Adulthood in Western societies

[significationof?!?]

I wonder how you see the way Western societies in general structure the passage into adulthood, or lack thereof.

I ask this because I know I woke up on my 18th birthday and just wondered: now what? Obviously, what I would make of it...

Obviously our society is not completely devoid of rituals; many people celebrate their 18th/21st birthday by doing what the laws allows them to, i.e. destroying their livers... Which underlines that mortification seems to be prominent in adulthood rituals.

What are the (dis)advantages of leaving the passage of adulthood into the hands of the individual? What are the (dis)advantages of having well-defined adulthood rites of passage?

How important is the official passage into adulthood to the psychological development of an individual?

Thoughts, comments, opinions?

 

[greenwizard]

one can be seen as an adult (in the eyes of society this is), when a individual 18 or more years old takes a productive place in the system, gets a job, is self-sustainable, lives in his own apartment, etc.

But I can be such person, and still not consider myself an adult. But in different perspectives , I am. In jewish religion I wouldn't still be a man (adult) due the fact I never performed a bar mitzvah.


It is all relative to the point of view

 

[user_1919]

I don't believe in labels. You live you learn. A lot of this learning tends to come when you enter what they call adulthood, because you are on your own in the world. At least this is what happened to me.

peace & love

 

[st.bot.32]

I agree, you continually learn who you are, how to look after yourself physically and emotionally, how you view and treat others, etc.... it's a lifelong process.

I find that a fair amount of people I grew up with STOPPED growing up around age 16 or so. Now, many years later they're completely set in their ways, they've never expanded their horizons once, shockingly little interest in the world around them. They're adults, I guess, but I don't know how much meaningful conversation I could have with them, except on the rare occasion their house of cards comes crashing down

 

[????????]

there are no adults, just people with more learned information. or kids with more power.

 

[user_1919]

People need to move, get out on their parents home, and experience life to mature. If you stay in your parents home you will learn nothing. When I moved away for University, I learnt so much about life, more than I have learnt the other 18 years of my life. I am very grateful for the suffering I have went through while away from home because it has taught me more about life than I could have believed. I remember asking why me at one point, then I remembered, I asked what life was about as a teen, and life was showing me. You live, you learn. Life is beautiful,

peace & love

 

[Nomada]

adultocentrism is endemic to occidentalists (this category is insufficient but I don't care).

there are no adults, just people with more learned information. or kids with more power.

exactly

 

[IJesusChrist]

You're an adult when you decide to stop growing up.

 

[magickmumu]

You're an adult when you decide to stop growing up.

I don't think so.
For me adulthood has everything to do with selfhood and knowing yourself.

 

[Brugmansia]

I don't like to mark transitions personally, simply because growing for me is tied with self construction and not time or location. Anyone who draws a maturity mile-stone for the future has amnesia of what our very first ancestors tried to nourish for us.

Nowadays we tend to see maturity merely in a sense of moving into the direction which we know through those who're 'ahead'. I feel that I should determine the coordinations myself rather than duplicating a pre-drawn track.

No matter where one goes in his life, with who or when, it's essential that his long and short-term memory carries as much as proper knowledge; in order to get a penetrating notion of his sight and crossing thoughts at the moment of witness.

 

[grifter7]

while i agree that we do just mature constantly there are certain areas that we all seem to go throu

we stop asking are we there yet?
we realise theres no santa
we learn our limits on alcohol
we stop crossing our fingers when telling a lie
we start taking our hobbies seriously.

 

[st.bot.32]

i agree with user, getting far away from home was the best thing i ever did. the kids i grew up with who didn't do that have been intellectually stifled all their lives. conservative part of the world too.

also, as much as i hate labels, there comes an undeniable point in your late 20s where.. even university students look so YOUNG, like.. KIDS if it hasn't yet.. it will happen to you as well.. it's part of getting older..

 

[Space-is-the-Place]

An old forum member (Prostoner) found a really cool saying

"You know childhood is over when a puddle seems like an obstacle instead of an opportunity"

I still see it as an opportunity

Adulthood can be a state of mind (and for the surrounding people a very annoying one )

 

[st.bot.32]

agreed, adulthood and the act of play or using your imagination in general don't seem to go together too well do they.. as an adult everything has to be functional and have a purpose, there's little room for impulsive joy

then again, that might just be my deep-seated distrust of "adults"

 

[magickmumu]

agreed, adulthood and the act of play or using your imagination in general don't seem to go together too well do they.. as an adult everything has to be functional and have a purpose, there's little room for impulsive joy

then again, that might just be my deep-seated distrust of "adults"

I disagree.
Becoming an adult has nothing to do with losing your imagination and/or playfullness. Self expression has nothing to do with age.
growing up and becoming an adult has to do with knowing who you are and having responsibility's.

 

[magickmumu]

An old forum member (Prostoner) found a really cool saying

"You know childhood is over when a puddle seems like an obstacle instead of an opportunity"

I still see it as an opportunity

Adulthood can be a state of mind (and for the surrounding people a very annoying one )

I disagree on this one.
Adult's can see a puddle as a opportunity, but the difference with childeren is that they take responsibility for there action.
Adults clean up there own mesh after stomping around in a puddle.

 

[TwymX]

You realize you're an adult when you humble yourself to the point where the facades come down and you can take a hard look at yourself. And then, you want to reclaim those days. You want to reclaim childhood creativity, childhood honesty and childhood simplicity.

 

[st.bot.32]

Becoming an adult has nothing to do with losing your imagination and/or playfullness. Self expression has nothing to do with age.
growing up and becoming an adult has to do with knowing who you are and having responsibility's.

I suppose it really is all a matter of choice isn't it. Sounds to me like you are doing adulthood the right way... I know too many adults who are doing it the wrong way.. in my opinion. In conservative parts of the world, imagination, playfulness and self-expression are deliberately brow-beaten out of you at a young age, they have no place in the conformist "adult" community

 

[Brugmansia]

Which province have you left behind, Bot?

Ontario?

 

[st.bot.32]

hints

environmental armageddon, 80%+ conservative majority in the last provicial election, an ex premier who was a boozer, got drunk, stormed into a homeless shelter, threw money at people and told them to get jobs

To be fair though, it wasn't so much the province (AB), it was the area/community I grew up in.