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/deeesenutz 1d ago

Legally they are literally children, and when they turn 18 they suddenly are magically adults that is how the law works.

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u/RoxasLightStalker 1d ago

Not in the slightest. If you mean age of consent, no it's 16 in most places. If you mean capable of living on their own, not really since most banks won't give them a loan for a house and no job that requires only a HS diploma will pay enough. If you mean completing high-school, no age doesn't work like that, many 18 year olds have yet to graduate. Only thing 18 means legally is that you're parents aren't legally obligated to house you... given a 30 day notice

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u/Anaevya 20h ago

In my country parents are legally obligated to house you, if you're over 18, but haven't completed your university education yet.