[poll] age of true adulthood

[ixfd64]

It is often agreed that whether one is an adult should be defined by the person's maturity, rather than their age. However, if adulthood could only be defined in terms of age, what should it be?

 

 

 

Vote here

 

 

 

Here are some notable milestones for certain ages:

 

 

 

• [*:f0vff5bx]13: considered to be age of adulthood in Jewish communities; often pay adult admission fees in parks and museums; can legally join COPPA-compliant services
   
  [*:f0vff5bx]14: can legally babysit; legal age of employment (depending on job); can be tried as an adult for crimes
   
  [*:f0vff5bx]15: can legally drive; considered to be age of adulthood (for women) in Mexican communities
   
  [*:f0vff5bx]16: age of consent; can legally marry in some states
   
  [*:f0vff5bx]18: considered of legal age; can purchase fireworks and other restricted goods; can legally drink in many countries
   
  [*:f0vff5bx]21: can legally drink in the United States; can purchase additional restricted goods

 

Personally, I think the age should be 21. It's a bit silly to say "I'm an adult yet I can't legally drink."

[Striker6]

Uhhh well here in the UK we can drink at 18, yet join the army and wield a rifle at 16, crazy world :uhh:

[Ginger_Warrior]

Uhhh well here in the UK we can drink at 18, yet join the army and wield a rifle at 16, crazy world :uhh:

 

Merseyside's head of police (whatever title that is) actually called this week for the age to be extended to 21. So yeah, we could pay tax and die for our country for five years and not be able to drink... :-s

 

 

 

Personally, I regard myself an adult as soon as I have to start paying adult prices at the cinema (yet I can't see an adult film :-k)...

[Necromagus]

Over here the minimum age for pretty much everything besides voting and driving is 16, including (light) drinking and pretty much all movies (softcore porn is 12). They're debating raising the age for drinking though.

 

 

 

~edit: Palindrome post :

[Solidus_77]

Why does the judge have to be society's legalities? Especially in different countries and different cultures will have different legal ages. I think adulthood starts when you leave home for college (or around that age, for people who don't leave and/or don't go to college). College undergrads are considered "men" and "women" after all. So I think it starts at 18. I don't think drinking alcohol should be the decisive factor.

[The Dark Lord]

I don't think the age to have sex and to drink alcoholic beverages should be the decisive factors for adulthood. That's like saying "You're not a man unless you screw a girl and get drunk."

 

 

 

But, I would have to say it's around 16 or so. I'm 15 and am more mature than most people my age, so I have considered myself an adult, despite the "legal age." As I said, about 16 or later in the teens should be the "adult" age.

[Harrington]

In Scotland (which has slightly different laws from the rest of the UK), you are allowed to marry at 16, which I guess means you're officially an adult.

 

 

 

Here's how things are here, and my own opinion..

 

 

 

Subject - Legal Age - What I think it should be

 

___________________________________________________________

 

Allowed to buy cigarettes - 16 - 18

 

Allowed to smoke - ZERO - 18 (there is no legal minimum age to smoke here)

 

Allowed to marry - 16 - 21

 

Straight sex - 16 - 16

 

Bent sex - 18 - 18

 

Allowed to drive - 17 - 17

 

Allowed to buy drink - 21 - 21

[Futurama]

adulthood is a state of maturity and responsibility imo, not an age.

[Tigra00]

Intellectually? It's somewhere around 30 to never-at-all.

[SuziAngel]

adulthood is a state of maturity and responsibility imo, not an age.

 

 

 

Exactly. To quote Alden Nowlan:

 

 

 

The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.

[Necromagus]

never-at-all.

I can only hope :

 

 

 

Seriously though, making that some sort of official psychiatric diagnosis is the only way I could get away with the percentage of my paycheck that goes to lego each month...

[Aresgodowar]

i believe u can drink on military bases in the us...i know my cousins got blasted on the plane trip back from iraq.

[Futurama]

i believe u can drink on military bases in the us...i know my cousins got blasted on the plane trip back from iraq.

 

 

 

You can drink at whatever age in the air, just like at sea, but the reason you can't do it going abroad is because airlines won't serve you.

[LordoftheSquishies]

To quote myself from this stupid English assignment of journaling Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt...

 

 

 

Chosen quote from book: "I have to stand at the edge of the River Shannon so that the whole world won't see the tears of a man the day he's fourteen."

 

 

 

My response (I hate journaling...): "When does one become a man? What age, what level of responsibility, what experiences qualify him? 14 is an early age, but some never grow up. I don't know when manhood begins, but I know growth never stops, and the greatest man was still the Son of God."

 

 

 

Basically, growth never stops. We should never be comfortable where we're at. The minute we stop growing is the minute life will catch up with us. There will always be someone greater. There will always be a higher goal. We're never finished. Adults are just tall kids who screw up like shorter ones.

[x76]

Young adult: 16

 

Real adult: 25(in the USA anyway)

 

 

 

Nobody takes you seriously with business until you're 25 in the USA. So I have to say 25 for USA. Other countries, no idea.

[Lionheart_0]

Matters what you are talking about? Biologically, or socially? I tend to prefer the biological way as that is a much lower age. Not to mention the social adult age is to dependent of location and culture.

 

 

 

Biologically, one is an adult when they can reproduce and fend for themselves. If you take a look at the average age for the ending of puberty, that would be about 16-18. Of course this can vary as well, but not as much as the social age.

 

 

 

Like it or not, we are still animals. Would you all a full grown dog a puppy even if it still does stuff like a puppy? No.

[WutangFlu]

as soon as u start putting money into a retirement plan...

[Mr_Putter]

As soon as the weight of the world crushers your spirits...~Sometime in the mid-teen years.

 

 

 

But true adulthood I'd say comes when you move out. And not just to a dorm, that's like a transition period. But when you actually have to worry about buying your own food, cleaning your place, budgetting and dealing with financial crisis. I think that's when you are an adult.

[Obman]

I believe you're officialy an adult when: you can pay taxes, balance a checkbook, drive a car, moved out of your parent's house, stopped playing WoW 6 hours a day :XD: :P , and last but not least act mature when you get angry. :-k

[Ginger_Warrior]

In Scotland (which has slightly different laws from the rest of the UK), you are allowed to marry at 16, which I guess means you're officially an adult.

 

You can get married in all the UK at 16, but you need the permission of all parents of the two partners.

 

 

 

Also, why should there be a difference between homosexual and hetrasexual intercourse? Are you perhaps implying homosexuals don't know their homosexuality until two years after hetrasexuals realise their sexual orientation, despite having the same biology?

 

 

 

Additionally, the legal age to buy alcohol isn't 21... however if you look under 21 you may be asked to produce ID that shows you're above 18 (the legal age).

[How2PK]

When you get your first pubic hair.

[Bubsa]

When you can't get on a bus and pay for a "half" - then you know ;)

[Striker6]

When you can't get on a bus and pay for a "half" - then you know ;)

 

 

 

Heh, the bus drivers around here start charging full when you're about 13 :wall:

[Ginger_Warrior]

When you can't get on a bus and pay for a "half" - then you know ;)

 

 

 

Heh, the bus drivers around here start charging full when you're about 13 :wall:

 

Try my bus company's rules. You can claim a child's fare if you're under 16, unless it's after 10pm, then you have to pay full-fare. Because you obviously cease to be a child after 10pm... :-s

[Mercifull]

At 18 you are an adult, you should not have to pay adult fares on buses, trains and planes at 17 (imo).

 

 

 

While in the UK you tend to have a few rights granted at 16 I dont think that qualifies you as an adult. I dont belive you should be able tot join the army until you are 18 but on the other hand you should be able to vote at 16 as you are able to get a job and pay taxes.