesome show and the girls went to a preppy school and had rich parents (except Jo) and I dunno if being from the East and upstate NY had something to do with it.
I grew up in this time being a few years younger than Tootie. These girls acted or dressed nothing like my friends nor did they party like my friends did.
They did seem more teenagery than I see teens acting in shows from earlier decades. On Brady Bunch they acted like high school was college. Watching even earlier shows like Leave it to beaver the girls rolled their hair when they were still in grade school (even tho it would be middle school age)
But the poster who said people act even younger now is true 20 somethings act like teens etc

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I think it's the clothes and glamour of the 1980s combined with actresses looking like real people rather than barbie dolls. If this show were cast today then they would all be 5'9" and stick thin and completely unrealistic, IMO.

I think they tended to act more mature b/c they actually socialized with each other, friends, school events, parents/family members, etc, rather than everyone texting each other like today. There was more communication and they were more well-rounded.