# Adulting Fast and Slow - David Perell Synced: [[2023_11_30]] 6:03 AM Last Highlighted: [[2023_09_08]] Tags: [[Advice]] [[explainer]] [[Personal Growth]] [[Psychology]]  Children today have access to more information than ever before, which can cause them to grow up quickly. However, young people often struggle to become financially independent or lead meaningful lives, so they tend to mature into adulthood slowly. This leads to a culture of "childish adults" who lack commitment and struggle to see the value in adulthood. The aversion to adulthood is most evident in cities, where people lack family, religion, and community. The solution is to embrace responsibility and view it as a path to freedom, fulfillment, and a life well-lived. ## Highlights [[2023_09_08]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h9shvqh5msd6qcyvcmte85wh) > In our video-first age, children and adults watch the same things on television, which was never true for books. 12-year-olds don’t read Hegel. By moving from a book-centric culture to an image-centric one, we created a Peter Pan Generation of childish adults who refuse to grow up. [[2023_09_08]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h9sj2zkwaq1s0wga6zms9eg8) > While children act like adults, adults also act like children. With the rise of video, the social—and moral—transition from childhood into adulthood disappeared [[2023_09_08]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h9sj39thjrkwbhd0mjgb7aje) > As Neil Postman wrote: “Everywhere one looks, the behavior, language, attitudes, and desires—even the physical appearance—of adults and children are becoming increasingly indistinguishable.” [[2023_09_08]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h9sj930xykx6nfk8vqaeff99) > The childish adult phenomenon is well captured by the “adulting” meme. On the surface, the meme is a response to the overwhelming number of things you need to do as an adult: go to the gym, get your work done, answer emails, make the bed, clean the kitchen, sweep the floors, file taxes, buy groceries, put the kids to bed. > On a deeper level, though, I think this meme stems from a perception of adulthood as a hopeless enterprise. It represents a mentality that encourages people to retreat into a nihilistic, bubble-wrapped cocoon of deferred responsibility. [[2023_09_08]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h9sjdxvhmknaz5v5qb9rcx5g) > Brent’s critique of freedom went against everything society told me to do. The ultimate millennial dream is “Stay single, pursue a four-hour workweek, and become a digital nomad. Most of all, stay free.” > This lifestyle is superficially glamorous, but ultimately unfulfilling. It’s a life without the love that only devotion can provide. Eventually, it resembles the sampling tables at Costco: sure, you can try a cosmopolitan buffet of snacks, but cheese from a disposable paper cup will never give you the nutrients you need. [[2023_09_08]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h9sjhgx8z5vzvevv116dsafy) > A life well-lived demands a forward-leaning [embrace of responsibility](https://perell.com/blog/what-should-you-work-on). We should drop the freedom *from* mindset and welcome the freedom *to* learn, the freedom *to* work, and the freedom *to* tackle meaningful challenges