"Not so long ago, the average American man in his 20s had achieved most of the milestones of adulthood: a high-school diploma, financial independence, marriage and children. Today, most men in their 20s hang out in a novel sort of limbo, a hybrid state of semi-hormonal adolescence and responsible self-reliance. This "pre-adulthood" has much to recommend it, especially for the college-educated. But it's time to state what has become obvious to legions of frustrated young women: It doesn't bring out the best in men."August 2010: C'mon Mom, Go Away Already!
When Parents Won't Cut the Cord. As a reaction to helicopter parents (who read books about the stages of grief so they can cope with their kid's growing up), colleges are literally shutting the gates on parents who can't let go.August 2010: What Is It About 20-Somethings?
Twenty-somethings today don't quite fit the definition of adolescence or adulthood. This has thrown the human development gurus for a loop. With the past couple of generations taking longer to become "adults", social scientists are trying to decide whether or not this period in a person's life needs to have a separate classification.July 2010: Twilight means never having to grow up and be an adult
Why does Team Jacob always have to lose? Because Eclipse is a movie about rejecting adulthood, not just as a person but also as a culture. It's about rejecting adult relationships between men and women, but also between people of different races and between people from the city (like Victoria's army) and people from Forks. It's about never crossing boundaries, never leaving home.June 2010: INTERNET!
This is Why I'll Never be an Adult.November 2008: Love in the Time of Darwinism
Kay S. Hymowitz strikes again. Previously, she wrote an article positing that "that too many single young males (SYMs) were lingering in a hormonal limbo between adolescence and adulthood, shunning marriage and children, and whiling away their leisure hours with South Park reruns, marathon sessions of World of Warcraft, and Maxim lists of the ten best movie fart scenes." Now she has a new thesis: That angry, disenfranchised single young men use "Darwinist" philosophy to justify "resistance to settling down" and "unsentimental promiscuity".July 2008: a beautiful life
"A friend confessed to me that she didn't need to build credit. If the need for a loan ever arises, she told me, she can go to her parents or—as she secretly hopes—a husband who will take care of it." A generation of twenty-somethings ponder when, or if, they will begin their financial independence from their parents.June 2008: Oh look, we have created enchantment.
The male rejection of adulthood is now the dominant attitude in Hollywood comedy. The center of attention is usually a guy, his buddies and his toys. He will, most of the time, be nudged toward responsibility, forgiven for his quirks and nurtured in his needs and neuroses by a woman who represents an ideal amalgam of supermodel and mom.January 2008: Child-Men?
Female educator & writer comments on male culture - describing video gaming males in their 20s as 'child-men', delaying traditional responsibility by decades compared to previous generations (NPR interview). Inevitable response by gaming community and others in their 20s. Further example on the change in societal isolation that leads to bowling alone, or a new social community structure being born?March 2006: I won't grow up and you can't MAKE me!
He's a Gruppie, she's a Gruppie... Wouldn't you like to be a Gruppie too?January 2004: Sowing One's Wild Oats
Regarding the sowing of wild oats, is the West really the most lenient and generous, in terms of age-limits? What part does religion play? In other words, what's the maximum you can get away with nowadays? At a pinch, I'd say Southern European Catholic countries will extend a woman's visa till she's 35 and a man's till he's 40 but certain *cough* other cultures seem to be even more favourable towards eternal adolescence.January 2002: I Don't Wanna Grow Up...
I Don't Wanna Grow Up... When did you first consider yourself to be a full-fledged adult? How many more years later was it when you realized what a child you were when you first thought that? :-) The Washington Post had this conversation-starting story this morning about stretching the boundaries of what we consider adolescence. Some social scientists now argue that our (e.g. American) society has allowed the maturing process to take longer and longer, and that many people are still adolescent in their emotional and intellectual development into their mid-30s. Needless to say, there's a lot of disagreement.August 2001: Please help me, I'm falling
Please help me, I'm falling I nearly cried into my breakfast when I read this article - because I thought it was about me. The usual path after university is into a well paid job and a fulfilling future. But a growing number are leaving university, even with high marks, with little idea of how life works and what to do next. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?April 2000: projectcool sighting
projectcool sighting < a home + living guide for the post-college, pre-parenthood, quasi-adult generation > so, I'm not an adult until I've got that degree AND kids? What else will be required by they time I graduate? A house, a second wife who wants kids, a graduate degree, and a brand new BMW? Social symbols/rites associated with maturity are so bizarre in our material world.And that's just with a Google/tag search for "adulthood," "maturity," and "growing up." There are probably at least a few more along these lines with brief mystery meat links or poor tags.
CPI Own Rent
2006 2.0 4.1 1.0
2007 2.2 4.9 1.5
2008 2.0 4.4 1.7
2009 0.3 1.0 1.6
2010 1.8 0.7 1.2
Homeownership costs have risen at about double that if the inflation rate except for last year, rental has been below inflation for the past five years. Previous years data for housing is pay-only I think, but I vividly remember prices spiking for rentals in Ottawa in the mid 1990s-2000s period (I had people come to my apartment door and offer to pay me to move out).Everyone got a trophy just for showing up; even red marker pens were banned from some schools because the color was considered too harsh and judgmental.Although it's true everyone in my little league got a trophy (which, I have to say, makes a lot more sense to young kids than having one team smarmingly lord over everyone else) my papers got marked to hell and back with a red pen every school year. And wow, I was born in 1977 so compared to someone born in '71 I'm like a whippersnapper or something.
« Older Beat 'em ups and brawlers are a game style that go... | For the past few years, networ... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by schmod at 11:20 AM on July 6, 2011 [7 favorites]