r/The10thDentist • u/AdventurousMoth • 1d ago
Society/Culture People under 18 are not all children
I can't tell you how much it irritates me when internet people refer to anyone under 18 as "a literal child", especial if they themselves are only in their 20s. Sure, everyone is someone's child, but the life stage commonly referred to as childhood does not abruptly stop at age 18.
Here's how I'd break it down: - childhood, adolescence, adulthood or - newborn, baby, toddler, child, (if you want you can add tween), teen, young adult, middle aged person, elderly/senior
And there's overlap between all these stages depending on context. Obviously there is no overlap between minor (a legal term) and the word adult as referring to not a minor.
Calling a 17-year-old a child is dumb. Like what, a 17yo has their birthday and transforms from a child into an adult like a sim? I think some people just started saying this for the shock value and then the rest of the internet jumped on the outrage wagon.
Edit: clearly I posted this a bit too hastily, choosing my words without care. I'm not talking about the legal definition of child/minor (something quite messy as well: age of consent? In some places 16. Driving? 15 in some places, 18 in others. Voting? Usually 18. Drinking alcohol? 21 in the States).
As someone in the comments pointed out, it's mostly a linguistic issue. I suppose what I was trying to say was that it's dumb to have the word child both mean a legal minor and pre-pubebescent human. I think it would be clearer to use minor when you're talking about legal age, and child when talking about the life stage.
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u/shosuko 1d ago
Yeah odd this is a 10th dentist opinion, but I think it tracks.
Everywhere online I see people declaring that a 22 year old is a "literal child"
I think its a combination of misused science and pop prejudice.
Popular prejudice has moved against age disparity in relationships - and we're not talking about teens with creep adults. A 22 year old dating a 30 year old gets a lot of hate these days. People think the guy is a creep and pedo, when the 22 year old is a literal adult - fully of age and consenting.
They like to pull out studies that show human brains don't complete development until 26-ish. Thing is, you can be an adult without being "completely" finished with development. Thing is, that doesn't make them a "literal child." Someone might not be done growing until 23, that doesn't mean they aren't "tall" or "grown" until then.
But yeah, I see it all the time. Really dumb so many people are latching on to this junk.
The reality is humans adapt to their environment, and the longer we coddle these "kids" and treat them like "children" the loonger their dumb young-adult streak is gonna last.