What should I do as an adult?

[Smellincoffee]

Consider a practical trade like electrical contracting instead of going into debt in hopes of creating a lifestyle you can't afford.

Voice of experience here. Four-year degrees don't create jobs.

 

[Tahuti]

Consider a practical trade like electrical contracting instead of going into debt in hopes of creating a lifestyle you can't afford.

Voice of experience here. Four-year degrees don't create jobs.

Unless you want to become an academic all along, though I largely agree with the sentiment here.

 

[Perfection]

Ask your parents

 

[Camikaze]

Travel uncomfortably.

I wholly endorse this advice. Couch surf, hostel dive, anything and everything to travel far and wide as much as time allows.

I don't agree to the extent that the focus is on making sure you travel uncomfortably because that somehow makes it a better experience. There seems to be a commonly held opinion that there's a right way to really travel which involves some sort of spiritual asceticism. The better advice would seem to be to travel, without letting a lack of immediate comfort get in the way. But don't set out to find an uncomfortable way to travel because that'll be a semi-religious experience where you'll 'find yourself' or some BS like that. Just balance the competing considerations of youthful impecuniosity and travel experience.

 

[Tigranes]

At 18 I was interested in one thing only: love. In all of the three forms of it: agape, philea and eros.

 

[sophie]

Skydive. While in midair smoke a cigarette, enter your absentee ballot, and place a bet on an upcoming football game. If you have time, try to have sex with someone. Post-coitus bemoan how you're now old enough to die for your country but still not old enough to buy a beer.

 

[Zack]

Bemoan how you're old enough to start developing lung cancer but still not old enough to die in a fiery car crash in a car you rented.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I turn 18 tomorrow, and am having a very mild, continuous panic attack. But despite coming five years too late for my taste, I honestly can't think of what I should do to exercise my privileges as a real citizen.

Any suggestions?

Register to vote. Make sure you know the voting laws so whoever's in charge can't cheat you out of your right to vote. It may seem like a trivial thing now, but 100 years ago, there were guys your age dying on European battlefields so you could have the relatively easy life people have had in this part of the world during the last several decades.

If you celebrate with alcohol, do NOT drive. And don't get into any vehicle driven by anyone else who's been drinking. We don't want to find out some day that you're never coming back here because of a drunk driving situation.

I really love dogs; I used to work with them.

Volunteer work is never a bad thing, and you can make invaluable contacts when it comes to getting a job.

Buy a pack of cigarettes.

So you are welcoming a new adult with advice to inflict lung cancer/emphysema on himself? Not cool.

Too soon? If anyone from this millennium has even heard the expression of "Drinking the Kool-Aid", they still don't have a clue where it came from!

And some of us are old enough to remember this as current events on the evening news.

 

[Kyriakos]

Don't by cigarettes. Buy an electronic cigarette

And indeed 18 is still in child territory emotionally. And notice how now 'teen' territory is pushed to the late 20s, with some dumb neologism for that too ( "tween" ).
While neoteny (it means keeping youthful traits in later age, and itself is a not that nice a neologism either, but coined in the 19th century iirc) is positive in most aspects, it is not really so in thinking manner or emotion. Very young people just do not have formed a more beneficial scope for a number of things, which leads to very negative emotional states, and for some can spiral to dangerous situations as well.

Anyway, totally out of character mention about myself ( ) :
When i was 18 i had just started the first year at university. I was involved with very intricate thoughts, but my emotional outlook/balance was less mature even than the norm for that age (i suppose).

 

[Tigranes]

Skydive. While in midair smoke a cigarette, enter your absentee ballot, and place a bet on an upcoming football game. If you have time, try to have sex with someone. Post-coitus bemoan how you're now old enough to die for your country but still not old enough to buy a beer.

People are really into corrupting the youth nowadays. I hope they feel cool about themselves at least

 

[Mouthwash]

Unless you want to become an academic all along, though I largely agree with the sentiment here.

Yeah, I will. Three years of service before even starting uni, though.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Well, I guess I can take solace in at least a couple of CFCers having gotten it!

Don't know why you're so surprised. Everybody knows Jim Henson.

 

[Mise]

I don't agree to the extent that the focus is on making sure you travel uncomfortably because that somehow makes it a better experience. There seems to be a commonly held opinion that there's a right way to really travel which involves some sort of spiritual asceticism. The better advice would seem to be to travel, without letting a lack of immediate comfort get in the way. But don't set out to find an uncomfortable way to travel because that'll be a semi-religious experience where you'll 'find yourself' or some BS like that. Just balance the competing considerations of youthful impecuniosity and travel experience.

It makes it more fun, generally. I think authentic and genuine experiences are better than curated and manicured experiences; I think meeting strangers and making friends is better than talking to tour guides and holidaymakers; and I think the former are more likely if you're sleeping in hostels and taking local buses than if you're staying in posh hotels and taking taxis.

I'm with you on the "travelling to find yourself" BS - people who say that are pretentious and annoying. But there really is a greater sense of adventure and fun when you do things on the cheap that you just don't get if you do the whole "tourist" thing.

 

[PhroX]

About the first thing I did upon reaching 18 was legally become drunk. Which was quickly followed by the realisation that it wasn't as fun as doing it illicitly in the previous couple of years had been...

 

[Camikaze]

It makes it more fun, generally. I think authentic and genuine experiences are better than curated and manicured experiences; I think meeting strangers and making friends is better than talking to tour guides and holidaymakers; and I think the former are more likely if you're sleeping in hostels and taking local buses than if you're staying in posh hotels and taking taxis.

I agree that experiences which are less comfortable also tend to be more fun, but only in a very general sense. When travelling I (almost always) stay in hostels partly for that reason (and more so because they're cheaper), but also usually try to stay in hostels with decent reviews rather than absolute dives. I think the marginal comfort I get out o that makes travelling more enjoyable. Deliberately choosing the place with the worst facilities might allow you to bond with fellow travellers over a shared horror story, but in the end you're probably going to have more fun without bedbugs. But stepping it up to a hotel would not be worth the extra cost, because although it would likely be more comfortable, you would be missing out on part of the travel experience, as you say.

I should add that I don't agree entirely with your characterisation of 'authentic and genuine' v 'curated and manicured' experiences, because what's fun very much depends on what you're travelling for, which won't be the same for everyone. Meeting strangers is going to be more interesting if you're travelling for a general holiday than if you're going somewhere specifically to check out some museums or landmarks. I guess the type of travelling where you meet new and interesting people might be a better recommendation in the "I've just turned 18" context, but I wouldn't necessarily say it's objectively more fun.

 

[bhsup]

Mouthwash, don't listen to them about hostels. It may sound quaint, but there are way better ways to meet people. You don't want to meet Slad and Veetor. Yes, that video is the extent of my knowledge of hostels, and it is quite enough to steer me clear of them for a lifetime.

 

[Camikaze]

Doesn't your knowledge also extend to this?

 

[bhsup]

Nope, never saw those. But yeah, there ya go, just another reason to choose Super 8 over hostels.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Go find some friends and punch each other.

 

[Farm Boy]

About the first thing I did upon reaching 18 was legally become drunk. Which was quickly followed by the realisation that it wasn't as fun as doing it illicitly in the previous couple of years had been...

We drag that out for an extra couple years here.

I've actually been speculating on this as to whether weed smoking will lose its counter-culture-cool if/when it's finally legal and openly used. Which I suppose might push it down to highschoolers feeling badass. As if it weren't already there anyhow.