
The Case for Delayed Adulthood - danso
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/opinion/sunday/the-case-for-delayed-adulthood.html
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themartorana
_Prolonged adolescence, in the right circumstances, is actually a good thing,
for it fosters novelty-seeking and the acquisition of new skills._

My first thought was "how sad that the march to adulthood is associated with
the loss of imagination and experimentation."

But then I think of the sciences in general, and that I chose software
engineering specifically because of the constant learning, changing, curiosity
and intrigue it comes with.

The take-away to me is that we don't push nearly hard enough the importance of
continued curiosity and the pursuit of new skills and knowledge. Apparently,
it really does help you stay young.

~~~
Bahamut
Constant learning does not necessarily mean that your mind doesn't become more
set in other respects. For example, problems in software engineering are of a
particular type - however, known strategies now may turn out to not be as
optimal, and there are potential cues one can take from other domains of
knowledge. We are less likely to explore those domains as we get older.

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revelation
The obvious argument is that people can "novelty-seek" and "acquire new
skills" without living in precarious economic situations, being bound to their
parents while still taking on massive amounts of debt.

In fact, they can probably do it a lot better.

~~~
ccvannorman
This

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jawns
There are a lot of ways we can define adolescence, but I think most people
would agree that it is a stage that precedes full maturity.

Likewise, there are lots of ways we can describe maturity -- physical,
cognitive, emotional, behavioral -- but I think a hallmark of adolescence is
that decision-making is (generally, at least) more impulsive, more hedonistic,
and more selfish.

And that, at least, is what I have seen among friends and acquaintances who
have taken a long time to leave their adolescence behind them.

It's not just their living situation or their financial situation that can be
called adolescent -- it's their general maturity and decision-making.

Perhaps, as Prof. Steinberg argues, the negative of immaturity is balanced out
by the positive of brain plasticity ... but I wouldn't be surprised if
immaturity + plasticity could be even more problematic than immaturity alone.

~~~
aianus
What's wrong with being impulsive, hedonistic, and selfish?

~~~
kolinko
That it doesn't bring long-term sustainable happiness?

~~~
ccvannorman
It certainly doesn't PRECLUDE long term sustainable happiness. Unless you're a
devout [insert religion].

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Zigurd
It is remarkable that in the comments here, present day norms are accepted as
natural, even though they were different in recent history, and are bound to
be different in the near future as much as the 40 hour work week might become
30, and flexible work hours might lead to adoption of objectively healthier
sleep patterns than what industrial society has imposed. Diet, alcohol
consumption, coffee drinking, smoking, sleep, the prevalence of prostitution,
education, etc., have all changed faster than any claim of being "natural'
could set in just by being the current norm.

So much in-the-box thinking.

~~~
aurelian
Maybe I'm too set in my ways to see what you're talking about, but I don't see
this in the comments.

~~~
Chinjut
I'm not sure, but perhaps the reference is to comments on Hacker News in
general, rather than on this page in particular?

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norswap
I've often felt the opposite. Adulthood is the real deal, the time when you
finally have to face the trappings of the day-to-day life, as you will have to
until you die. Delaying it doesn't seem to do much good; although advancing it
wouldn't really help. What would be better is to prepare for it. Something
like the apprenticeships of centuries past would be vastly beneficial today I
think.

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dgreensp
"Studies show" that growing up is bad for your brain? Does this professor tell
his students not to get married because it will dull their minds? How
depressing.

I'm reminded of the way many 20-somethings think that if they aren't careful,
they'll suddenly be married with kids and wondering what happened to their
life. Newsflash: If you want to find and build a relationship that will last
for the rest of your lives, you have to try at least a little. You can't dare
the universe to force a husband/wife and kids on you.

Similarly, being a mature, responsible, independent member of society is not
some inevitability that comes crashing down on us eventually, it's an
achievement that is pretty easy to avoid by just being sort of dysfunctional
and not taking responsibility for yourself and others.

~~~
aianus
> I'm reminded of the way many 20-somethings think that if they aren't
> careful, they'll suddenly be married with kids and wondering what happened
> to their life. Newsflash: If you want to find and build a relationship that
> will last for the rest of your lives, you have to try at least a little. You
> can't dare the universe to force a husband/wife and kids on you.

Plenty of people end up married with children simply because of some kind of
birth control failure. As a 20-something, I'm rightly terrified of that
happening to me. My lifestyle is completely incompatible with children or
long-term relationships.

Even talking to happily married people who love their children, I feel like
I'm talking to someone with Stockholm syndrome. They say they're happy, they
act like they're happy, but I still think I would be miserable in their shoes.

~~~
ccvannorman
Happened to my parents. They were miserable for 14 years until they split. If
I'd had a kid at their age, I'd have an 8 year old by now and my life would be
shitty too. :/

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j2kun
> The most obvious example is higher education, which has been shown to
> stimulate brain development in ways that simply getting older does not.

College, just like the rest of life, stimulates and challenges you only as
much as you make it.

Pretending to maintain adolescence will not help by itself, and if your
biggest problem is that your life isn't stimulating enough (and you think this
is because you're too "adult"), then you certainly have the stability needed
to find ways to make it more interesting.

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bcbrown
Delayed adulthood has already occurred, in some sense, in humanity. Homo
sapiens is a neotenous[0] species already, meaning that compared to similar
species, we are more similar to their juvenile than mature states.

It's speculative, but I wonder if there could be a connection between delayed
adulthood and lengthening lifespans. It "makes sense" in the common-sense
meaning that if we stretch out our lifespan, it would also stretch out the
various stages of life.

[0]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoteny](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoteny)

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kghose
"Studies have found that those with higher I.Q.s, for example, enjoy a longer
stretch of time during which new synapses continue to proliferate" this
assertion that there is empirical evidence for this hypothesis is almost
certainly false.

We just don't have the technology to do this experiment on human beings - the
only species for which this statement can make sense.

I know of some studies which have observed synapse formation in vitro, perhaps
one in vivo in animals kept alive through strenuous means, but all in mice and
with no simultaneous behavioral examination.

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UrMomReadsHN
I find this article a little odd. The implication is you can't be novelty-
seeking and also a mature independent adult. I really don't see how those
things are mutually exclusive. Unless your definition of adulthood is simply
"not novelty-seeking."

