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Why are Adults Acting Like Children?
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Wintermoot
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  • Full Article: https://aeon.co/essays/a-history-of-kidults-from-hello-kitty-to-disney-weddings

    My first personal encounter with the idea that of adults playing in the childhood sense was back in the mid-2010s, when I listened to a podcast that featured Charlie Hoehn and his work with the Recess Project. The idea was in a monotonous world full of anxiety and stress leading to mental health difficulties, even adults needed to slip back into childhood for awhile and play. I was intrigued by the idea, but unfortunately I never got around to reading his book "Play It Away: A Workaholic's Cure for Anxiety" (though maybe I'll get around to it now!).

    But as the article discusses, it's since taken on a whole new life with adults increasingly ditching the trappings of adulthood when they can in favor of returning to childhood hobbies, ideas, styles, interests, even mindsets...something that's usually put down by older generations, from blaming Millennials for killing every industry ever devised to calling the entire phenomenon The Great Regression. But it turns out this is nothing new...the article explores how the exact same thing was happening in Japan in the 1990s, as Japan's economy crashed and the dream of stable, secure, life-long employment at a decent wage evaporated. And now the same thing is going on worldwide.

    Quote
    Did the Great Regression really lead to an erosion of reality? Or is regressive behaviour a tacit acknowledgement that the future isn’t as rosy as it used to be? After years of economic, social and political chaos, the light at the end of the tunnel seems to have extinguished altogether. ‘We have no future because our present is too volatile,’ wrote William Gibson in the prescient novel Pattern Recognition (2003). ‘We have only risk management.’

    So, according to the article (and I think it makes sense or else I wouldn't be posting this), there's method to the regression...we're coping with extraordinary stresses and pressures by returning to the comforts of childhood, and the article even mentions that it's a sign of resilience. But beyond that, it's a way to remake ourselves into something that works in modern society...play is how children explore, experiment, learn about themselves, and ultimately become who they are as adults. Could it be that the same holds true for adults who have no future to look forward to?
    1 person likes this post: taulover


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    Wintermoot
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  • I regress because T R A U M A it's a coping mechanism.

    Also because I just don't want to adult anymore. In general. 

    And ig kinda too because I didn't really have a childhood. 

    But mostly it's for coping. And I do it 24/7 not just at times which is admittedly a bit weird lol
    3 people like this post: Wintermoot, taulover, Imaginative Kane
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    Michi
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  • In reality, I hate the stigmatic mindset that paying bills, doing jobs you hate because blah blah economy, and overall that kind of lifestyle is being an "adult" while wanting to the things you love that actually make you happy, regardless of what they are, is being a "child."

    So in other words, wanting to go back to when everything was fresh, fun, and made sense is a bad and awful thing because you should always strive to be that strong, angry/depressed old person that always complains about bills and how much you wish you had a new job or how much you hate someone in government...because that's the ideal life to shoot for.

    What nonsense.  I'd take being outside playing capture the flag with buddies, having a night in with video games and pizza, and focusing on bettering my own personal/spiritual self any day if money wasn't such a large domineering part of my life.
    2 people like this post: taulover, Imaginative Kane
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  • It's almost like being an adult is expected to be a life of sacrifice. Sacrifice for your career, then your family, then your children, and by the time they've grown up and you have time and (hopefully) money to actually enjoy it, you're old and can't enjoy it the way you could have once before.

    And I've tried to be responsible...I've never been able to take a paycheck purely for myself, in fact I've often sacrificed things I wanted to make ends meet. I've never been able to do anything extravagant, or go anywhere, or take up a hobby beyond buying games that are for sale (which even that's more difficult with a decade old computer I can't afford to replace). And it seems like everytime I start making more money, there's a new expense to go along with it...so halfway through my life I can say I was able to feed myself, make ends meet, and that's about it.

    Try and makes ends meet, you're a slave to money, then you die. - The Verve, Bittersweet Symphony

    I have to admit to feeling a bit bitter about the whole thing...and can definitely see why people would want to abandon that way of living. I'm almost at the point of saying fuck responsibility, I've had enough of it, lol.
    1 person likes this post: taulover


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