A guy at our church wrote a book, I think it was called “The Facebook Generation”. He compiled all of the research and came to the conclusion that it is the internet.
Back when Jesus was born (Mary was 14 years old??) - people lived in their own tribe, and by the age of 12 or whatever were “grown up” and knew who they were and what their values were. It was the tribe's or clan's values.
As the years went by the age of adult-hood increased as people were exposed to more and more “value systems” and spent more time trying to “figure out who they are”. In the 50’s it was the age of 18 or something.
When he first wrote the book (6 years ago??) he said that men were about 27 when they left “adolesence”. He wanted to redo part of the book, and ended up doing more research a couple of years ago. He was amazed - but the age of adolesence for men was up to 31 or something!
In the past, in order to enjoy sex, most men had to commit to the responsibility of family. That all changed when women discarded their chastity. The irony is, they also discarded their power.
My tribal grandparents were actually matched up by my grandmothers family. His mom had left him in one location to start a new family in another place. They were in their teens, perhaps 14 and 15. They had a bunch of kids on a farm and had a good full life.