It shows a sort of artificial dependence imposed by society, but these teenagers could otherwise be independent in terms of emotional maturity and personal resp

It shows a sort of artificial dependence imposed by society, but these teenagers could otherwise be independent in terms of emotional maturity and personal responsibility. My father and his brother both 'ran away' from their (abusive) family when they were 16 and 15 respectively, in the late 60s. Bought a car with cash they had saved up, drove across the country, rented an apartment for a few years and worked various jobs before joining different branches of the military and eventually going to college. A few decades later, I imagine this sort of thing as being near impossible for today's teenagers. Not because they are "wussier" or immature for their age, but because the world has changed and expectations that people have of teenagers and young adults have changed. Everything has more paperwork, everyone seems to expect background checks and credit checks. Teenagers and young adults seemingly need cosigners for damn near everything for their first few years away from home. I had a lot of friction with this stuff in the 90's/early 00's when I was that age as my father's philosophy towards cosigning was "tell them that you can afford it yourself, and them to go fuck themselves." As late as 22 years old I had landlords that were hesitant (although ultimately not unwilling) to rent to me without a cosigner, even though I was gainfully employed and had fine credit. Even for that age range a lot of them seem to think that people being dependent on their parents is the norm.