To be or not to be (Now that is the Question)

My lecturer gave us another interesting topic to blog about. No the topic wasn’t about the secret love affair between Helen Zille and Jacob Zuma ( I didn’t say anything) nor did she ask us to comment on Juju’s outlandish comments of’ I’d rather kill myself than commit suicide.’ Instead she asked us to write about the ‘emerging adulthood’ zeitgeist.



YES YOU!



Are you between the ages of 18 and late 20s? , Do you still rely a lot on your parents? , Have you gone through a series of several jobs in your twenties? , Are you travelling more to find ‘thyself’? , are you more self focused and less certain about your future, but still remain optimistic? Do you feel like both grown-up and not quite-grown-up? Then you, yes YOU form

part of Jeffery Jensen Arnett’s theory of ‘Emerging adulthood’. 

Through his research Arnett has made other academics and the average American ask the question of why it is taking long for 20 something’s to grow up. What are the external and internal factors contributing to this?

 We live in a fast world where technology is the order of the day. A world where without education you are 'nothing’ or even with education and your degrees you can still find yourself leaving on the streets(okay maybe that was a bit melodramatic). However, in this tough economy young people are finding it more difficult to get a job. With no financial security or guarantee, we find that more young people are not rushing into marriage.The traditional transition to adulthood was marked by five milestones: completing school, leaving home, becoming financialy independent, marrying and having children. Most of our 20-somethings do not reach these milestones in a linear order. Some have children young and marry later. While others work first and then go to school. However, are these reasons enough to declare the 20s as a distinct life stage?

Neuroscientists have proved that the human brain is constantly growing and it keeps maturing well into the 20s. If this is the case than it will explain the confused state that these young people are in. Well, the state that most of us are in.

One of the main reasons slowing the process of young people’s journey into adulthood will have to be the influence of the parents. Some parents of today’s 20-somethings have become ‘Helicopter Parents’. These parents smother their children. These parents have produced a generation that can practically do nothing for themselves. They hover over everything that their children do. Not giving them a chance to make and learn from their mistakes. Or a chance to learn financial independence.

I do agree with Arnett’s theory of ‘emerging adulthood’ to an extent. However I do not think that it can qualify as a new development stage. For it to do that, ‘emerging adulthood’ must be both universal and essential. His research has been limited to a certain culture(The American culture). If this is declared as a new development stage than the American government will have to put new structures in place to cater for the 20-somethings unique needs. This will mean a change in health care, education, social grants and job markets. All these changes may be beneficial, but it is costly even for a 'First world country'. So if this had to be implemented in developing countries they would have a problem due to their limited resources, skills and capital. The other thing is that the 20-somethings in developing countries are forced to grow-up much faster. This is due to the hardships, circumstances and the limited resources and opportunities offered to them by their countries.

What is happening in America is that the 20-somethings have many opportunities that they can easily access. They can spend more time exploring the world and finding themselves.

There is no pressure of finding the right job, the right partner or the right place to live. Steve jobs, the founder of Apple Mac said that nobody knows what they want until you show them. So if that has some truth to it.  The question our 20-somethings should be asking is ‘To be an adult’ or ‘Not to be an adult’(Now that is the question).