alt Hacker NewsI always felt slightly more adult as I got older but I didn't really feel it until after my daughter was born. Then the weight of real responsibility hits and your perspective changes. It's one of those things that you need to experience to understand.
I see a lot of comments saying similar. It's almost like we should have 3 stages instead of child -> adult. Someone else responsible for you -> Responsible for yourself -> Responsible for others. You could argue that's childhood, adolescence, adulthood. I would be inclined to agree with the caveat that adolescence extends to much older than 18 or even 22 years.
>adolescence extends to much older than 18 or even 22 years
Adolescence extends to a few years past when you start being treated like an adult, for some it can be extended almost indefinitely.
People increasingly want to delay being treated like an adult until after a person has reached the full maturity of an adult not realizing those two things are linked.
The transition of this happening too early or too late leads to many mental illnesses where your brain is being wired to expect and react to the world incorrectly and when most of the rewiring is done you're somewhat stuck with what you've got. (If you're pampered and protected for too long you can't handle anything but that the rest of your life, if you face adult challenges too early you develop maladaptive strategies to cope with things you can't handle, etc.)
The "25 year old adolescent" is a troubling development.