It is normal to wonder what you will look like a few—or many—years down the line from now. You will probably expect some changes, but exactly how drastic they will be cannot easily be prophesied. However, computers and technology have made this sort of conjecture easier.

Such technology was developed partly to locate people who had been missing for many years. Old photographs are frequently scanned and input into the software, which makes extrapolations based on scientific knowledge about how facial structures change, particularly in the case of children whose facial bones are still growing.

However, similar technology can also be used to show people how they will age, given their current appearance, genetics, and lifestyle. One interesting example of this was its use on an episode of The Tyra Banks Show, which featured a woman who was fond of going to tanning salons, and had been getting regular tanning treatments since her preteen years. The woman was told that she risked getting skin cancer, but did not seem fazed. However, when she was shown a picture of how she was likely to look after several more years of this type of treatment (not pretty, to be sure), she reacted with shock, even though viewers cannot be sure if she truly did change her habits afterwards. Another example is a certain episode of the British reality TV show Vanity Lair, which places several "attractive" people in one house and is built around question of the idea of what it means to be beautiful. This particular episode allowed the remaining housemates to see what they would look like in several years' time, given their habits. It is interesting to note that some of the very fit, good-looking people were projected to look not very attractive at all, mostly because they smoked and did not exercise. One of the female guests said that the episode showed her that her current lifestyle would have major long-term ramifications, so it was best to start living a healthy lifestyle early, instead of waiting until it was too late. It is rather interesting that in these cases, an appeal vanity is used was a tactic to scare people into healthier habits.

The use of "smart" computer graphics to illustrate how people will age may be much more effective and informative than a lecture or essay. Confronted with the picture of the potential effects of their habits over time, people will find such warnings harder to ignore. Too often, it is very easy to get lost in the present, and forget about your future health—and yes, your future appearance. People simply put aside the idea of using healthful habits to "invest" in their future. However, as the computer technology described above becomes more widely available, perhaps more people will be spurred to live healthier.

In 2005, Accenture came out with the news update that it was developing an "intelligent mirror" based on similar software to that described above. So far, the product has not been given any sort of high-profile release or "preview" viewing, since highly accurate technology of this sort may take many years to develop so that it is ready for issuance on a wide, affordable scale. It is to be hoped that development has not stalled, and we will get a chance to try out this intelligent mirror soon.

Still the technology can't tell exactly what a person would look like at a specific moment in the future because people do not age at the exact pace. In other words one person may look older than another even though they have the same age. This is good news as it allows us to be able to slow down the aging process. For instance many people are now using products like HGH and Resveratrol for anti aging with success.