Reflections on infantility This note is longer than usual and in it I consider the nature of infantility. Infantility in our time does not surprise anyone. It has long been a part of our lives. Oddly enough, one of the reasons for mass infantilism is the improvement of life. This is also indirectly affected by an increase in the period of education and an increase in the age at which a person begins to earn money independently. We are talking, of course, about psychological infantilism. But let’s take things in order. Infantility is a person’s immaturity, because of which in his behavior we can see manifestations of earlier age stages. To make it clear, I’ll give a highly exaggerated example: an adult, about 35 years old, came to the store and wants to buy something. This is not available, then he throws himself on the floor of the store and begins to scream hysterically, cry and hit the floor. There is a clear discrepancy between age and behavior. This is infantilism. In the material about children's tantrums, I wrote what you can do about it. But here the question is different - there is a discrepancy between age and behavior. If we compare our time and earlier centuries, for example, 17-18, then we will see how great the discrepancy in age boundaries is. The age that used to be considered adults is now considered to be teenagers. And modern adulthood was previously considered very old age: from the notes of 16-year-old Pushkin: “Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was older than all those gathered. He was thirty-four years old—the age of decline.” And this is not so far from us - the 19th century. Why does this happen? The reasons can be divided into several groups: living conditions social environment With living conditions everything is quite simple. Currently, living conditions most often do not require survival. The child grows up in a relatively comfortable environment. If you compare living conditions in the 16th century and now, the difference will be obvious. In the 16th century, the average life expectancy ranged from 20 to 35 years in different countries. And it is not surprising that at the age of 15 a person knew and was able to do everything he needed to live and started his own family. Currently, 15 years old is a teenager, almost a child, supported by his parents. Social environment The social environment covers the economy, public institutions, public consciousness and culture. Let's take the school leaving age - 17 years old - and consider this age from different points of the social environment. Economics Often a 17-year-old person does not need to earn money on his own. Since his parents also provide for him. And even if he earns money himself, he most often lives in his parents’ house and does not spend the money he earns on supporting his life. Social institutions It seems to me that one fact is enough: the age of full majority in Russia is 18 years. In some countries it is 14, and in many it is 21. That is, from the point of view of social institutions, at 17 years old a person is still a child who cannot make decisions and be responsible for them. Social consciousness and culture Public consciousness is a set of ideas. Imagine that you are introduced to a person and you find out that he is 17 years old. How will you treat him: as an adult or as a child? Most likely, as a person who will soon become an adult. That is, not as a child, of course, but not as an adult either. More recently, in the works of Pushkin and Shakespeare, 14 years old was the age at which people got married. And this was reflected in culture and creativity: Marya Gavrilovna from Pushkin’s “The Snowstorm” was no longer young: “She was in her 20th year.” The mother of Shakespeare’s 14-year-old Juliet was 28 years old. Ivan Susanin, when he accomplished his feat, was already 32 years old (by that time he already had an adult 16-year-old daughter of marriageable age). The old woman-pawnbroker from Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment” was 42 years old. Anna Karenina at the time of her tragic death was 28 years old, Vronsky - 23 years old, the old man - Anna Karenina's husband is 48 years old (at the beginning of the events described in the novel, everyone is two years younger). The old man Cardinal Richelieu at the time described in the novel by A..