• daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    8 hours ago

    When you are legally considered that in your country’s law. Any other distinction is fuzzy and unlikely to be really useful.

  • BaraCoded@literature.cafe
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    8 hours ago

    When they start thinking about the consequences of their actions, and act accordingly instead of following pure impulse.

  • AutistoMephisto@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    Well, in the legal sense, I suppose it has to do with contracts and contract law. Some time ago in the US, it was determined that 18 was the legal age for adulthood because by then a person would be old enough to understand the terms of a contract and hold to those terms. Marriage is a contract. Military service is a contract. Getting a loan/mortgage is a contract.

  • laurathepluralized@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    When I was in college (so maybe 20 or 21 years old), I asked my mom when I would start feeling like an adult. Without missing a beat, she said “I dunno. If you find out, let me know!” <3

    I guess I started feeling more like a “real” adult when I started working full-time and rented a house instead of an apartment, though now even that pales in comparison to when I finally purchased my own home. Each phase of life feels more “grown-up” than the last, with new perspectives, greater understanding of my relationships with God and people, and matured confidence going into the new phase’s challenges. And yet I’m still me at heart–as I like to call it, “a big kid with bills.” I am very blessed.

  • GreenKnight23@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    for me it was when I was responsible for more than just myself.

    I’m responsible for my spouse, my kids, the team I managed, etc.

    I have to say, it’s not worth it 🤣

  • DJKJuicy@sh.itjust.works
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    19 hours ago

    Never. There is no line to cross, no milestone, nothing.

    You will always be the same entity you are now. You should always work to improve yourself, but the stream of consciousness that is “you” is always going to be the same you.

    Every day you wake up 1 day older and have 1 more day of accumulated experience. It’s that accumulated experience that makes people think you’re an “adult”.

    If you really absolutely need to assign a binary “I’m an adult” label, I think it’s the day you realize that there is no such thing as an adult and all the people you thought were adults and therefore could handle adult responsibilities were actually just making it all up as they went, the same as you are doing right now.

    • 4grams@awful.systems
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      10 hours ago

      Well said. At this point in my life I can say I am an adult, but I can’t say when it happened. It was just a dawning realization one day, that was oh, “I’m the adult now.”

  • Sunsofold@lemmings.world
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    1 day ago

    Adult is essentially like age-based gender. Different cultures say adulthood starts at different ages, physical markers, or after some ritual transition, and assign adults a certain role in society. Some people identify as adult or not adult regardless of what their culture assigns to them. It’s all part of the arbitrary, usually unspoken rules each culture defines for itself.

        • CovfefeKills@lemmy.world
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          5 hours ago

          Some people identify as adult or not adult regardless of what their culture assigns to them

          Uhm are you disagreeing about the intent of this individual because you are unfamiliar with this particular talking point or are you also advocating for raping children, Virtvirt588? Because one of their things is that they should be allowed to identify as a child in order to have sex with children, and this is that. Or are you just on their side?

  • Tanis Nikana@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    A child knows the adult drink is coffee.

    A teenager knows the adult drink is alcohol.

    An adult knows the adult drink is water.

  • BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 day ago

    Some never become adults, becoming an adult to me is self-realization. That you have the ability to think and make decisions with input on your own. That you are self-capable of change in your life. It’s accepting you have responsibilities outside of just yourself. I feel hat’s part of it.