I have been reading alot of material lately about adolescent brain development, and as it turns out, the brain goes through a pruning process of cutting off unused neural connections to make the brain more efficient. It starts from the back of the brain to the front, the very last area to mature is the pre-frontal cortex, the area of the brain that is associated with planning, forethought, and rational decision making, this is why many teenagers are poor decision makers and often act on impluse(especially around their peers).This process last from about the age of 12 to the mid 20s! It was once thought that cognitive development was finished around 17 or 18, but that ain't so. So while an 18 year old may be considered a legal adult they have definitely not reached cognitive maturity, which most people reach around 23, 24, or 25.

Also do any of you(especially older members) notice a change in people when they enter their mid 20s, do they start acting more mature? Does this tie in with the quarter life crisis? How do you think this ties in with personality, is personality finally set in stone in the mid 20s?

I have been reading alot of material lately about adolescent brain development, and as it turns out, the brain goes through a pruning process of cutting off unused neural connections to make the brain more efficient. It starts from the back of the brain to the front, the very last area to mature is the pre-frontal cortex, the area of the brain that is associated with planning, forethought, and rational decision making, this is why many teenagers are poor decision makers and often act on impluse(especially around their peers).This process last from about the age of 12 to the mid 20s! It was once thought that cognitive development was finished around 17 or 18, but that ain't so. So while an 18 year old may be considered a legal adult they have definitely not reached cognitive maturity, which most people reach around 23, 24, or 25.

Also do any of you(especially older members) notice a change in people when they enter their mid 20s, do they start acting more mature? Does this tie in with the quarter life crisis? How do you think this ties in with personality, is personality finally set in stone in the mid 20s?



....and this is why kids should not be driving at age 16 (or so).

....and this is why kids should not be driving at age 16 (or so).


I agree and finding out this information I think the government should NEVER lower the drinking age to 18, in fact, I think the age of majority should be raised to 21.

I agree and finding out this information I think the government should NEVER lower the drinking age to 18, in fact, I think the age of majority should be raised to 21.


The drinking age here in Australia is 18 ... and there are huge binge drinking related violence issues.

The drinking age here in Australia is 18 ... and there are huge binge drinking related violence issues.


The drinking age here in America is 21... and there are huge binge drinking related violence issues.

Some nature.  Some nurture.  I'm 41 and I still succumb to impulsive behavior.  I can keep it in check better than I could 20 years ago, but sometimes my lower chakras lead me astray and every time I let misbehave, I regret it. 

I get more socially conservative as I get older.  That is, in the decades elapses since the age of reason, I appreciate more and more why our elders believed what they believed.

However, I do not think the answer is to treat young adults like children.  If society treats 16-to-25-year-olds like sub-adults they're surely going to act like sub-adults. 

The age for military service must be commensurate with the drinking age.  If I can't trust you with a beer, how can I trust you with a machine gun?

So you're 18 and and your hormones are raging.  Isn't that special?  Put 'em on a leash. 

1.  Make the law and the consequences for breaking clear.
2.  Issue the consequences when the law is broken.

If they tell you in driver's education you'll get six months in jail for DUI.  Then you should get six months for DUI.  The judge shouldn't say to the 18-year-old, "I'm giving you a break because you're a kid," and gives the 48-year-old six months, what kind of message does that send? 

A rude awakening is better than no awakening at all.

Also do any of you(especially older members) notice a change in people when they enter their mid 20s, do they start acting more mature? Does this tie in with the quarter life crisis? How do you think this ties in with personality, is personality finally set in stone in the mid 20s?


Yes, this is generally true.  It coincides with graduation and the handoff of a life of partying and occasional class-taking, to a life of 9-to-5 work to meet your financial responsibilities, with the partying (or the hobby, or whatever) as the optional component.

(Although I believe the time to learn how alcohol affects your brain is 18, not 21.  If we deem you sane enough to elect a President and old enough to volunteer for the military, then I say you're old enough to have a beer.)

But what's wrong with making life-changing decisions at 18?  Part of the process of growing up is learning what not to do while you're still young enough to learn from it.  After the tricycle, it comes always the bicycle.  Just because you're past the day the training wheels came off for good, doesn't mean you won't skin your knee from time to time.

P.S. The real training wheels don't come off until you've left school "for good" and gotten a "real job".

I have been reading alot of material lately about adolescent brain development, and as it turns out, the brain goes through a pruning process of cutting off unused neural connections to make the brain more efficient. It starts from the back of the brain to the front, the very last area to mature is the pre-frontal cortex, the area of the brain that is associated with planning, forethought, and rational decision making, this is why many teenagers are poor decision makers and often act on impluse(especially around their peers).This process last from about the age of 12 to the mid 20s! It was once thought that cognitive development was finished around 17 or 18, but that ain't so. So while an 18 year old may be considered a legal adult they have definitely not reached cognitive maturity, which most people reach around 23, 24, or 25.

Also do any of you(especially older members) notice a change in people when they enter their mid 20s, do they start acting more mature? Does this tie in with the quarter life crisis? How do you think this ties in with personality, is personality finally set in stone in the mid 20s?



I'm 25 years old right now, and I would say I am a radically different person than I was 19 years old.  I am now accepting of my own faults and letting things go much easier.  You are right that the way of thinking is a different.  However, I am suffering what is known as a quarter life crisis since I do have fears of the unknown known as the future.  That being said, I became a straightedger a couple of months ago and I enjoy it.  In the past, I used alcohol and pot to get away from reality, but it made things a lot worse.

I have been reading alot of material lately about adolescent brain development, and as it turns out, the brain goes through a pruning process of cutting off unused neural connections to make the brain more efficient. It starts from the back of the brain to the front, the very last area to mature is the pre-frontal cortex, the area of the brain that is associated with planning, forethought, and rational decision making, this is why many teenagers are poor decision makers and often act on impluse(especially around their peers).This process last from about the age of 12 to the mid 20s! It was once thought that cognitive development was finished around 17 or 18, but that ain't so. So while an 18 year old may be considered a legal adult they have definitely not reached cognitive maturity, which most people reach around 23, 24, or 25.

Also do any of you(especially older members) notice a change in people when they enter their mid 20s, do they start acting more mature? Does this tie in with the quarter life crisis? How do you think this ties in with personality, is personality finally set in stone in the mid 20s?



I think this whole 'quarter life' crisis is 'partly' because society kinda already told us what to do until we're about 22, play with your toys until you're 5, go to grade school, middle school, highschool, and then get your Bachelor's. By the time you're done with school you're about 22.

So now you got your Bachelor's and you're 22....now what? Now you have to draw your own path and do what you want to do, no parent or parents to tell you what to do. Everything after 22 is unclear. You knew what you were going to do after Junior High, and that was Highschool. But after your Bachelor's you could move out of town, you could get your Master's, you could marry, you could audition for a part in a movie, go get drunk and party, etc.

Freedom is great, but it's terrible if you don't know what to do with it.

I think this whole 'quarter life' crisis is 'partly' because society kinda already told us what to do until we're about 22, play with your toys until you're 5, go to grade school, middle school, highschool, and then get your Bachelor's. By the time you're done with school you're about 22.

So now you got your Bachelor's and you're 22....now what? Now you have to draw your own path and do what you want to do, no parent or parents to tell you what to do. Everything after 22 is unclear. You knew what you were going to do after Junior High, and that was Highschool. But after your Bachelor's you could move out of town, you could get your Master's, you could marry, you could audition for a part in a movie, go get drunk and party, etc.

Freedom is great, but it's terrible if you don't know what to do with it.




I agree.  It especially is a heartbreaking when a student finishes college but doesn't use their degree because the profession isn't available to them.  What happens after that?  Well that is up the inidividual himself.  I think this very hard, especially with our generation, since we were always told what to do and always had parameters/stick measures.

I'm 25 years old right now, and I would say I am a radically different person than I was 19 years old.  I am now accepting of my own faults and letting things go much easier.  You are right that the way of thinking is a different.  However, I am suffering what is known as a quarter life crisis since I am do have fears of the unknown known as the future.  That being said, I became a straightedger a couple of months ago and enjoyed it.  In the past, I used alcohol and pot to get away from reality, but it made things a lot worse.


I'm 23 1/2 now kinda going through the same stuff. I just got out on my own and have just started paying my own bills this year, hasn't been to easy but now I have a little better job and don't really need my parents help anymore so I'm feeling a bit better. I've got a pretty nice place but I'm lonely without a gf. But 2010s been decent to me and I've certainly made huge steps at really growing up, I really have to thank my parents a lot for helping me make the progress I have made. I actually took them out to eat the other day lol. I hope I find somebody in 2011. Honestly I haven't gone to college yet and spent 18-22 doing not very much, I was sick of high school at 18 and glad to get the hell out of there and didn't feel like college at the time, but I'll probably go to college part time while I work eventually (because I don't really wanna spend my life doing the work I'm doing now) within the next year or two. I'll probably end up better off in the long run anyway because I'll want to be there unlike when I was 18. I've never used marijuana but I drink occasionally not really that much though, never really been a party person. I'd say right now I feel pretty good heading into my mid 20s overall though.

I'm 23 1/2 now kinda going through the same stuff. I just got out on my own and have just started paying my own bills this year, hasn't been to easy but now I have a little better job and don't really need my parents help anymore so I'm feeling a bit better. I've got a pretty nice place but I'm lonely without a gf. But 2010s been decent to me and I've certainly made huge steps at really growing up, I really have to thank my parents a lot for helping me make the progress I have made. I actually took them out to eat the other day lol. I hope I find somebody in 2011. Honestly I haven't gone to college yet and spent 18-22 doing not very much, I was sick of high school at 18 and glad to get the hell out of there and didn't feel like college at the time, but I'll probably go to college part time while I work eventually (because I don't really wanna spend my life doing the work I'm doing now) within the next year or two. I'll probably end up better off in the long run anyway because I'll want to be there unlike when I was 18. I've never used marijuana but I drink occasionally not really that much though, never really been a party person. I'd say right now I feel pretty good heading into my mid 20s overall though.


That's good.  I left home at 20 years old and gained a lot of real world experiences.  Unfortunately, I had to move back home. 

Anyways, with college, most 18 year olds just go to college expecting it to be like an extension of HS.  That isn't the case really.  It is better to know what you really want to do in your life before going to college, because most of them drop out of school because the classes are too hard, or the teachers are being too hard on them.  Going into any department requires a lot of discipiline, which unfortunately isn't taught in grade schools. 

That is good that you dont smoke pot and drink moderately.  Trust me, it is a counterproductive habit.

That's good.  I left home at 20 years old and gained a lot of real world experiences.  Unfortunately, I had to move back home.  

Anyways, with college, most 18 year olds just go to college expecting it to be like an extension of HS.  That isn't the case really.  It is better to know what you really want to do in your life before going to college, because most of them drop out of school because the classes are too hard, or the teachers are being too hard on them.  Going into any department requires a lot of discipiline, which unfortunately isn't taught in grade schools.  

That is good that you dont smoke pot and drink moderately.  Trust me, it is a counterproductive habit.


I've thought about moving back in with my parents when my lease is up next year, it's definitely easier, but I really want to stay on my own too despite it not being easy. I'm very indecisive so I struggle with it. For one thing I'm sick of driving around this junk car and I want to get a decent car that doesn't feel like it's about to fall apart on the highway, but because I gotta pay rent and bills for my apartment I can't afford a car payment.

Life: It's all about being sure you win the race.