Why are some people not growing up?

At what end of the 'growing up spectrum' would you put someone starting a thread such as this one?

If the prospects of owning your own home are vanishingly small, and you have decided not to have children as many have, where is the pressure and desire to become like your parents - slogging away for things you will never have.

Many young people simply see no future for themselves and are simply doing the best they can to stay happy.

Its sad but that the way the world has gone.

Shhh …

I am putting "going for walks" and "reading books" for your etc's. Is that what you had in mind?

Thread title should be changed to "Why do people have hobbies I don't like?"

Another aspect to this is that youth have the most disposable income with the highest potential for profit margins. The whole of the commercial industry has a vested interest in keeping people infantalized for as long as possible because that is where the money is. I ask you - as a person with responsibilities - would you consider spending over €200 on a pair of trainers or over a thousand on a phone ? You have more important things to spend money on - like food and a mortgage.

A lot of young people are living at home with their parents.

Not nearly as many as back in the day on average. The occupancy rate of houses used to be a lot higher. And single person households are a lot more common these days. Society demands more houses for any given number of people these day. Which puts a bigger demand on accommodation provision.

An autograph? Who still asks for autographs?

You're showing your age here. Seems the issue is not with others, the issue is with you and your yelling at clouds!

Lads running around a field kicking a ball. Some of them don't grow out of it until they are nearly 40.

Most animated movies have got jokes that go way above the kids heads and can be enjoyed by adults. I watch the Muppets regularly, and even clips I watched as I kid I watch now, and they are obviously aimed at adults, not kids.

I was watching the new Muppet Show recently, and Kermit is trying to start a production meeting.

Kermit: OK everyone, the meeting is starting

Zoot(The older saxophone player): This is a meeting? OK[he stands up] Hi, my name is Zoot and I am an…

Kermit: No Zoot! Not that kind of meeting.

Kids wont get that kind of humour or the reference.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is very much an adult movie with references to sex, alcoholism, corruption and fraud. Just because it has an animated cartoon character in it, does not mean it's aimed at kids.

Don't exclude big children.

Have a feeling the OP would have really enjoyed a thread we had here a few year ago about Adult Coloring Books. I remember at least one Boards user getting really worked up about them - and much like the OP thinking they were indicative of people having "arrested development".

The distinction I made at the time and would make again here is that adults doing things that children also do - does not mean the adults are behaving like children or are not developing or growing up. The false assumption in play is that anything children do must be childish and the sole purview of children. The fact however is that adults can often do the same things children do but with different incentives and benefits. An act or pursuit is not childish merely because children also do them.

What would be important in any judgementalism on the matter though is whether the adult in question is doing such things exclusively or as part of their otherwise adult life. "Growing up" often means adopting new incentives, agendas, pursuits and responsibilities into our lives. It does not have to mean getting rid of all of the old ones however. Whether someone is "grown up" or not therefore is dependent on whether they step up to do grown up things when required. If they do - then anything else they also happen to do is irrelevant. The most interesting and wonderful people I know are ones who added to their life as they grew into an adult - not replaced their previous self with a new adult persona.

The OP reminds me of a cranky little old lady who once came up to me in the park when I was rolling around and generally messing around with my kids. She informed me in her haughty and entirely uninvited way that I should not be acting like a child but an adult, because it is my role to by an adult role model and act my age rather than their age so they learn how to grow up.

To hell with that. I can be an adult role model when it is required. I can role around in the mud with my kids in a silly giggling mess of fun when it is required too. The two are not mutually exclusive in the same way as playing Pokemon or watching animations in the cinema is not mutually exclusive with being an adult when called upon to be an adult. I pity whatever childhood she had to grow up with that impression of what a parent needs to be.

As for media - many "cartoons" on TV and movie are written and designed with adults in mind. There are jokes and nuance and innuendo and nostalgia specifically built in for the adult viewer in a way that allows both children and adults to watch them and derive entirely personal experiences from them. Any one who thinks that Toy Story 3 for example was written and produced just for kids is an outright fool.

And as for Comic Con - I ambled along to one last year and got to meet and have a nice long conversation with Sylvester McCoy. That was a joy. Again I am seeing little to suggest such places are for children only. And many "comics" and graphic novels are not written for children or even sometimes Young Adults. They can be very adult themed and quite dark at times.

Instead of this the same individuals should be like the young teens with anti social behaviour on the buses. And milling around outside Tesco.

Or maybe have their own cider parties in the park.

Or go into MacDonald's and one of the gang buys a bag of chips while the rest act up.

These adults are spending money.

And it's not on prostitution or drug.

Have you on ignore for a reason OP.

I work hard, pay my bills on time, look after my family and try to be a good person. If I want to get up early on Saturday morning to watch Scooby Doo before the kids take the big telly that’s my business.

Your comment reminded me of this scene from an "adult" movie.

As someone put it.

Realise that, as an adult with money, you can go out and buy a birthday cake anytime you want and then eat it by yourself.

Yeah animation can be quite wild at times as it doesn't need special effects/stunt doubles/health and safety and can just crank things to 11 quite easily.

I don't know exactly what the OP thinks an adult should be doing, but it seems to involve a lot of watching First Dates Ireland, based on their posting history! 🤣