i always cringe when i see older adults talking about this generation, it was such a relief to hear him be supportive. it was calming

1950: "You wanna work in this car factory? You look strong, got two hands. Here's some gloves and stand over there" 2017: "You wanna work in this car factory? Do you have Robotics Engineering degree and also 10 years experience in the field?

This is the first talk I've seen that really hits the nail on the head. Emerging adulthood isn't driven by millennials, it's just experienced by them because it takes longer to get the necessary training and experience to acquire economic stability. He's still got this idea that emerging adulthood is about freedom and choice, but it really isn't. Millennials live with their parents because they lack the financial freedom to leave. They change careers frequently because companies would rather hire externally than promote or train their existing employees. This isn't driven by millennials' preferences because they aren't the decision makers in the workplace, they are just affected by those decisions. The average millennial carries $40k in student debt and by the end of "emerging adulthood" at 29 will only make $35k/year. That's not a position you want to be in when you're considering starting a family and taking on adult responsibilities. People say millennials are too choosy about their jobs, and that they should just take manufacturing or laboring jobs wherever they can get them, but employers are so choosy now that this isn't really feasible. I've been turned down from unskilled laboring jobs because I'm 'overqualified'. Besides which, a job that pays $8/hour while you're trying to pay off $40,000 in loans is just not going to cut it - the debt grows faster than you can earn money. So you have to be choosy if you want to avoid bankruptcy. Introducing spouses and kids into that situations is not only undesirable, it's downright irresponsible. Millennials are doing the best they can with the hand they've been dealt. What you observe about millennials is the result of their trying to cope with changes in society and the workplace that are outside of their control. What we're seeing now is the result of decisions made by politicians and corporate decision makers who large belong to the baby boomer generation. We don't yet know what changes millennials will bring because they're too young and economically/politically powerless to make them yet.

This video needs more views. more young adults and teens need to see this seriously. As someone who did not have a concrete career plan before 18, I kept beating myself up for "not getting my life together". This could help a lot of people especially since the rampant hustle culture that is, for the most part, toxic. please share this among your young peers. We could really use this support. from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU

This was a very interesting talk. I found myself thinking about the age I married, 31, and the fact that there really was a great time of freedom I had compared to my parents and grandparents in this new knowledge economy. I see this playing out in my nieces and nephews as well. Great talk!

This guy is a hero to us young adults. Let the problem be known so we get the support we need not people who try to judge us with their timelines.

Maybe they could decrease the amount of time spent in education? Personally I feel like I didn't learn all that much in school and that it was more of a way to keep young people occupied.Perhaps they could cut high school short by 1,2 or 3 years so young people could start college earlier? Or they could emphasize a vocational aspect to school so students could learn skills that would actually be good for a job.

As always, no one explains it better. Thank you, Dr. Arnett.

I'm 40 year old and people are pushing me into adulthood, what the hell is wrong with them?

I was born in the early 1990s, I've turned 30 recently and the existential anguish that comes along with it is real, anyone else feeling this way? Especially since almost everyone around me have synched to have babies this year and I'm feeling somewhat left behind about that, but I'm neither biologically (I have PCOS which lowers my possibilities of conceiving) nor mentally ready to assume that responsability Also, as much as I desired in my 20s to reach full independence and stability, now that I have that I can't help feeling rather emprisoned by the responsabilies that come along with having a job, running a house, paying bills... I long for freedom and flexibility in my life

This should really be a HS graduation speech!

Thank you for your words of wisdom! As a 28-year-old uni student without children. Hit the nail on the head, thank you!

Wow. So good. Thanks for relieving some of my depression for being 32 and single af 😆 ... but I’m pursuing dance and a possible business! I would like to get married and have children one day tho 🙏🏻

Thank you Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, I will enjoy it every moment

As a gen Z child born in the early 2000s, I feel like I'm doing the best I can to navigate through life but I do find it overwhelming and hard and I feel like because of technology and how the world is evolving things have changed for the better but also for the worst. Just so my thoughts based off reading the comments I did not get to watch the video yet but I feel like it would definitely be informative.

What a perfect timing for this video to appear in my feed🤯😃👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾🤷🏽‍♂️…. Thank you Adam from Ted x

Would be interesting to see him and Meg Jay talk about the process of emerging adulthood.

I'm watching this as a part of my assignment, and I'm repulsed by what he is saying. Don't get me wrong; he makes some valid and significant points.

essay due tomorrow and a a&p exam in a few days and more math ..... im tired

sooo true!!!! There's also a lot more pressure now to go to college which leads to a higher rate of depression and anxiety so they should lower the amount of college you need for a degree. ALSO we might be 10 years "behind" but the life expectancy increased.

I have been part of communities who held the opinion the adolescence was an unnecessary stage in life. Or that young people were not growing up fast enough and that the years they remained in adolescence was getting longer because these young people were flawed and lazy. "When I was their age . . . ". It only takes one generation for parents to get out of toutch with the world because it does not stand still. They don't realize that a lot happens in 2o+ years. It is difficult to plan for a world that does not exist. My mother trained me for her world where there were few opportunities for woman's which was the world that she was born into.

I took Dr. Arnett's Abnormal Psych class way back in 1988. Good professor and had some skills on the b-ball court...

i like this guy. he knows

My parents a grandparents and over 65 years and they have not grown up. They still. Backstab me a hurt my life by not being real parents to me .

Is there a link to these older parents getting married after age 30. In particular women's egg being that much older and increasing chance of having children with asbergers etc. This appears more common today than it has ever been.

Hmmm, the problem with this talk is the definition of 'adulthood'. The speaker equates adulthood with having dependants - which 'narrows your choices'. The point I want to make is that 20-years now are not more 'childish' than those of a generation or two ago.

Thank you for clarifying this topic.

Funny, a couple of semesters ago, the professor posted a TED talk that promoted the exact opposite theory- Don't wait, Don't procrastinate.

I disagree with the title. People are not growing up slowly they're the same ages any age was then or now it's that people are making a living not growing but living slowly because how f****** expensive this world is now. I make more than my grandpa did when he was my age though he was able to move out at that age we're in my situation everything's too damn expensive

It's simply a natural consequence of the human race living longer. Each decade the lifespan of humanity increases exponentially there for if our childhood is measured in percentages to the length of our lifetime then it would be logical to assume that as we live longer each stage of our natural life cycle would also increase.. or it could just be a consequence of our perception of time speeding up. If that is true then it would also be logical to assume that we would grow up a lot later than in times past when we perceived time more slowly than we do today.

In one way I can agree but in another I can't agree. His baby boomer shows a lot when he talks about this, " adventures you'll never have again". He's got that old mind set that everybody SHOULD get married and have kids, as if it's a mandatory to life. He needs to understand that's became an outdated way of life. Sure people still get married and have kids, they always will, but people now choose to go they're own path and if marriage or family life isn't in their life plan then their not going that route regardless of what people say. You can have adventures anytime in life, not everyone's 20s are "carefree". Some people may have situations that prevent them to do these things. So they make up for the things they missed out on later in life be it their 30s, 40s, ect... You have one life, enjoy until the end,.not just during one numerical decade of your life. I do agree on SOME things but he still has a lot of too many old fashioned thoughts to try to "understand" younger people.

Thank you for sharing this perspective and key points on why the world and our children (emerging adults) are DIFFERENT! and I love how you even added WHY that's okay! When they are ready, young adulthood will still be there, it's a personal choice. We need to continue to spread this narrative because gosh, all I hear is bashing from the boomers and its their ignorance and it really is damaging.

I love him so much

What he didn't mention is the fact that this delay puts added burden on parents, requiring them to parent longer and later sacrificing more of their lives than before. Supporting children steadily rather than occasionally in their 30's was not the parents plan. Parents have a right to live the later years of their lives before they get too old to enjoy them. If it's too expensive for the kids to be independent, then it is also too expensive for the parents to support them continuously. I didn't hear any of that. The emphasis on kids needs first until they're comfortable enough to venture out effects those supplying the comfort. No consideration for them.

Wow.

Sounds good, but I rather think that it is because childhood has been taken away from the children. Everything seems to be organized, controlled, planed and supervised with safety, learning and the removal of innocence in mind.

Everyone is been, and has been educated from school and the environment (society) they’ve built for us all to-live in.were kids as adults,we were educated to not take life seriously,its all a game,,but we act as if its real,so it-effects our living-life,wake up,its all by design.

Question is why it take so fast to go down , and that’s the problem we need to face today.

What a GREAT speech.

I wish my kids had been born when I was in my 20's then in my 30's. Now I'm in my 40's and can't keep up with my young kids.

It takes too long to make this point. An artist like Bob Dylan or a rapper can make it faster, more memorable.

Transfering from manufacturing to knowledge economy. Education. most people prefer marriage after getting stable job.

gosc jest pogchampem

easy way to solve the problem - never marry or have kids. live life having fun cradle to grave.

He's just listing events in history. Many people never grow up. take responsibility for their actions, develop an ability to understand incoming information, be able to take care of others. Most people can't even have a well informed conversation. Parents don't enable adulthood

What age range do you define as "emerging adulthood?" Is this 18-25? Or all throughout 20's?

Coddling and pampering

👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

I think I'm still emerging and I'm 40 😂

يسلم فمك يا حج و الله

This could honestly be the doom of humanity.

"Adulthood will still be ready when you are". If I develop a mindset of putting off responsibility, that will become a learned habit that will not be undone on the mystical day that the future finally arrives.

hi guys

not the angry old people in the comments lmao 💀

I am 21 and in graduate school. I am trying to be the exact antithesis/counter culture to what this guy is presenting. The sad thing is, what he saying is truly happening, but that doesn't mean it is right. "And once you enter, you can never really go back." Case and point, that's what childhood and adolescence have always been for. Teach that to them.

My wife and I don't have kids, so this is not an issue. Thank goodness!!

I'm a Toy's R Us kid and I don't want to grow up ! 👶

Emerging adults, however, often want to lead a lifestyle that they can't afford. It's fine to pursue dreams and enjoy a carefree life with little responsibility, but emerging adults need to accept that they can't expect their parents or grandparents to finance their c'est la vie lifestyle and attitude.

Become NPD?

To relate the marriage so much with growing up is what I don't find interesting.

The War on Poverty in the 60's, "you don't need a man, just children" and we as a society will pay you. We didn't pay enough, because the Number one thing that takes a child out of poverty is TWO parents.

quiero este vídeo en español

Unfortunately all scientific studies conclude the opposite of what the speaker is talking about. Adulthood will not be there waiting for you. If you don't make the jump at a reasonable time you will always be waiting tables and living on the gig economy. People hear what they want to hear. Be aware of someone that says everything you want to hear.

How many of you would last in the wild? Before the 20th century, many of us could say "Yes, I could survive". Not so many can say that today. Pets are animals that never grow up. They are perpetually in a state of childhood, forever dependent on their parental figure. A pet has a hard time surviving in the wild without the aid of humans. So the question becomes, "Who owns us?"

One of the issues with people taking longer to grow up and be independent is that they want to claim they are adults and expect to still be taken care of.

Socialism is becoming more popular. Ok, you see where this is going.

At 5 years of age I walked 1 mile, 2 km, to school and the same on the return home. Kids today are wrapped in cotton wool.

He didn't mention the simple fact that if women want to have babies it is more difficult in their 30s than in their twenties, and the longer they wait the percentage of success goes down and risk to their babies health goes up.

I do not share these antiquated Beliefs. None of what he says fact or science. It is general speculation on statistics of general populations. The study of 1, each individual is the only thing I believe, for now.

Who is feeding and housing these “emerging adults?” Grow up !!!

That's why all these new generations are shit and rubbish that's why more and more young people aren't getting married or should i say never seen a girlfriend in their life or a boyfriend if your a girl back in the days like the 60s my dad was married to my mom at 21 and she was 19 and the relationship lasted for 26 years which is a very long time and all his high school friends were all married the latest 23 years old but the marriage back then was for love now these days its all about money greed for love there is no such thing today as true love it's very simple you got to have your own house lots of money for her to spend in return for her to live with you and the only people that can achieve this is much older guys in their mid 30s or 40s that's why young people's life's are disasters now days and are single to an old age or it never happens at all.

I'm sure this speaker is popular for asking young people not to grow up, not to take on responsibilities and remain in adolescence for as long as possible. Making up a new term like 'emerging adulthood' is a good idea to keep people in that life stage where they spend money freely and may boost the economy - is that what it is all about? Late parents do not make better parents; late marrieds get divorce too. Women and men should have their right to choose when they want to become responsible adults as long as they do not depend on ageing parents or the society to support them. It's ridiculous to suggest that you need to stay in college for longer to get anywhere in technology, or in life. We all know that; don't we? This is the worst TED talk I've ever heard.

ok boomer