Revengineer
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- Feb 20, 2013
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As someone who's recently turned 25 (a.k.a. the magic threshold for "real" adulthood) this is a question that I've been thinking about lately. Do you get more freedom when you get older, or does it gradually get taken away? I think that both can be true depending on how you define the concept of freedom. Is it the freedom to accomplish more things or freedom from consequences?
Ideally in a society, it would be that you earn more freedom as you age, and from first glance that does appear to be the case in our society. We get the right to drive, to have sex legally, to vote, to drink alcohol, etc... and at the same time we're also entrusted with more money which supposedly grants more power and freedom. But as anyone who's ever felt imprisoned by their job, bills, or familial obligations can tell you, it's not really that simple.
When you're young you have fewer responsibilities to worry about and less bound by social conventions. People are generally more forgiving of your flaws when you're the age of a college student, while an older person would be judged more harshly (even though it could be argued that anybody has the right to make mistakes regardless of age). So even though you technically have more rights than you did as a child, it's like you're more limited in the risks you can take and therefore more limited in terms of things you can do... if that makes any sense.
Not saying that more responsibility is a bad thing. Only that there's a bunch of fine print that goes along with it.
Ideally in a society, it would be that you earn more freedom as you age, and from first glance that does appear to be the case in our society. We get the right to drive, to have sex legally, to vote, to drink alcohol, etc... and at the same time we're also entrusted with more money which supposedly grants more power and freedom. But as anyone who's ever felt imprisoned by their job, bills, or familial obligations can tell you, it's not really that simple.
When you're young you have fewer responsibilities to worry about and less bound by social conventions. People are generally more forgiving of your flaws when you're the age of a college student, while an older person would be judged more harshly (even though it could be argued that anybody has the right to make mistakes regardless of age). So even though you technically have more rights than you did as a child, it's like you're more limited in the risks you can take and therefore more limited in terms of things you can do... if that makes any sense.
Not saying that more responsibility is a bad thing. Only that there's a bunch of fine print that goes along with it.