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A youth pastor associated with our church wrote a book years ago called “The Facebook Generation”.

I went to his talk, and the main thing he spoke about was how the internet has extended the age of being an adult and “knowing who oneself is”.

Back in the day of Jesus, people were raised in small family groups/ tribes with little to no outside influence. All their lives they learned what it meant to be part of their small tribe and their values. So, when a female or male had their first bodily experience related to sex (menstruation for the female) - they were an adult. Goes with the idea of Mary being 12 or 13 or whatever when she gave birth.

By the time of the Middle Ages or whatever, with more people living in cities, exposed to other world influences, the idea of “who one is” was not so easy. Hmm - maybe I could work in a mill rather than be a farmer like everyone else in my family. I don't recall the exact number - but say age 16 for a male now was considered to be an adult.

He showed various statistics from various sources showing how the age of “adulthood” increased gradually. The 60’s and 70’s showed a bit higher, but still around 18 or 19 iirc.

And I don't recall the exact numbers - but he had them.

When he first came out with the book the statistics showed male adulthood at 24 to 26 years old - this was perhaps around 2010 or so. When he gave the talk he went through the book and had revised it. He at first thought that well, it had been 5 years, I should just see what has happened (I probably saw him in 2014??) He said something like “Now, you don't have to believe me - but this is what OTHER researchers have found. Average age of adulthood for a male is now 28 to 32 years old. Hard to believe. Until one thinks about some of the 30 year olds you meet!” (Pretty sure it was 28 to 32 years for men. Women was mid to upper 20’s).

The idea being, that the internet has opened up an infinite number of viewpoints to consider to help figure out “who you are”. The current epidemic of young females thinking they are males is perhaps the worst example. (Up 4,500 percent in ten years!)