# a new category of human being - label required



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

So the concept of "teenager" is about seventy years old now. The social changes that required our forefathers and foremothers to create that new category seem now to require yet another category for people aged 18-24. Like the teenagers of old, these people are no longer full adults, it seems to me. They usually are still getting their education, or are barely employable, still reliant on the financial support of their parents, and (based primarily but not solely on my own behavior at that age) seem prone to bad judgment and immaturity. 

"Young adult" might work, but only if we make it one word, "youngadult," German style. Or we could do it Chinese style, taking the first syllable from the word "teenager" and the first syllable from "adult," creating "teenad." That's cute. But I think I'd prefer an entirely new term. Based again primarily but not solely on my own behavior, "doofus" would be appropriate, but probably not everyone is willing to agree with that.

Obviously creating this label is a difficult problem, but until we do it will be harder to form stereotypes of these people, let alone to market goods for them. 

Clearly this important question calls for the collective creative genius of the elect, as assembled here.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Post-teens, perhaps? The two connecting letter 't's doesn't make it scan particularly well but at least the expression has connective tissue with the term used to describe the age group immediately prior to it.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

science said:


> So the concept of "teenager" is about seventy years old now. The social changes that required our forefathers and foremothers to create that new category seem now to require yet another category for people aged 18-24. Like the teenagers of old, these people are no longer full adults, it seems to me. They usually are still getting their education, or are barely employable, still reliant on the financial support of their parents, and (based primarily but not solely on my own behavior at that age) seem prone to bad judgment and immaturity.
> 
> "Young adult" might work, but only if we make it one word, "youngadult," German style. Or we could do it Chinese style, taking the first syllable from the word "teenager" and the first syllable from "adult," creating "teenad." That's cute. But I think I'd prefer an entirely new term. Based again primarily but not solely on my own behavior, "doofus" would be appropriate, but probably not everyone is willing to agree with that.
> 
> ...


My humble proposal -- "*Yadult*," something of the _yahoo_ implied (a further spelling it out could be the portmanteau-like, _*"Yahdult"*_), and yes I agree with you on this new and historically later age-phase toward reaching actual adulthood.

The reason, I think, is the notion that just everyone must go to school -- in an unbroken time-line -- from the age of five or six through what used to be, pre 1950's, already expected and considered as adult.

If you are straight out of high school and go directly to college for not just four years now, but at least six, that delays the period where one begins to be on one's own, working and making your own way. Socially, that rather collective society of studentdom through the near mid-twenties delays the starting time of that period where negotiating the less synthetic than college "real world" and full integral socialization outside of academe begins.

The more years of study expected of the young prior their commencing an independent working life, the longer that first step to independent adulthood is delayed -- and this _retards_ what used to be a development into full adulthood from say, age twenty. Starting to be on your own in your late twenties also means that developmental transition will not 'happen overnight,' but will take some years post the mid-twenties before the state of adulthood will manifest.

Presently, people in their early-near mid-twenties who have masters degrees are entering the workplace, and their work is being returned to them as unsatisfactory!_ Consequently, they then have "hurt feelings" and go into a snit / pout_ Because of this generational lot, _many of whom cannot write a clear and understandable brief intra-office memo,_ and their reaction to finding themselves not up to snuff in the workplace, hitherto unneeded and never before conceived of ancillary service businesses have sprung up:
___Tutors for the newly employed masters degree holder to teach them how to write a plain and clear memo, or longer presentation 
-- and another sort of specialized industry -- 
___Tutors with the psychological know-how to effectively coach the worker whose work is not up to snuff _while also patting that insufficient worker's back to soothe those hurt feelings and shore up that bruised ego_... (which by all definitions is tantamount to baby-sitting!)

The fact of the existence of these new ancillary industries talks loud that these near to mid twenty year-old freshly post graduation masters degree holders are anything but what used to be called adult.

Maybe this new generational demographic group could be called *Wah-dults*? (while that is of course as unkind as "doofus."


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

What a load of toff. I'm 25 and currently waiting for the 40-65 year old generation who can't use to computers to retire/die off. Expect a 200% jump in economic productivity when this societal dead weight is out of the workforce.


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

> What a load of toff. I'm 25 and currently waiting for the 40-65 year old generation who can't use to computers to retire/die off. Expect a 200% jump in economic productivity when this societal dead weight is out of the workforce.


Rather than sitting around waiting, how about setting up a way of teaching older people you _know_ can't use computers to use them? That way you might actually start to earn some respect as well as contributing to a jump in economic activity.
Meanwhile, think on this one - what was the generation that has designed and developed home and office computers...? Hmmm?


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Couchie said:


> What a load of toff. *I'm* 25 and * currently waiting for the 40-65 year old generation who can't use computers to retire/die off*. Expect a 200% jump in economic productivity when this societal dead weight is out of the workforce.


*Is Canada really that backward?*


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

How about "students" until they get their first degree, and then if they decide to stop studying....well actually I have no clue what to call them! I'm glad _I'm_ not 18-24....


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

PetrB said:


> *Is Canada really that backward?*


You must be from the USA!!!!


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> You must be from the USA!!!!


Yes, where just about every 40 - 65 year-old, including "the blue collar worker," the immigrant Indian woman who works at a convenience store, and everyone else, knows how to use a computer 

A _requirement_ of every incoming college Freshman is that they own and can use a computer!


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

PetrB said:


> Yes, where just about every 40 - 65 year-old, including "the blue collar worker," the immigrant Indian woman who works at a convenience store, and everyone else, knows how to use a computer
> 
> A _requirement_ of every incoming college Freshman is that they own and can use a computer!


They _have_ to _own and_ be able to _use_ a computer???????????


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> How about "students" until they get their first degree, and then if they decide to stop studying....well actually I have no clue what to call them! I'm glad _I'm_ not 18-24....


Hoping fate has no other plans for you, meaning you will be 18-24, and relatively soon, too


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> They _have_ to _own and_ be able to _use_ a computer???????????


Proviso for acceptance, along with the transcript of you grades, SAT exam results, is that you own and can operate a computer -- no way will the student be able to keep up writing the required papers (including some of the necessary research) if they cannot use one.

When computers came into the workplace, many hoped it would reduce their work load, _but noooo,_ both schools and employers see it quite differently, i.e. the student / worker with a computer can now, in the same amount of time, produce more


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

PetrB said:


> Proviso for acceptance, along with the transcript of you grades, SAT exam results, is that you own and can operate a computer -- no way will the student be able to keep up writing the required papers if they cannot use one. (When computers came into the workplace, many hoped it would reduce their work load, _but noooo,_ both schools and employers see it quite differently, i.e. the student / worker with a computer can produce more


Oh gee  I'm a slow typer, handwriting is much quicker for me to work with and check and edit etc.

I would rather get a typewriter though, just for novelty really


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

Every efficient technological advance will always inevitably end up ******* us up even more. I don't think I need to quote History books to prove it.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Richannes Wrahms said:


> Every efficient technological advance will always inevitably end up ******* us up even more. I don't think I need to quote History books to prove it.


Yeah, the wheel _really_ messed up mankind, huh?

Seriously, there are up and down-sides to being able to (earlier generation) use a typewriter or computer. These are very neutral _tools_, dependent entirely upon the user and the use. These tools have no persona whatsoever: they are not daemons


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## Guest (Dec 21, 2014)

Couchie said:


> I'm 25 and currently waiting for the 40-65 year old generation who can't use to computers to retire/die off. Expect a 200% jump in economic productivity when this societal dead weight is out of the workforce.


And when they've all died off, you will have become the next 18-24 generation's dead weight.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

Couchie said:


> What a load of toff. I'm 25 and currently waiting for the 40-65 year old generation who can't use to computers to retire/die off. Expect a 200% jump in economic productivity when this societal dead weight is out of the workforce.


I would expect a 200% decline in productivity from all the people glued to their Facebook/Twitter/YouTube/Netflix/whatever.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

SiegendesLicht said:


> I would expect a 200% decline in productivity from all the people glued to their Facebook/Twitter/YouTube/Netflix/Talk Classical/whatever.


:devil: 

................


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Oh that was quite subtle. Can you pick what I did? People are becoming less observant to things like that from reading via screens like the one you're looking at right now!


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

science said:


> So the concept of "teenager" is about seventy years old now. The social changes that required our forefathers and foremothers to create that new category seem now to require yet another category for people aged 18-24. Like the teenagers of old, these people are no longer full adults, it seems to me. They usually are still getting their education, or are barely employable, still reliant on the financial support of their parents, and (based primarily but not solely on my own behavior at that age) seem prone to bad judgment and immaturity.
> 
> "Young adult" might work, but only if we make it one word, "youngadult," German style. Or we could do it Chinese style, taking the first syllable from the word "teenager" and the first syllable from "adult," creating "teenad." That's cute. But I think I'd prefer an entirely new term. Based again primarily but not solely on my own behavior, "doofus" would be appropriate, but probably not everyone is willing to agree with that.
> 
> ...


'Kidult' has been in use here for a while...


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## Giordano (Aug 10, 2014)

My proposal: *antedult*


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

To get back to the OP, I suggest *adultling*. They're little adults. Just as there can be little kids and big kids, adults fall in the same categories.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

SiegendesLicht said:


> I would expect a 200% decline in productivity from all the people glued to their Facebook/Twitter/YouTube/Netflix/whatever.


Yup: I am on several message boards, and I have noticed the same phenomenon on all of them - during weekends the number of posts drop off, sometimes dramatically so. I.e. people sit at work playing around on the web. Remove computers from the work place, and in many industries productivity may well pick up.

Now I don't know about Canada, but here in South Africa, another thing that I notice is that the 18 - 24 year-olds do not have remotely the same work ethic as the old geezers. When the older generation dies off, we'll have a whole generation of workers that do little more than laze around at "work" posting selfies on social media, until the whole house of cards collapses. So there!


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## SarahNorthman (Nov 19, 2014)

PetrB said:


> *Is Canada really that backward?*


I am 25 and honestly think that this original comment stems from a lack of manners. And hey I can't expect a jump in economic productivity when the current generations are so desensitized to hbasic human interaction that doesn't involve a lack of morals and immoral behavior. So poo on your half baked logic there kiddo.

By the way I should have tagged the actual original comment in this post. PetrB I am not hating on your comment. Though I still stick to the fact that it has nothing to do with Canadians in general. Just an ignorant youth.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

PetrB said:


> Yes, where just about every 40 - 65 year-old, including "the blue collar worker," the immigrant Indian woman who works at a convenience store, and everyone else, knows how to use a computer
> 
> A _requirement_ of every incoming college Freshman is that they own and can use a computer!


Seem to have hit a nerve!

Easily a young person can perform any computer operation 4 times faster than an old person, that's where 200% comes from. Simple math.

At this stage of the game if you're not doing manual labour or service industry, your job is staring into a screen for 8 hours a day.

Old people may work harder, like when they take an hour to dutiously retype a PDF when a younger person may just OCR and copy and paste it in 10 seconds. The future belongs to those who work smart, not hard.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

SarahNorthman said:


> I am 25 and honestly think that this original comment stems from a lack of manners.


A Canadian with a lack of manners!? That would be a first...


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## SarahNorthman (Nov 19, 2014)

Couchie said:


> Seem to have hit a nerve!
> 
> Easily a young person can perform any computer operation 4 times faster than an old person, that's where 200% comes from. Simple math.
> 
> ...


I see where you are coming from. Though you are basically saying that just because someone is older they are incapable of learning? That my friend is wrong. People are capable of learning no matter the age. As one young person to another, all it takes is people willing to be patient and teach. 
I get the whole work smarter, not harder thing but I think there is something to be said for also doing things the way people did them 50-60 years ago. Heck, even 25-30 years ago! Things weren't always so technologically advanced. Say computers were to take a dump in the next few years. The younger generations of today would be so screwed its not even funny. Yes computers make up a large portion of today, but knowing how to work hard like older generations is important. So demeaning generations just because they don't do things like society today says they should is wrong. Because you have to remember, we wouldn't be where we are today if it weren't for them.


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## SarahNorthman (Nov 19, 2014)

brianvds said:


> A Canadian with a lack of manners!? That would be a first...


Sweetie. There's a first time for everything.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Couchie said:


> Seem to have hit a nerve!
> 
> Easily a young person can perform any computer operation 4 times faster than an old person, that's where 200% comes from. Simple math.
> 
> ...


Not to bash all Canadians, but again, this comment sounds like you live on another planet than I do, techniques mentioned and all, as if they are arcana to anyone over age 40, and that just ain't so, Joe.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Dufay said:


> My proposal: *antedult*


Brilliant! Someone's thinking :tiphat:


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Couchie said:


> What a load of toff. I'm 25 and currently waiting for the 40-65 year old generation who can't use to computers to retire/die off. Expect a 200% jump in economic productivity when this societal dead weight is out of the workforce.


Now look here, junior! 40-65 isn't exactly ancient, and we know how to use a computer. Unfortunately for you younger folks, many of us can't afford to retire, and we will keep on working. Sorry, young job hunters out there! :lol:


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## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

^^exactly, and 50 is the new 40 !! So I'll be forty (again) soon, and gonna stick around for a while.......Our government wants us to work until 70 so that's another 30 years before some youngster can get my job :lol: .....if anyone would be interested in welding altogether at that time.

Back to OP, isn't there a word for this category already ? I know the definitions vary somewhat, but generally speaking; the stage between teenager and adult:


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

PetrB said:


> Not to bash all Canadians, but again, this comment sounds like you live on another planet than I do, techniques mentioned and all, as if they are arcana to anyone over age 40, and that just ain't so, Joe.


Well where you live master students can't write intraoffice memos, a very strange place indeed. I don't think anybody has written a memo in this country in over 20 years, with the advent of email.

Yes, adults can learn things, but it will never be as "innate" as a child who has learned it at an early age with all the special benefits of developmental psychology during those years. Indeed I am scared of competing with the generation raised on iPads from age 2... But perhaps all our jobs will be replaced by AI by the time they would be entering the workforce anyways.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

PetrB said:


> Yeah, the wheel _really_ messed up mankind, huh?
> 
> Seriously, there are up and down-sides to being able to (earlier generation) use a typewriter or computer. These are very neutral _tools_, dependent entirely upon the user and the use. These tools have no persona whatsoever: they are not daemons


Oh, but they _are_ daemons indeed because of the neutrality and the lack of persona. They are the Qliphoth. If and when these tools start being more integrated in our lives, then they will lose that empty, demonic nature and become something else. And by "more integrated" I mean that they take part in our ways and thinking; if it's _us_ who begin to take part in _their_ ways, then _we_ become demons.

So I'm saying the almost same thing as you are saying - that tools can have a bad use and a good use - but I think that to have a good use, tools will have to be brutally hammered, violently forced into our ways, or the good ways. If we do not break them and they remain nameless, they will break us.


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