I love Douglas Coupland when he is at his best.

This was better.

Beautiful, lyrical, nostalgic…

Like that song, “Wear Sunscreen” with Baz Luhrman…whatever…

Love from Scotland.

Being 18 is a weird age, let me tell you, first you are friends with 14-16 year olds whom you shared your “minorhood” with in High School until the magic day. Despite being in a completely different age cohort (18-34) which is eery to me. Married mothers with children of their own are in this age group.

Now being 18, you “magically transform” into a completely different person. The world doesn’t see you as a “kid” anymore. They see you the same as a fully mature, never to get any more mature, “grown-up” is appropriate. even though you are still going to school, and friends with teenagers, you are NOT a teenager, but a full adult, a twentysomething, despite being eighTEEN. At 18, the Government considers you an adult, to fend for yourself and EXPECTS YOU TO MARRY AND HAVE CHILDREN at this age, despite people who are roughly the same age, 17, who are considered CHILDREN WHO CANNOT DO ANYTHING WITHOUT THEIR PARENTS. On your 18th birthday, the Government wants you to go from a PARENT’S CHILD to a CHILD’S PARENT overnight. That’s magic in itself.

But also, 18 has a second side to it. I also associate with 19-25 year olds and have been even while working back at age 16. What I’m trying to convey here is that 16-17 year olds are not children, many women that age are fully formed physically, also men are full size with facial hair at this age. And 18-19 year olds are not full adults because they are not fully matured yet. There should be a gray area between childhood and adulthood, called “minority” or “emerging adulthood” Minority should be shifted to the 16-19 and 20-24 cohorts

0-11 children

12-15 youth

16-19 minors (older teenagers gain more rights)

20-24 emerging adulthood (when a boy becomes a man in the newspapers)

25+ Full adulthood (This to me is the age that a man or woman is fully mature, ready to marry, get a career, and start a family, {not 18})

With each cohort gradually gaining more rights than the last

18 is such a random and arbitrary age to divide life into two uneven halves. Considering an 18 year old is probably still in High school or maybe beginning college. It would make sense legally if a 19 year old was a boy and 20 a man. It just makes more sense. I wonder how they chose the random age of 18.

Drinking should be 20
Driving should be 16 (Provisional)
Unrestricted license at 20
Age a child can be left unsupervised 12
Unsupervised in public 16
Employment 12
Unlimited Employment 16
Voting 20
Smoking 20
Childbirth 20
Consent 20
Contracts 20
Age Of Majority 16, 20 or 25 depending on crime
Gambling 25
Guns 25
Marriage 25

The last 3 should be 25 because it takes lots of responsibility to handle the last three. Young marriages usually end up in divorce.

These ideas seem more sensible to me than the “abracadabra you’re an adult today but a small child yesterday with no gray area in between legally”

a person is a boy and a girl up to 15
a male or female between 16 and 20,24
a man or woman 20, 25+

My proposal would create a gray area between two distinct life stages, instead of a literal black and white line.

When i woke up on my “special birthday” I’m like “Where’d my childhood go?” Even my parents treated me different overnight and I asked them why they wouldn’t treat me the same again. I knew I was never going to get that childish love that I once had. Turning 18 is a sad day indeed. Therefore I believe the journey int adulthood should be a years long affair and not an overnight one.

Thank you,
Alex

Henri, more illumination on networks. Network work sounds interesting. Thanks, Grant

It is a rather complicated affair, but one worth enjoying.

I was wondering over the weekend what it’s like to be 18. This is not because I want to be 18 again. I am deeply grateful to have escaped my youth, a time that now looks to me like…

I was wondering over the weekend what it’s like to be 18. This is not because I want to be 18 again. I am deeply grateful to have escaped my youth, a time that now looks to me like…

The most bewildering aspect of 19 is communication. MySpace, facebook, cell phones, e-mail, instant messengers, text messaging, letter writing: all of these come tied up with different levels of intimacy, and certain modes cannot be used with certain people. I am deeply envious of previous generations, who I envision as having had the option of writing or knocking on someone’s door. Now communication is a minefield.

There’s also something to be said for the iPod replacing public music. We all live in personal technological bubbles. The iPod poses diplomatic issues: do I know this person well enough to make them take their earbuds out? Should I wave at them or leave them alone? It is now entirley possible to alone in public, with your headphones broadcasting your isolation.

Being 19 is a complicated affair.

I like Moore’s Law better than Mooree’s Law, or his faclilty. Thanks for the cool post and the kind words.