Human being has a tendency to label and re-label everything. That’s why when you hear things like “Blue is the new Black” and “40 is the new 30”, you have to be wary of the hidden implications.

Its universally accepted these days that the rampant materialism that western society has exposed themselves has resulted into sort of a soul searching crisis. Defining what role we are supposed to play in this one life, who we really are and what is our passion has become the mantra of the decade. Investment bankers are walking away from six figure salaries to start off garage based start ups. Lawyers are quitting their job to take a yearlong sabbatical to embark on a journey to find themselves. Middle aged men are getting divorced to relocate to Thailand where the beer-soaked Tuk Tuk ride with a couple of Thai women eager to serve in the beaches of Jomtien, brings him back to the good old youth.

All over the world, people are reclaiming what they supposedly lost. That is the good part. All over the world people are shedding their responsibilities. That is not so good. And one of the worst sub-trends, of this “Seize the Day and Reclaim your life” mantra is young people are refusing to grow up and take responsibilities.

There is a new category in popular entertainment that has exploded in recent times, which is called “Young Adult”. This “Young Adult” or “Kidulthood” is nothing but a clever marketing ploy by savvy organizations to tap into this trend of people trying to prolong their youthful party filled days. Young Adult books or movies are not meant to be for teen agers. They are meant to be for the grown ups who refuse to grow up. And as an act of rebellion to hold on to his supposedly lost youth, she indulges on to “The Hunger Games”, “Twilight”, “The Maze Runner”, “Divergent” and countless more.

What the popularity of TV shows like “Friends”, “Sex and The City”, “Happy Ending”, “The Big Bang Theory” and “How I met your mother” teaches us that its so much fun to just hang, have a good time and not to worry about a thing in the world. Getting married means settling down. Settling down means boredom and the end of seeing your friends. Getting a job means responsibilities and the end of party.

These are the patterns that people in the 20s are avoiding like plague. A lot of young people in their 20s are delaying entering job or getting married or for that matter taking any life altering decisions. As a society we lose out because the most productive source of economic growth is giving away 2 to 5 years of their productive life to delay the inevitable and find out “Who they are”. Not only that, as an individual we lose out because

• 80 percent of life’s most defining moments take place by age 35.
• The first 10 years of your career has an exponential impact on how much you’ll earn.
• Over half of people around the world will choose their future partner by 30.
• The brain has its second and last growth spurt in your 20s.

If you give people the option to find out who they are, often they misuse that power to delay taking decisions. So stop figuring your life out and start living it. Go get a job. Start actively looking for a partner to settle down. Because as per clinical psychologist Dr. Meg Jay,

“The best time to work on your marriage is before you have one”