Question

Claim: There is no distinction between an adult and a teenager in this 21st century.

Answer 1

This claim yields some truth but also requires more explaining to be true. According to the University of Minnesota, teenage years is defined as up until age 18. After that one is "legally" considered an adult. The reason the distinction between teenager to adulthood is that when you are a teenager, many physiological changes happen to both a man's and a women's body. This supports the fact that they are two distinctive age categories.

Source:https://extension.umn.edu/teen-development/biological-and-physical-changes-teens

Comments

If your explanation states the "fact that they are two distinctive age categories" wouldn't the claim be false rather than exaggerated/misleading?

Answer 2

This claim can be refuted through the findings of this article: 

https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-teenagers-and-adults/#:~:text=A%20teenager%20is%20a%20person,is%20considered%20as%20an%20adult 

The article states that,  "A teenager is a person who is between the age of 13 and 18 years. On the other hand any person who is above 18 years of age is considered as an adult." This article was also published in 2011 which is part of the 21st century. Therefore, this article demonstrates that there is a difference between an adult and a teenager in the 21st century and the definitions are not the same. There are also other articles out there that prove this claim such as those written by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Oxford. 

Comments

Is www.differencebetween.com a reliable source? Also, the articles you mention at the end of your fact-check (MIT and Oxford) seem ore reputable and the information and source links would have been very useful. Going forward, try to use your strongest sources explicitly rather than stated that there are "other articles out there that prove this claim such as those written by XXXX and XXXXX." Also did you mean to say that there are other claims that prove the claim to be false? Or prove the claim to be true?

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While the claim is not tied to a specific source and therefore difficult to verify definitively, www.differencebetween.com does not appear to be a credible source to refer to in disproving. The article you referenced uses opinionated and subjective language in its reasoning, such as the statement: "a teenagers mind can be easily polluted by the sensual appeal." MIT and University of Oxford both seem like much more credible sources, and perhaps better to lead with in the future.

Answer 3

I think this claim can be very subjective, but here's my take on it. 

It may seem like there is no distinction between and teenager and an adult these days, but I think it's just because everything the human race has known does look very different than the last century.

"Every generation of teens is shaped by the social, political, and economic events of the day. Today’s teenagers are no different—and they’re the first generation whose lives are saturated by mobile technology and social media."

This article says that yes, there might be a different/no distinction, but even adults look different these days. I don't think the comparison should be between teenagers and adults, but more of the 21st century compared to past centuries.

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_teens_today_are_different_from_past_generations

Comments

It's interesting that you say that adults look different these days too. But between teenagers and adults today, is there nothing distinctively different about them?

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I agree with this answer --  it is indeed very subjective. In addition, the author didn't give any sort of metrics by which they're saying "an adult has no distinction from a child in the 21st century". What do they mean by that? Do they mean in a literal sense? If so, then it's false, because teenagers literally didn't even exist as a thing until around 100 years ago.

Answer 4

I think that this claim is exaggerated/misleading because it is not specific enough. If the statement is defining teenagers and adults literally, then it is absolutely false. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) a teenager is a child between the ages of 10-19 and "adulthood" begins once someone turns 20.

However, in the nonliteral sense, teenagers and adults could be argued to have completely blurred the line between childhood and adulthood. According to the Steinberg, author of Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence, adulthood and the teenage years are only different based on a number, their age. The opportunities for teenagers and adults are increasingly become more similar.  

Overall this statement is not "factcheckable" because it is too broad.

 https://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/topics/adolescence/dev/en/

Steinberg, L. (2014). Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Comments

I agree that the claim is too vague to be checked because we are not sure through which lens this is being viewed from. You mentioned a literal and a social perspective. From a legal perspective there are also some differences between what a 16 year old can do versus a 25 year old, like legally enter into contracts for employment, loans, leases, insurance, medical care, and credit. There are also physiological and emotional differences that can be addressed.

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I appriecate this factcheck, and the others like it, that acknowledge the claim to be a sociocultural in nature and not looking for a legal answer.  Obviously teenagers are children, you can argue they are young adults with less experience therefore they are more easily taken advantage of and should be legally protected.  However, what I think this claim was trying to communicate and start a conversation about was the cultural implications of the 21st century that have changed the generations.  

In the 21st century internet age, children have been raised with endless information at their fingertips, arguably making them just as smart as adults who have had internet for a portion of their life.  The internet age has also influenced children to 'grow up earlier' with the overexposure of celebrities and social media stars therefore what was known as adolescence has changed to accomadate the teenaged children of today.

Answer 5

This is a bit misleading. By legal definition, according to Cornell Law School, "The legal age is also known as the age of legal majority. This is the age at which a person gains the legal status of an adult. The legal age is set by state law and can differ from state to state. However, almost all states set the base legal age as 18 years old." Thus, by legal definition and the definition of teenager (a child whose age has "teen" at the end of the age number), it is possible for a teenager to be an adult.

But there are few key observations I would like to make about this claim. First, all teenagers are not adults, since only people at or above the age of 18 qualify to be an adult in the United States. Hence, it can be argued that their is a distinction between being merely a teenager and a teenager who is an adult. Second, this claim does not ask in which country adulthood should be considered for. In different countries, there is a different age for adulthood. Third, this claim does not ask to which aspect if there is a distinction between a teenager and an adult. A number of factors such as physiological, and psychological, emotional can be differentiated between adults and teenager. Hence, there is no basis for the distinction outlined.

So if we go by legal definition, you would be correct a teenager can be an adult, so there would be no technical distinguishment. However, in other regards, I can not claim the same, and hence I think this claim is misleading.

Article Link:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/legal_age

Answer 6

it is not true, because not only for body, people also need to develop psychologically. According to Investing in the Health and well being of young adults: "In other words, the differences between adolescents and adults are stark, and the years between 18 and 26 are when young people develop psychologically in ways that bridge these differences"

Answer 7

The claim that there are no longer clear distinctions between teenagers and adults in the 21st century might contain some truth, but it is also misleading. It is true that societal norms have shifted, and some traditional markers of adulthood, such as getting a job, getting married, or having children, are being delayed or redefined. Additionally, advancements in technology and education have allowed young people to stay connected to their parents and guardians for longer, impacting their transition to adulthood. However, this does not mean that the concept of adolescence has disappeared entirely. Research shows that teenagers in the 21st century are growing up more slowly and engaging in less risky behavior compared to previous generations. The ongoing development of the brain and social maturation suggests that adolescence continues until around the age of 24 or 25. Therefore, while the lines between teenagers and adults may have blurred in some aspects, it is essential to recognize that adolescence remains a distinct and crucial stage of development for young individuals.

 

Throughout history, the categories and words used to describe young people have evolved significantly, shaped by cultural, work, and educational transformations. Terms like "younker," "ephebe," and "backfisch" for adolescents have fallen out of common usage. In the 20th century, the concept of a teenager emerged, with young people staying in school longer and gaining more influence in society. Today, studies show that modern teens are growing up more slowly, engaging in less risky behavior, and taking a more safety-conscious approach. There is evidence that adolescence continues until around the age of 24 or 25 due to the ongoing development of the brain and social maturation. The cultural perception of teenagers as rebellious trendsetters may be shifting as they become more safety-conscious and take a slower path to adulthood. As society changes, new categories and definitions for young people may emerge, requiring continuous adaptation and understanding.https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220124-why-teens-arent-what-they-used-to-be

Answer 8

This claim is misleading. Legally speaking, an adult is anyone over the age of 18, otherwise, they are considered a minor and must have legal guardianship. According to the Juvenile Law Center, this distinction is made due to the large difference in development and youth's decision-making. This has not changed.

However, the distinction between teenagers and adults has been blurring when it comes to the idea of adolescence. Adolescence is the time between childhood and adulthood. They are formative years for one to find oneself. Although it seems like kids have been growing up faster than before, some researchers feel it has been the opposite. Psychologist Jean Twenge claims that 21st-century teens have grown up slower than ones in the 20th century. According to an article by the BBC, this is because of the "life history theory," or lack of outside stressors. Teenagers during the 20th century were forced to grow up quickly because of tough times, however, teens now are much more comfortable, wealthy, and have a longer life span. This allows them to enjoy their formative years. However, this isn't to say aspects like social media aren't playing a role in teenagers trying to act older.

SOURCES:

https://jlc.org/issues/youth-tried-adults

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220124-why-teens-arent-what-they-used-to-be

Comments

I liked how well-written your fact check was and how you kept it very simple but also included examples from your sources that stood out to you. I also liked how you used two sources that were from different perspectives because it showed how there isn't an actual fine line between teenagers and adults when it comes to adolescence you stated that in legal terms it's suggested as 18 yet in the BBC article it gives excellent reasoning to how teens now aren't growing up as quickly due to the life theory.