Today’s 20-something population is stuck in a period of “prolonged adolescence.” It is taking college students more time to earn a job in their career path, get married, buy a house, or even move out of their parents’ place. So why is this? It is easy to dismiss the exaggerated and exhausted criticisms. Millennials are not overly coddled, and Gen Xers didn’t walk up a snowy hill for five miles every day to get to school. More legitimate accusations are leveled at the higher education system. But is spending more time and money on education a terrible idea? “Prolonged adolescence” may just be a reaction to the evolving world.
The theme surrounding 20-somethings is one of carelessness and naivety. Meg Jay, a clinical psychologist specializing in adult development, said in a TED Talk, “What do you think happens when you pat a 20-something on the head and say you have ten extra years to start your life? Nothing happens. You have robbed that person of their urgency and ambition, and absolutely nothing happens.”
Rhetoric surrounding young adults can be demeaning. Calling 20-somethings lazy is an easy, but flawed, response to why young people are underemployed. Statements like this oversimplify what it means to be ambitious or urgent. While people attribute a lack of a stable income to lethargy on the part of the students, the reality is that a college education today doesn’t always amount to a job. Now, increased competition, technological advancement, and additional factors require students to earn a Master’s or PhD.
Jay is not alone in her opinion. She and others recognize that it takes time to choose a career path, so they support constructive exploration. “Do something that adds value to who you are. Do something that is an investment in who you might want to be next.” said Jay. “I’m not discounting 20-something exploration here, but I am discounting exploration that is not supposed to count, which, by the way, is not exploration. That’s procrastination.”
But what separates constructive exploration from procrastination? Are college graduates procrastinating if they work part-time at a restaurant to pay off student loans? Are 22-year old students working an unpaid internship still adolescents because they are financially reliant on their parents?
In modern society, salary is viewed as an indicator of maturity. But it isn’t right to deem a graduate, or doctorate student, with a part-time job that’s unrelated to their field of study, as someone with an extended youth. Adulthood has been traditionally noted by finishing school, finding a stable job, marrying, having children, and settling into your own home. But, there is no longer a clear-cut path to maturity. Every indicator roots back to a central theme of financial stability.
Years ago, there were specific career paths, such as becoming a lawyer or a doctor, that required a college education. Now, almost every job requires a college degree, and a bachelor’s degree is becoming the new basis for education. A shortage of entry-level jobs and a need for more education in the information age require many people to lengthen their education, causing young adults to enter the workforce at older ages than ever before.
The prevalence of birth control, legalization of gay marriage, and calming societal pressures surrounding heterosexual marriage have resulted in many new forms of families and relationships. People are getting married and having children at different rates and ages. With the evolution of education and relationships, adulthood can no longer be reliant on staple traditions.
There is no need to pretend that adulthood is reached through a specific formula. Different people take separate strides to maturity. Financial and personal factors play a significant role in how long you can go to college, if you can have children, or if/when you can marry. There is no magic formula for college students to achieve success and maturity. Underemployment rates for young adults can’t be simplified and blamed on millennials thinking they have until age 30 to submit to stereotypical adulthood.
Millennials have redefined typical education and what it means to be a successful adult. An inability to achieve one of the staple markers of adulthood doesn’t mean that you are a “prolonged adolescent.” Time, people, education, and culture have evolved. It is time that we stop pretending someone is lazy, or procrastinating, if they haven’t, or never will achieve stereotypical adulthood.
