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.
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.
Is software engineering really a discipline uniquely filled with constant learning, changing, etc.? I imagine many jobs have an element of this. Software engineers keep learning new things about software engineering as the discipline evolves. Civil engineers keep learning new things about civil engineering as the discipline evolves. And so on...
...but the constant learning, changing, etc., is only tied to the demands of that particular job. Whereas in adolescence, not tied to any particular job as a set identity (and with free time on a level no longer available once one must take up a full-time job), one may frequently be exploring whole new topics of interest, developing breadth and not just depth.
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
However I've seen plenty of people I know go through "suddenly married with kids and wondering what happened to my life." It happens plenty enough.
Though I don't think your second point jived with your first very well (as I understand it). If you work hard toward a relationship that will last the rest of your life you aren't going to wonder "what happened to my life," it is going to be a deliberate thought out process toward a mutual goal(s) with plenty of communication and mutual respect for each other's wants and needs at the current moment. The "what happened to my life" crew ended up slowly sliding into their life without fully realizing what was going on until it happened. Or let their partner exert excess pressure into their life decisions without open communication and mutual respect for one and other. Maybe even mistakes such as accidental pregnancy. Also the changing environment you are in - when all your friends start moving towards something you may be just following the crowd because "that's just what you do" rather than completely wanting to do it. I've seen some people just get married for the sake of marriage because "that's what you do" without really picking someone they have long term potential with.
I would also argue if you are experiencing a "what happened to my life" moment, you are unhappy with your relationship and what is either is or has become and don't want the relationship to last the rest of your life. "Wondering what happened to my life" is perhaps the cause of many divorces.
> 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.
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. :/
> 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.
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.
"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.
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."
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.