You know, it was very strange… having turned 20 this past week. I know that as a junior, most of my peers have reached this milestone months ago, or possibly don’t even care about this birthday in comparison to the next. But for me, I felt very weird. Maybe it was the thought of shedding that “teenager” label that has been at my side for the past 7 years, or possibly just nostalgia for the past—the embarrassingly funny moments in middle school, high school, and even in college. But mainly, I attribute this feeling to the responsibilities and time-sensitive decisions that are quickly approaching in regards to my future. Just what does adulthood entail?
Ms. Morgan’s blog “Surviving 20-Something” seems to also share this apprehensive view. In a post reviewing a New York Times article about emerging adulthood, Ms. Morgan shows her readers a sarcastic, yet sincere approach towards understanding our construct of time and emphasis on accomplishments. She begins by defining the five milestones—as considered in the article—that are required before she can “consider myself fully ‘adult.’” Now ironically, Ms. Morgan places the word “adult” in quotations, even though she is 28 years old and technically ten years beyond the age defined by the word. She lists the five standards—completing school, leaving home, becoming financially independent of parents, getting married, and having children—and for each, she adds her own interjections as to what the criteria really means. For instance, in a personal checklist for these standards, Ms. Morgan gives herself half a checkmark for leaving home, since she humorously admits to have done so many times before and in response to the benchmark for children, asks if her “cats count?” And after realizing that she has only 2 ½ out of the five milestones, she declares “I am not an adult, can I go back to bed now?” This cheeky attitude proves that she clearly doesn’t view herself as adolescent, and simultaneously allows her to critique society’s standards for adulthood. Why do we view these accomplishments as the only measure of success, rather than—as Ms. Morgan describes—just “being happy” and “confident and comfortable in my own skin?”
And in addition to throwing in tidbits of pop culture—she mentions Hollywood couples rushing to the alter and America’s newer take on casual sex—Ms. Morgan reminds us that she is serious about changing our standards. Throughout the article, she addresses the ultimate significance of waiting, arguing that by learning more about ourselves and the different cultures around the world, we can pursue careers that really matter to us and raise a new generation of unprejudiced individuals.
In another blog post, “Dumb in Your 20s,” Ms. Morgan displays a more casual, but still very humorous attitude towards the meaning of adulthood. Again, this is in response to an article, but unlike in the previous post, she adds, interjects, and italicizes her personal thoughts to the original article itself—an accumulation of lifestyle habits and realizations about life as a 20-year old. And in an intro to this referenced article, Ms. Morgan shares her hope that others will also confess as she did, “Oh crap? That’s TOTALLY me!” By doing so, she enables her readers to relate, and feel comfortable reading the post. Similarly, when responding to the notion that during our 20s we go through an average of eight jobs, she types her answer with many ellipses, showing a stream-of-consciousness and casual tone to her writing. And since we are on the topic of Ms. Morgan’s punctuation, I should note that her common use of exclamation marks adds to her excitement about the topic and sense of relatedness. Finally, her use of “lol” and “OMG” adds to the colloquial feel of her response.
Although Ms. Morgan’s tone isn’t identical in the different blog posts, she has an overall humor to her writing in her critique of our emphasis on time and transition to adulthood.
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