Emerging Adulthood Analysis

There are many potential benefits and pitfalls of these social and biological changes that are occurring in the second decade of the twenty-first century. Many examples come from the essays, “The Limits of Friendship”, “What Is It about 20-Somethings?”, and “Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of Our Era.” All three authors describe these social and biological changes in different ways. In some ways, Restak, Henig, and Konnikova have similarities in their essays. Richard Restak examines the way the human brain responds to modern technology, claiming that “[t]his technologically driven change in the brain is the biggest modification in the last 200,000 years (when the brain volume of Homo sapiens reached the modern level)” (373). Restak says our brains responds to all sorts of technology around us like laptops, tablets, phones, and email. In our era, technology has become our

At the same time, the brains of young adults may evolve differently than before thanks to the life-stage Henig calls “emerging adulthood,” during which “the rate of societal maturation can finally fall into better sync with the maturation of the brain” (205). Konnikova talks about the biological limit of friendships we can sustain. Konnikova states “On the flipside, groups can extend to five hundred, the acquaintance level, and to fifteen hundred, the absolute limit-the people for whom you can put a face to a name. While the group sizes are relatively stable, their composition can be fluid. Your five today may not be your five next week; people drift among layers and sometimes fall out of them altogether” (236). What she means is that even if our groups keep growing, we never know when one of those people will fall through cracks and you never hear from them or see them