Life is a very intimidating and long journey that can seem impossible to take on even to the most prepared and well rounded adolescents. There seems to be no real transition from the life of a student to that of a young adult. Much of life is spent attempting to make money and improve the quality of life through material purchases that often don’t have a positive effect on your life. Many twenty-somethings are just starting to support themselves and have no experience or guidance in the decisions they make with their newly found freedom. With the addition of emerging adulthood as a life stage, twenty-somethings would be able to make better decisions with their money as they wouldn’t be forced into making unnecessary purchases. On the other hand, the U.S. economy would need to adapt to the immediate economic downturn caused by emerging adults not making the large purchases that would typically be made without this life stage.
Becoming an adult is a complicated and frankly, terrifying process. Much of the guidance adolescents receive from their parents and elders only gets you to college, but then what? Many college graduates have no clue how to survive as an adult. The way our culture is currently set up we are told that we need all these material things to be happy. We are told we need a bigger house, a fancier car, nicer clothes, and that those things will make us happy. When, in reality, the only thing that can truly make you happy, is a purpose. In King’s TEDx Talk he speaks about all the people he’s known “who have retired and looked back on their lives surrounded by their stuff and said what the heck was that for, and it’s not that they didn’t try and seek a purposeful pathway. It’s that they lived in a system that made it very difficult to do so…” (3). Emerging adulthood would allow twenty-something’s not only to find a purpose, but to be able to better plan out their lives financially so they can have the best of both worlds with both material goods and a purposeful life. The delaying of these large purchases by twenty something’s will begin to fix the problem of generations that are struggling to keep up in a world economy that is only getting more expensive to live in. A monumental purchase in the transition to adulthood is buying a car, years ago, this made sense as it was the most convenient way to get around. Now, many twenty something’s rely on “disruptive businesses like Uber” (1) in their daily life as a means of transportation. While the economy has begun to shift towards these services, many people still expect for people of that age to be thinking about buying their first car, even though for them, that isn’t a logical purpose. The expected life path and purchases that go along with it, need to catch up to modern technology and the influence it has on the economy.
With the emerging adulthood stage in place, twenty-somethings would not have the immediate pressure of having to get a job and be self sufficient. Noting that the average person has “thirteen jobs in four different industries” (2) in their lifetime it seems illogical for a young adult to be so consumed with getting a job that they will likely not even stay with for an extended amount of time. The old and tried system of going to college, then jumping straight into your first job is not working, it gives no time for people to find out what they’re passionate about and causes a society that is “mostly in debt, dispassionate about their work and in a state of physical and mental dis-ease”(3). Until we change how we view the process of becoming an adult, we will continue to be stuck with the same problems as past generations. With the emerging adulthood phase, people would be allowed to look for a job that truly suits their purpose, causing them to be both better workers and also have a more stable job. With more stable jobs that allow people to spend their money more freely without fear of losing their job or having to start all over in another industry. With this increased sense of security it would allow people to become both happier and economically stable. Conversely, it would cause a momentary period of economic instability nationally as the jobs that are typically taken by twenty-somethings would suddenly have to be taken by either those younger or more experienced and overqualified workers. These are the challenges that come with the stage of emerging adulthood, but in the long run it would be much more economically beneficial to have adults that can make informed and conscious decisions about their future careers rather than facing a revolving door of jobs just to make ends meet.
In a world that is constantly changing, we must not remain stuck in our old ways of thinking, there is no one true life path. Some life events that are crucial to some, may be completely irrelevant to others. In the old way of thinking, life was seen like a train, there are stops along the way but you always stay on the same track heading to a final destination. In our modern society, life should be viewed like a cross-country road trip, with endless destinations for each person depending on what you want in life. It shouldn’t be determined by society how people are supposed to live when it is their life and their choice. The stage of emerging adulthood would give the power back to the individual in deciding how they want their life to unfold. By giving them the time to experience the world and focus on their passion we not only put them in a better financial state, but in a better place to enjoy this life for all it is meant to be.
One of the biggest problems with the lack of emerging adulthood as a life phase is that young adults feel they have to make these drastic life altering purchases or else they will be left behind and always be struggling to catch up. With emerging adulthood they can focus on finding purpose which will lead them to not only wait on these purchases, but to make more informed decisions which will truly benefit their life. Emerging adulthood would also have a detrimental effect on the economy, particularly the housing market. With twenty-somethings not purchasing houses, prices everywhere would skyrocket, also meaning that once they are out of the emerging adulthood stage houses would be more expensive than if they had never entered it. But, due to the time to plan out their financial decisions they would still be better equipped to buy a house even if it were more expensive. The only problem with this life stage is that these twenty-somethings do have to live somewhere whether it be on their own or with a parent. Though, by not pressuring them to get their life started immediately, they may choose the much more temporary and economically sound option of renting a house or apartment, where they can live there for as long as they need until they are ready to take that next step into adulthood.
With all the time emerging adults are able to use trying to find their true passion, they will also be able to contribute to modern technology. With more time to observe the world around them and see what it needs, there will be much more innovation and passion put into their work which will cause more new jobs for the next batch of emerging adults to contribute to. This creates an economy that is constantly evolving with the changing times and not trying to remain stagnant in a world that is ever changing.
