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Why does it take so long to grow up today? | Jeffrey Jensen Arnett | TEDxPSU

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    I think we all agree that it takes longer
    to grow up today than it did in the past.
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    That seems like a fairly
    uncontroversial statement,
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    and it is backed up by a lot of facts.
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    So in 1960, if we take 1960
    as a baseline year,
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    relatively few people got
    any education beyond high school,
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    if they even finished high school.
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    And 40% of people
    didn't even get that far.
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    In 1960, the median marriage age
    was 20 for women and 23 for men.
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    Now it's 27 for women
    and 29 for men, and it is still rising.
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    So a lot has changed
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    in the course of the last 50 years
    in the lives of young people.
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    So much has changed
    in fact, that I propose
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    that it is helpful to think of it
    as a new life stage of emerging adulthood
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    in between adolescence
    and young adulthood.
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    But why does it take so long
    to grow up now,
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    so much longer than in the past?
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    Why is there this new stage
    of emerging adulthood?
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    There are four revolutions that took place
    in the 1960s and the 1970s
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    that set the stage in many ways
    for the society that we know today,
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    including the new life stage
    of emerging adulthood.
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    Those four revolutions
    are the technology revolution,
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    the sexual revolution,
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    the Women's Movement,
    and the Youth Movement.
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    First, the technology revolution.
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    The technology revolution
    is not just iPhones and iPads,
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    or even laptops and the Internet.
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    Another huge technology revolution
    of the last 50 years has been a transition
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    from a manufacturing economy
    to a knowledge economy.
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    We've gotten so good at making
    things with machines
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    that we no longer need
    so many people to make them.
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    Most of us are also aware
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    of how a lot of jobs in manufacturing
    have gone to other countries.
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    But it's not just that.
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    Our manufacturing output
    is actually six times greater now
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    than it was in the 1950s.
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    But we are able to do that
    with only half as many people.
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    So gone are the days
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    where a young man could walk
    in an automobile factory or a steel plant,
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    and make enough money to support
    not only himself and his family.
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    The new jobs in the knowledge economy
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    are in information
    and technology and services.
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    And all of these require education
    beyond high school.
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    Those are where you get the best new jobs
    in the knowledge economy.
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    You have to have some kind of education
    beyond high school.
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    So now more people get more education
    for longer than ever before.
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    And that pushes everything else out
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    because most people
    won't get a stable long-term job
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    for several years after
    they have finished their education,
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    and most people prefer
    to wait for marriage and parenthood
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    until after they have a stable job.
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    The second revolution
    is the sexual revolution.
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    The invention of the birth
    control pill in 1964,
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    along with other effective methods
    of contraception,
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    broke the age-old link between sexuality
    and reproduction for the first time.
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    And in turn,
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    the link between sexuality and marriage
    became broken for the first time.
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    And so the marriage age
    started to go steadily up,
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    even as the age of beginning
    first sexual relations went down.
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    And today, most people begin having
    sexual relations in their late teens,
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    a decade or more before they enter
    marriage and parenthood.
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    And so that changes
    what the late teens and 20s are like.
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    Instead of entering the commitments
    of marriage and parenthood,
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    people now have this longer spans
    of a decade or more
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    when they are making
    a break in relationships,
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    and they are not yet committed
    to the structure of family life.
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    Number three is the Women's Movement.
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    In 1960, not many people
    were going to college,
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    but there were twice as many men as women
    who were college students.
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    Today, 58% of undergraduates
    are female, only 42% male.
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    And women are also half of the students
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    in med schools, in law schools,
    in business schools.
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    That has been truly revolutionary.
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    And that has changed how young women think
    about their lives and plan their lives.
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    It's hard for us to even imagine
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    how much pressure there must have been
    on a young woman in 1960 to find a man.
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    Because if you didn't,
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    what else were you going to do
    with your life?
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    There weren't really hardly
    any professions open to you.
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    And so that was
    what they were most focused on,
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    not that they can do anything.
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    They, like young men,
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    want to use most of their 20s
    for making progress
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    in their education
    and then in their career.
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    And that has changed entirely
    what the 20s are like
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    for both young men and young women.
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    And finally, the Youth Movement.
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    It used to be that adulthood
    was associated with a lot of good things,
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    like social status and authority.
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    Well, it still is to some extent,
    but not so much as it used to be.
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    The 60s and the 70s changed that
    with the Youth Movement.
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    "I hope I die before I get old."
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    How many of you are old enough
    to remember that?
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    Or "Never trust anyone over 30."
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    Those were said somewhat tongue in cheek,
    but only somewhat.
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    Those are truths underlying them.
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    Now adulthood and age became diminished,
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    and it became youth that was venerated.
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    And so young people are no longer
    in such a hurry to enter adulthood.
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    They preferred to prolong their youth
    as long as they could
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    and enjoyed it while it lasted.
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    So together, those
    four changes have resulted
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    in this new life stage
    of emerging adulthood.
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    It used to be that people set up
    the stable structure of an adult life
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    by about age 20,
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    but now it's really true that 30
    is the new 20.
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    There's a good reason why that phrase
    has become more popular.
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    Because now the transitions
    that used to happen around age 20
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    happen closer to age 30 for most people.
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    Instead of moving from adolescence
    to young adulthood, at about age 20,
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    it's the adolescence and then emerging
    adulthood for most of the 20s,
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    and then the entrance
    into a stable young adulthood follows.
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    Not everybody is delighted to hear about
    the new life stage of emerging adulthood.
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    Not everybody is happy
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    that it takes longer
    to grow up than it used to.
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    Quite the contrary, a lot of people
    are very unhappy about it.
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    And a lot of people think
    that the fact that young people enter
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    these transitions of a stable
    adulthood later in the past
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    means there must be
    something wrong with them.
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    And their parents and grandparents
    can't help but look at the progress
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    or lack of it of their children
    and grandchildren
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    toward adult life in their 20s
    and think, and maybe say,
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    "When I was your age..."
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    Because the timetable has really changed,
    but I'd like to challenge you
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    if you think that way today
    to try to think about it differently.
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    It doesn't mean there is
    something wrong with them.
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    It takes longer to prepare yourself
    for the knowledge economy
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    than it did for a manufacturing
    economy, first of all.
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    So that's not their fault.
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    They are very intently involved
    in preparing themselves for their world
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    and are trying to find a place
    in a very complex economy.
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    Secondly, the Women's Movement
    has opened up
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    a huge range of opportunities
    for young women.
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    But that is not a bad thing.
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    I think few of us would view that
    as a negative development.
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    It's a good thing. It's a great thing.
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    And so, having this life stage
    of emerging adulthood,
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    allows both young men and young women
    to develop their skills for the workplace.
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    There is also that wouldn't most of us
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    make a better choice of a marriage partner
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    at 28, or 29, or 30,
    than we would've at 19, or 20, or 21?
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    Wouldn't most of us be a better parent
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    if we begin at 30 or 31,
    rather than 20 or 21?
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    I don't think there is
    any doubt about that.
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    There is also this.
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    Having the space for emerging adulthood
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    gives young people an unprecedented
    and unparalleled period of freedom.
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    It's a time when you can do things
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    you never could do before
    when you were a kid,
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    and you really won't be able to do later.
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    So if you have a taste for adventure,
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    if you'd like to see
    what it is like to live
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    in a different part of the country
    or the world for a while,
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    and maybe do some kind
    of service project there,
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    this is the time to do it.
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    If you'd like to take a stab
    at a long-shot career,
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    like actor, or musician,
    or something else in the arts,
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    this is the time to do it.
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    Because later, it would be
    much more difficult
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    when you've made those commitments.
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    Right now, in emerging adulthood,
    nobody else really depends on you.
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    That's one of the unique things about it.
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    And eventually, people will depend on you.
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    That will narrow the range
    of your choices.
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    During emerging adulthood,
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    you have a rare freedom
    and a brief freedom,
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    and you should make the most of it.
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    I'd like to close by saying
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    to the young people
    who are emerging adults or about to be:
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    don't let other stampede you
    to adulthood before you are ready.
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    Adulthood will still be ready
    when you are.
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    And a lot of well-meaning people want you
    to get there as soon as possible.
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    But it's not their life.
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    It's your life.
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    And you should remind them
    of that if necessary.
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    Adulthood is something
    almost everybody enters eventually.
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    And it's a land that once you enter,
    you can never really go back.
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    So make the most
    of your emerging adulthood freedom
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    while that lasts.
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    Thank you.
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    (Applause)
Title:
Why does it take so long to grow up today? | Jeffrey Jensen Arnett | TEDxPSU
Description:

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.

It takes so long to "grow up" today —finish education, find a stable job, get married—that it makes sense to think of it as a new life stage, emerging adulthood, in between adolescence and young adulthood. But why? Four revolutions of the 1960s and '70s explain it: the Technology Revolution that changed the economy and led to more education for longer than ever before; the Sexual Revolution that made it possible to have a sex life without marriage; the Women's Movement that gave women an incentive to postpone marriage to pursue a career; and the Youth Movement, which gave adulthood a bad name. Older adults grumble that it takes "too long" to grow up today, but most people will be better partners and parents if they wait longer, so why not use most of the 20s for adventures you'll never be able to have again?

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Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TEDxTalks
Duration:
11:19
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