It’s the latest trend to live in the past and in your parents' basement. Are you doing it too? Scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat, what are they feeding you? Scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat, it’s not your fault…
It seems riding it out at the bottom of the high school
food chain may have its silver lining after all. While some of us are too busy
feeling nostalgic for the past and afraid of what the future might hold, the
rest of us know that there’s only one way things could go from here – up and forward. (Is that two ways?)
We postpone commitment and shudder at the thought of
responsibility. “The Peter Pan Generation,” they’ll say. “Inheriting your mess
since the ‘80s!” we’ll retort without missing a beat. Our society is full of lost
boys and girls, known as Millennials or Generation Y, who’re being accused of
not wanting to grow up.
The economy being total shit today is often cited as the
biggest stumbling block obstructing our road to adulthood. Taking the
first step towards maturity – securing a job, buying a house, settling down
with a partner – has become harder than before. A growing number of adults
(myself included) don’t move out of their parents’ home to save on the colossal
deposits now required to buy a property. (I just really love my parents a lot,
ok??????)
In 2012, it was reported that 32% of Britons aged 25-40 are
living with their parents, where the pressure to grow up can be so easily tuned
out with a simple flick of the TV remote. Not having to worry about putting a
roof over my head and having someone else take care of all the cooking and
cleaning has definitely bred an inertia in me, that seems to defy Newton’s
first law.
However, inflated property prices, recession and economic
depression are not circumstances unique to our times – our attitude of taking
the easy way out and making excuses is. While I think we’re just being really
smart and practical about it, sociologists – who are obviously Baby Boomers –
believe there are much bigger psychological factors at play here. They’re
claiming that the root of the ‘infantalisation’ of today’s adults can be
attributed to a fear of growing up.
We’re apparently scared to think of ourselves as adults,
especially when hardly any good seems to come with being a grownup – apart from
the cheap thrill of purchasing cigarettes and alcohol with our own ID. The
media’s glamorization of teenage years more than any other life stage has
placed most of our cultural values with youth. And the further we move away
from it (ie: grow up), the more jittery and tense we become, they’ve
observed.
Most of us spend our entire childhood looking forward to
this period of sleepovers, acne and snogging, which – as it happens – passes in
a blink of an eye. Only 5% of our lives take place in high school, working on
the assumption we live to be 80 years old. (Live long and prosper, you guys. We
got diz!) It’s only natural to feel somewhat crestfallen when the curtain comes down.
Considering the number of TV shows and films devoted to high
school drama or coming-of-age plots, which cater to our fixation on reliving
the good old days, it’s hard to deny this phenomenon. IT’S HAPPENING!
AHHHHHHHHHHASDKJHSDFKJ!!!!!! Another trend indicative of this desire to escape
adulthood is the growing popularity of books and entertainment aimed at
children and teenagers (such as Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Twilight, Frozen, computer
games) among adults.
Some of us are completely immune to this line of thought,
though. Not likely the cocky captain of the football team, who peaked in high school where he was once adored
as a hero, but now wastes away working the cash register at a 7-Eleven
as he reminisces his glory days. But a strong contender is the nerd, who had an
unfortunate high school experience and would never consider going back because
he’s become the CEO of a TNC today, certain that what's about to happen will only be rosier than what's already happened.
