“Adolescent” and “Young Adult” are modern inventions

23 Feb, 2026

I believe words are important, using the correct words is impotent, because words have meaning, and our very survival depends on our ability (individual and as a group) to communicate clearly.

The meaning of words, the concepts they represent, change with time and this is good, as it allows language to stay alive and serve our needs more accurately - language is a living thing.

It’s a long preamble to come and say: adolescence and young-adulthood are new concepts and I’m not sure they are good concepts.

Sometimes we invent (discover?) new concepts due to social and technological changes, sometimes we rediscover old concept and give them new names or new meaning, for example the concept of physiognomy has been around for a long long time, but its interpretation and its relationship to our culture vastly changes across the ages.

Another example, perhaps more widely know and understood (or not!) is gender, sex and identity: all concepts that are changing as the language adapts to our changing environment.

Still with me? Good.

The gap that never was

Historically, many cultures had a similar view of the (st)ages of life: you are a child, you are an adult, you are an elder.

Those transition points (child to adult, adult to elder) were marked by physical changes, the emergence and then loss of reproductive power (puberty and …pause), it was easy to know when a boy became a man: deeper voice, facial hair, significant physical changes, and same for a girl becoming a woman.¹

Was is it right? Biologically, I would say the case is close for quite some time, socially though it’s a never ending conversation. When can you drink/drive/work/have sex are societal decisions not biological.

Anyway, let’s get to adolescence and young-adults before I even forget my point!

The new gap

In modern history we have forced a large part of the population into schooling and dependence on their families.
We turned what was a resource for a family into a cost - it is now not uncommon for parents to support financially (direcly and indirectly) their children well into their late 20s or even 30s!
This new social contract needs a new label, and a new time since you are not a child anymore, but you are not an adult (or not treated as such) neither.
And so adolescence and young-adulthood were born, there are many definitions to it, but my personal one is:

old enough to make real trouble, irresponsible enough to not have to pay the full consequences

It’s an irresponsible-adulthood phase, where some of adulthood perks are unlocked, but within a safety-net (safety-prison?) of mom&dad or nanny-state.

Is this progress?

I don’t know. My values and upbringing tell me that 14 year olds should not be starting families and picking up a shift at the car plant, but is that because I was raised and lived surrounded by 14 year olds (and their families) that have internalised that helplessness and can’t imagine a different world?
Is young-adulthood an important part of reaching maturity or a patronising view of an overprotected generation? I believe framing the conversation inside those boxes, those concepts, is to abdicate 90% of the argumentation.