Adulthood After the Crash

Has adulthood as we once knew it been lost? Is the state of ‘being adult’ so eroded that immaturity, selfishness and infantilism have all but replaced it? You could be forgiven for thinking so, given the frequency with which media commentators, sociologists and cultural critics assert that today’s youth are not growing up.

The last decade saw the emergence of portmanteaux such as ‘kidult’, ‘adultescent’ and ‘rejuvenile’ to designate those who seemed to live in an extended adolescence, enjoying life’s youthful pleasures and avoiding orthodox commitments. Kidults lack ‘direction, commitment and any sense of permanence’, newspapers inform us, as ‘celebrity gossip and an iPod are more important’. But in spite of these widespread rumours of its demise, there has been little substantial discussion of what actually constitutes adulthood.