Now adolescence lasts until the person is 25

[Riva]

Huh finally i'll get to have sex this december legally. Jokes aside; I couldn't read the whole article and i'm assuming they aren't going to change the age consent?

Wow [MENTION=16382]Ene[/MENTION]; that is hard and i'm sorry to hear that you had to face that all alone. It would have been great if you had any siblings/family.

 

[skylights]

We're considered adults, but there's just few adult roles irl that we can really take upon. And it creates field for a big fat pressure from elder relatives for you to be "mature like an adult" when your life and experience (and opportunities at the moment) aren't really congruent with it, in spite of a thirsty will to be free.

Why be offended? The brain is te brain if it takes longer to cook what can we argue against it?

I like the shift being recognized, especially in terms of healthcare provision and psychological support.

It seems to me that there is far more evidence that it will be empowering rather than disempowering. We feel this need to move quickly... part of it is biological, of course, but the other part is cultural. In the US, I feel like there is a strong cultural push for kids to quickly succeed, succeed, succeed, but there is no reason to expect that adolescents will be infantile adults if not pressed to move quickly; development is an internally-coded process and is unavoidable for the vast majority of people. Almost all mammalian species are programmed to move from dependent adolescence into independent adulthood, and there's no reason to think humans differ.

Most importantly, I also don't think that expanding the period of adolescence is exclusive with people taking on agency and individualism when they reach that age. Hopefully, instead, cultivating independence is a process that starts in childhood with parents delegating some household responsibilities to children according to what they can reasonably handle at their age, with increasing and expanding responsibility as they grow older. And even more pampered children will tend to push for their own agency come the standard rebellion of the mid-teenage years.

Notably, too, in some cultures and with certain professions, there is more of an expectation that the shift-to-adulthood process will take longer anyway - consider my Indian friend who was expected to live with her family until marriage, or my father who was a student until he was 30 because he was in medical school.

I do think we're in an especially tough period for adolescents now because the golden bubble of 90s childhood was particularly coddling, the current economy is particularly unhelpful, and the shift to "real life" is resultingly startling.

On the bright side, biology essentially ensures we will come into our own - we're irrevocably set on autopilot for it. Much development is believed to have "critical periods" or "sensitive periods" during which the individual is particularly open to certain types of environmental stimuli, but it is unlikely to happen outside of those periods because the body is not ready and receptive. People might as well support young adults in making that transition as it comes to them developmentally, rather than trying to force it before it's time.

Because "adult" people (past mid-twenties, I mean) always make great decisions? Never need or get help from others? Are generally wise? C'mon. Just take a look at the state of the economy we're in (for example), do you think 22 yos led us there?

Exactly. Look at the US Congress now, like 5 year olds who are fighting over a sandbox.

 

[Salomé]

Great. That gives up you a window of about 2 years to get all your thinking done before your brain starts to rot. http://io9.com/5176536/your-brain-starts-deteriorating-by-age-27-say-neuroscientists

 

[Ene]

Huh finally i'll get to have sex this december legally. Jokes aside; I couldn't read the whole article and i'm assuming they aren't going to change the age consent?

Wow [MENTION=16382]Ene[/MENTION]; that is hard and i'm sorry to hear that you had to face that all alone. It would have been great if you had any siblings/family.

Thanks, Riva. I did have siblings. I forgot to mention that. I had five of them, all under the age of 16 and I had a father, but he was in depression at the time. But it's okay. I only shared to say that people can grow up before 25.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Great. That gives up you a window of about 2 years to get all your thinking done before your brain starts to rot. http://io9.com/5176536/your-brain-starts-deteriorating-by-age-27-say-neuroscientists

I'm inclined to think that this might just be because people tend to stop doing those kinds of tasks once they leave school. I mean, what about outliers? I think it might not be terribly important to a lot of people anyway, so they don't continue to do it.

However, Salthouse points out that there is a great deal of variance from person to person, and, he added, most people function at a highly effective level well into their final years, even when living a long life.

I don't feel like I've gotten dumber. I feel like I enjoy reading more than I did in college, and like I understand things better.

Regarding the general topic of immaturity among twenty-somethings, baby boomers/generation X deserve some criticism for this. You try and isolate children from the world and "protect" them from basic facts of life, and what the fuck do you expect is going to happen? Maybe it would be ok if they decided to stop doing that once they hit puberty, but it kind of just continues.

If a generation is screwed up, at least some responsibility belongs with the people who raised them. I mean, growing up, something that was drilled into my head over and over was that "I am me, I am someone special." Why are people shocked that this created narcissistic dipshits?

Anyway, I found it to be a tremendous relief in my mid-twenties when I learned that I was not that special, and I could relax.

 

[Randomnity]

also, that would mean that women go through the vast majority of their sexual prime before they are even considered "adults", which is ridiculous imo.

I think the opinion of a 22-year old gay man on what constitutes the "vast majority" of a woman's sexual prime can safely be ignored.

But since I'm bad at ignoring nonsense.....yeah, you're not just wrong, you're so wrong that it's both slightly amusing and slightly offensive. Even 25 year olds aren't in their prime yet, male or female. You have so much to learn once you grow out of hitting on teenyboppers.

 

[Pseudo]

I think the opinion of a 22-year old gay man on what constitutes the "vast majority" of a woman's sexual prime can safely be ignored.

But since I'm bad at ignoring nonsense.....yeah, you're not just wrong, you're so wrong that it's both slightly amusing and slightly offensive. Even 25 year olds aren't in their prime yet, male or female. You have so much to learn once you grow out of hitting on teenyboppers.

What if that 22 year old gay man was prodigy doctor Doogie Howser MD?! He's have been practicing medicin for 8 years! Genius medicine!!

 

[Comeback Girl]

Good! I always had my looks as an excuse (people often mistake me for a sixteen year old lately, while when I was younger I actually looked older), but now that I read this article I have another good reason to behave like a kid. Woohoo!

 

[Infinite Bubble]

I'm sort of glad. Even if it's just a perception change really.

 

[Speed Gavroche]

The male human brain develops until 25, and his stature can potentially grow until around the same age. And it has always been like that. The qualification of "very young man" is more appropriate for 15-24 people than "adolescent". The first sign of ageing can be seen on 16-18 people. There's 17 years old dudes who shows the first signs of alopecia, 18 years old women with some white hair. It's very rare, but it happens. IAnd it's far more fresquent with 24 years old people. Calling them "adolescent" is stupid. This article is stupid. We still have emotional and hormonal change at 18-25? Yeah, so? It still the case in the 30s, we don't call them "adolescent".

 

[skylights]

I mean, growing up, something that was drilled into my head over and over was that "I am me, I am someone special." Why are people shocked that this created narcissistic dipshits?

QFT

Anyway, I found it to be a tremendous relief in my mid-twenties when I learned that I was not that special, and I could relax.

Me too. The easing off of the pressure to be the next president, the kindling of the light inside to choose a path that will make me happy, and the discovery that living off box noodles and hot pockets is hard, but also doable and satisfying.

 

[hjgbujhghg]

Yaaay..And I was afraid I have to be an adult. God how happy I am I have next 5 years to do stopid and childish things!

 

[Lark]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...young-people-getting-inferiority-complex.html



I think there's plenty to discuss about it, so I decided to post. There are positive and negative points about it. Will it be really favorable concerning the personal development of young adults, or will it cause some infantilization after all (for example, being dependent at an age which you should have some degree of independence), as I already saw a sociologist in my country say? Excluding things such as personal life experiences, which impact this new convention might have in the future in general?

This is interesting given that the talking point of the UK conservative party conference today was their intention to remove all benefits from anyone younger than 25yrs of age.

Could be a result of this research and that awarding benefits to people younger than 25 is socialising them or habituating them to a life as claimants?

Its also the hate mail, a news paper who thinks its alright to publish lies about the father of the leader of the UK parliamentry opposition, so you know...

 

[Lark]

Yaaay..And I was afraid I have to be an adult. God how happy I am I have next 5 years to do stopid and childish things!

Really?

I live in hope that people will want to embrace adulthood and be responsible earlier and earlier in life.

 

[hjgbujhghg]

Really?

I live in hope that people will want to embrace adulthood and be responsible earlier and earlier in life.

why is it for? Why take life so serious? It's not like you're going to survive it anyway...

 

[Lark]

why is it for? Why take life so serious? It's not like you're going to survive it anyway...

I dont see joy and frivolity as synomynous with childishness or irresponsibility.

Reaching adulthood is great because you can do the things which you cant reasonably do in adolescence or childhood.

 

[hjgbujhghg]

I dont see joy and frivolity as synomynous with childishness or irresponsibility.

Reaching adulthood is great because you can do the things which you cant reasonably do in adolescence or childhood.

I can agree on this one...But unfortunately I know alot of kids my age, that are trying hard to be mature and ressponsible and most of the time it's funny picture of young people, that think they know everything in the world, experienced everything in the world and they feel extremly important. Yeah maybe they are responsible hardworkers, but all that arrogance and snobbis style of life that goes with it in such a young age...blewh I'd rather be child until I die.

 

[chickpea]

I said the exact same thing on personality cafe, but...
this article offends me. I'm 22 and consider myself an adult. when people forget that (I'm an ENFP, a 7w6 and already look 17-18-ish, so on one hand I can't really blame'em ), I make sure to remind them.

18-25 year olds are fully capable of making adult decisions. yes, they're still young and still learning, but I don't see why we can't just call them young adults.

also, that would mean that women go through the vast majority of their sexual prime before they are even considered "adults", which is ridiculous imo.

what's next, they raise the age of consent to 25? fuck that! If fucking people under age 25 makes me a fellon, you can send me to jail right now, cuz I'm a carnivore and I demand fresh meat!

oh, man there is so much wrong with pretty much everything you said. Don't you still live with your parents though?

 

[prplchknz]

by.teens.I stopped believing the.lie I was.special

 

[Lexicon]

Seems like a matter of semantics, really. I figure "Young adulthood" (legal independence at 18 up to mid 20s when the brain's fully developed) is that phase between adolescence & adulthood. Naturally, it implies there's still a bit of growth to do, so there's bound to be a bit of overlap in the behavioral/psychological characteristics of adolescence.. but that's just my take on it. Milestones can be useful in terms of feeling a sense of personal empowerment and achievement, but their timing ought to be calibrated to the individual's development, perceptionwise.