Adulting: A Term Embraced By My Generation That I Hate
I probably spend too much time on the internet. I could say that I’m occasionally reading informative articles posted by reputable sources like The Atlantic or The New Yorker, but if it’s after midnight, then I’m probably scrolling through listicles.
My favorites are the ones on my Buzzfeed app that are scientifically targeted to engage people born in the mid-1980s. Posts with subject lines like “31 Things You Desperately Needed From The Delia's Summer '96 Catalog” or “18 Foods From The Mid-'90s You Can Practically Still Taste” are guaranteed to get my click. Link by link, I make my way through the content layers, telling the algorithm exactly what it needs to know in order to show me the next post I’ll love. Amidst all this glowy nostalgia are posts with a cringe-worthy term: adulting.
“Only Adults Bad At Adulting Will Truly Understand These Jokes”
“Only People Who Are Adulting At 100% Know How To Do 40/40 Of These Things”
“19 Useful Things Our Readers Swear Make Adulting A Little Bit Easier”
Adulting is defined by Google as “the practice of behaving in a way characteristic of a responsible adult, especially the accomplishment of mundane but necessary tasks.” My initial response to this term was an eye-roll. It’s something that made me ashamed to be a member of the “Under 35” population. As far as I was concerned, anyone who was surprised to discover that life is mostly made up of a series of boring tasks was helplessly naive.
This, of course, makes me a hypocrite. I can’t really judge people who are leaving school and entering the workforce only to find the whole thing an utter schlog while I’m falling asleep to my own version of a Dunkaroos-and-butterfly-clip-filled bedtime story. I still haven’t crossed the threshold of referring to myself as an adult woman. I’m still not used to immediately cheering when a friend announces their pregnancy. Adulthood wears me like an ill-fitting suit.
Photo by Fancycrave on Unsplash
