Social dysfunction

[chrysologus400]

Does not moving away from your hometown (at least for a while) to go to college (or the military, etc.) stunt a person's social development? Is college so important to the culture of young adults that those who don't participate are left in a social vacuum that prevents them from maturing? Obviously this cannot be a universal rule, but I wonder if

Comments

[robandjodi]

I absolutely agree. I felt this way starting with the summer we finished our freshmen year of college.

[murmur000]

i was going to disagree that it was happening that soon, but looking back, that was the summer i realized i couldn't go back to rag. of course, i have to admit, i was shamefully immature in my own way. i'm deeply embarrassed whenever i remember who i was back then.

[chrysologus400]

I definitely didn't notice it that early. I was quite homesick my first two years of college.

I think it's safe to say that most everyone is still immature at that point. It's a matter of degree and kind.

[murmur000]

i'm at a loss. i don't really know what to say about this whole situation anymore. it's nice to know that i'm not crazy to be bothered by all this, though.

[chrysologus400]

That's why I made this post, a kind of support group since we all feel the same way, I think. I, too, feel like I'm at a loss, which is why I came up with this theory.

[robandjodi]

I suppose Jessica's wedding will be the testing ground for my conviction. It isn't fair to Jessica and Andy to not go, unfortunately.

[tj9582]

Two factors:

1. College is a major time in people's lives during which they definitely mature a lot.

2. Nowadays, people who don't go to college are probably more likely to be less mature in the first place, thus widening the gap even more.

[chrysologus400]

I hadn't considered the latter point.

[smudgealot]

As someone who put off going to college for 2 years before going, and as someone with a degree in psychology, I think the way they're acting is evidence that they missed a chance to get away and might feel a little trapped in the place where they are. That being said, I think there is some element of growing apart. There are probably crude inside jokes we are not aware of because we're simply not there, not that we would find them particularly funny if we WERE there, as I've been around them on holidays and they're really hard to be around even in person. Andy is living at home now, after college, and he seems to understand them a little better, but does not participate in the meanness that they do

[chrysologus400]

It's true that Jared has always been somewhat immature. I had, apparently mistakenly, thought that he had grown up over the past few years. Now he seems to me to be more childish than ever, though.