4 ms·

A 20 year old is an adult, not a "kid"

Broken_Hippo 4y ago
If you don't have full access to adult life, you aren't an adult. You might not be a traditional "kid", but you certainly aren't an adult. At 20, you can't drink in the US. I don't think you can buy nicotine, and probably can't buy weed in legal places. Do they still deny rental cars to 20-year-olds, either outright or through fees too high for most 20-year-olds? Is this still even if their car insurance says they get a rental? Do some hotels still deny young folks lodging?
- AntoniusBlock 4y ago
  Being an adult is based on biological development, not whether you can drink or buy weed.
  - theshrike79 4y ago
    What name would you give to the point where you have all the rights and opportunities of adults if adult is not the correct term?
    - AntoniusBlock 4y ago
      Adult is the correct term. I just don't think we should base adulthood on nebulous things like the ability to drink alcohol, smoke weed or rent hotel rooms, but rather to put a bigger emphasis on biology.
      - Joker_vD 4y ago
        Which brings us back to the original point: why are there those arbitrary restrictions put on biologically adult people?
        AntoniusBlock 4y ago
        I don't know. Ask your law-makers. I live in a country where you can drink alcohol at 16 as long as you're accompanied by an adult, for example. Then at 18 (when you're legally considered an adult), you can buy and drink your own alcohol on your own. Americans tend to coddle their young adults too much. Maybe it's their puritan heritage.
        theshrike79 4y ago
        Dunno about coddling. They can drive a 4 ton "truck" and join the military to kill people before they're legally allowed to drink alcohol :D
  - Macha 4y ago
    What aspect of biological development are we talking about? Sexual development, ability to bear children? Mid teens for most, earlier for some. Completed puberty, full height? Mid to late teens. Finished the fastest phase of brain development? Mid-20s. Even if you want a biological standard, there's still plenty of subjectivity and many of these markers are quite a bit earlier or later than people would be comfortable with. Given that, I think it's fine to focus instead on legal or social aspects of adulthood. And full legal adulthood in the US has been 21 for some time and it seems to me that like my country, the social definition of adulthood is the end of full time education (including in my lifetime undergraduate education being considered an extension of childhood education)
    - AntoniusBlock 4y ago
      Average everything out and you'll get a number close to 18 which is the typical adult age in most countries. >Sexual development, ability to bear children? Mid teens for most, earlier for some. Let's say 15 >Completed puberty, full height? Mid to late teens. Let's say 18 >Finished the fastest phase of brain development? Mid-20s. Let's say 25 The average of 15, 18, and 25 is 19.3
      - verall 4y ago
        Why would an average rather than max make any sense?
        AntoniusBlock 4y ago
        I think it'd make more sense because we're taking in different developmental factors together.
- UncleEntity 4y ago
  They let me invade a foreign country before I turned 20. Almost two but got to occupy Panama for a bit though. Couldn’t drink (outside Louisiana) and legal weed wasn’t even a thing. Hell, I was jumping out of airplanes in the army when I was 17. Seems relatively “adult” to me.
  - Broken_Hippo 4y ago
    Doing adult things doesn't mean you are an adult nor treated like one. Kids raise siblings: Some folks have sex at 14. Child labor is a thing. This doesn't make folks an adult, even if they are participating in adult activities. Adult is realistically mix of how society treats you and your development.
- slavik81 4y ago
  I suppose full access to adult life in the US would be at 35 when you reach the minimum age to serve as president.
  - qbrass 4y ago
    You can't serve as president at any age unless you're a natural born citizen.
ls15 4y ago
"Whiskey and cigars for me and my friends please"

If you don't have full access to adult life, you aren't an adult. You might not be a traditional "kid", but you certainly aren't an adult. At 20, you can't drink in the US. I don't think you can buy nicotine, and probably can't buy weed in legal places. Do they still deny rental cars to 20-year-olds, either outright or through fees too high for most 20-year-olds? Is this still even if their car insurance says they get a rental? Do some hotels still deny young folks lodging?

AntoniusBlock 4y ago
Being an adult is based on biological development, not whether you can drink or buy weed.
- theshrike79 4y ago
  What name would you give to the point where you have all the rights and opportunities of adults if adult is not the correct term?
  - AntoniusBlock 4y ago
    Adult is the correct term. I just don't think we should base adulthood on nebulous things like the ability to drink alcohol, smoke weed or rent hotel rooms, but rather to put a bigger emphasis on biology.
    - Joker_vD 4y ago
      Which brings us back to the original point: why are there those arbitrary restrictions put on biologically adult people?
      - AntoniusBlock 4y ago
        I don't know. Ask your law-makers. I live in a country where you can drink alcohol at 16 as long as you're accompanied by an adult, for example. Then at 18 (when you're legally considered an adult), you can buy and drink your own alcohol on your own. Americans tend to coddle their young adults too much. Maybe it's their puritan heritage.
        theshrike79 4y ago
        Dunno about coddling. They can drive a 4 ton "truck" and join the military to kill people before they're legally allowed to drink alcohol :D
- Macha 4y ago
  What aspect of biological development are we talking about? Sexual development, ability to bear children? Mid teens for most, earlier for some. Completed puberty, full height? Mid to late teens. Finished the fastest phase of brain development? Mid-20s. Even if you want a biological standard, there's still plenty of subjectivity and many of these markers are quite a bit earlier or later than people would be comfortable with. Given that, I think it's fine to focus instead on legal or social aspects of adulthood. And full legal adulthood in the US has been 21 for some time and it seems to me that like my country, the social definition of adulthood is the end of full time education (including in my lifetime undergraduate education being considered an extension of childhood education)
  - AntoniusBlock 4y ago
    Average everything out and you'll get a number close to 18 which is the typical adult age in most countries. >Sexual development, ability to bear children? Mid teens for most, earlier for some. Let's say 15 >Completed puberty, full height? Mid to late teens. Let's say 18 >Finished the fastest phase of brain development? Mid-20s. Let's say 25 The average of 15, 18, and 25 is 19.3
    - verall 4y ago
      Why would an average rather than max make any sense?
      - AntoniusBlock 4y ago
        I think it'd make more sense because we're taking in different developmental factors together.
UncleEntity 4y ago
They let me invade a foreign country before I turned 20. Almost two but got to occupy Panama for a bit though. Couldn’t drink (outside Louisiana) and legal weed wasn’t even a thing. Hell, I was jumping out of airplanes in the army when I was 17. Seems relatively “adult” to me.
- Broken_Hippo 4y ago
  Doing adult things doesn't mean you are an adult nor treated like one. Kids raise siblings: Some folks have sex at 14. Child labor is a thing. This doesn't make folks an adult, even if they are participating in adult activities. Adult is realistically mix of how society treats you and your development.
slavik81 4y ago
I suppose full access to adult life in the US would be at 35 when you reach the minimum age to serve as president.
- qbrass 4y ago
  You can't serve as president at any age unless you're a natural born citizen.

ls15 4y ago

"Whiskey and cigars for me and my friends please"