Where does the age 18 comes from? I see that it's the age of adulthood in most countries.
Your brain and body stop developing at 23 if I'm not mistaken?
Japan plans to lower age of adulthood to 18 (2018)
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Re: Japan plans to lower age of adulthood to 18 (2018)
#52If you restrict people under the age of from doing something, they usually will find the means and do it anyway, but out of govt control, so it migt be even worse than if you didn't try. That is true about porn, alcochol, tobacco, working (I could never get that one) and lots of other things.
I agree that the number is arbitrary, and probably not a good one but I'm not sure that warrants not having it at all.
Surely we would agree 7 year olds should be kept from (porn, alcochol, tobacco, working 'for money')
Re: Japan plans to lower age of adulthood to 18 (2018)
#53> But teenagers will still be banned from smoking, drinking alcohol and gambling until they are 20. The logic of this escapes me. Although the article does not seem to mention it, it seems probable that the voting age will likely also be lowered to 18. This means teenagers will be considered old enough to make decisions that will affect the entire country, all the while being considered too immature to make decisions…
In the US at least, the 21 yo drinking age is mostly a wholly pragmatic law [EDIT: laws. It's state by state but there was a big federal stick attached to highway funding.] to reduce teenage drunk driving (which affects more than the individual). Tobacco sales is mostly 18 in the US (although a few states are 21). Casinos also vary although the drinking age restricts It's hard to make an intellectual case for dispari…
I really like how Germany solved the drinking age problem: you can drink beer and wine at 16 and hard liquor at 18. This gives you a safety net to experiment with alcohol. You won't drink yourself into a coma with beer and you aren't allowed to drive till you are 18.
Re: Japan plans to lower age of adulthood to 18 (2018)
#54If you restrict people under the age of from doing something, they usually will find the means and do it anyway, but out of govt control, so it migt be even worse than if you didn't try. That is true about porn, alcochol, tobacco, working (I could never get that one) and lots of other things.
The thinking behind child labor laws insofar as working restrictions is that they should be in school and getting an education during those years.
Of course "train-on-the-job"-style apprenticeships are education, but this gets into how blue-collar labor seems to take a backseat to tech jobs.
Re: Japan plans to lower age of adulthood to 18 (2018)
#55If you restrict people under the age of from doing something, they usually will find the means and do it anyway, but out of govt control, so it migt be even worse than if you didn't try. That is true about porn, alcochol, tobacco, working (I could never get that one) and lots of other things.
> under the age of [...] working (I could never get that one)
It has been suggested that many schemes (disallowing child work outside of family farms and firms, elongating school to mandatory "high school", and then at the other end of the spectrum, social security and "retirement") were primarily to bolster employment % issues among the rest of the population (the not young and not old), and not so much for the other intended aims (stop "bad" child labor, "education", "retirement").
I do not know if there is much truth to this, other than for Social Security where proponents said precisely that (Depression era: retiring older workers would free up employment for young men). It seems sensible that child labor laws followed a similar pattern of thinking. https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/flsa1938
Re: Japan plans to lower age of adulthood to 18 (2018)
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you imagine one case where an 18-21 year old was at a party where people were drinking and they said “I can’t have that beer because I’m underage”.
Yes. Me. Plus various other, similar situations. (I am in complete honesty unsure whether to regret it.)
Do you also never go over the speed limit?
My sense of “honesty” isn’t dictated by the government.
Now whether I obey the law is determined strictly by a risk/rewards calculation
But those are still entirely different.
Re: Japan plans to lower age of adulthood to 18 (2018)
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you imagine one case where an 18-21 year old was at a party where people were drinking and they said “I can’t have that beer because I’m underage”.
Yes. Me. Plus various other, similar situations. (I am in complete honesty unsure whether to regret it.)
But did you refuse the drink specifically because you where underage or because you didn't want to drink? If that same party had been in country where you where legally allowed to drink would you have drunk then?
Re: Japan plans to lower age of adulthood to 18 (2018)
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a practical if not legal matter, people can do more or less as they please in their own homes. But I'm personally glad I went to college at a time when drinking alcohol was pretty much all above board. (At least at the time, the fact that the drinking age was legally 18 meant that drinking as a college student was pretty much OK even if you weren't actually 18 yet. The local bar we frequented was fine with just a…
Well yes, your own home is certainly one thing. But I'm pretty sure in the UK you can totally order alcohol for your own kid at a restaurant and it's not illegal as long as the parent gives permission. In some other places it's illegal for someone to sell alcohol knowing that it will be consumed by a minor - so that scenario couldn't happen.
In the UK 16+ year olds can have alcohol with a meal in a pub / restaurant etc. providing it's bought by someone over 18
Re: Japan plans to lower age of adulthood to 18 (2018)
#59> But teenagers will still be banned from smoking, drinking alcohol and gambling until they are 20. The logic of this escapes me. Although the article does not seem to mention it, it seems probable that the voting age will likely also be lowered to 18. This means teenagers will be considered old enough to make decisions that will affect the entire country, all the while being considered too immature to make decisions…
1) The younger you start consuming addictive substances, the more likely you are to become addicted. 2) Analysis and impulse control are not handled by the same parts of the brain, and those mature at a different pace. 3) Given how social ties are stratified in kids due to the education system, providing a buffer of a couple of years protects high school kids from expostion to addictive substances.
>3) Given how social ties are stratified in kids due to the education system, providing a buffer of a couple of years protects high school kids from expostion to addictive substances.
Is this actually useful though? In some European countries, like Finland, high school kids end up over the age of 18 and are thus legally allowed to drink.
Re: Japan plans to lower age of adulthood to 18 (2018)
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
These ages really should be legally aligned. If you're not responsible enough to live your own life, you've no business telling someone else how to live.
Why not avoid artificially grouping those age restrictions out of an artificial sense of "fairness"? I was one of the previously rabid "if you can be sent to war you should be able to have a drink" back in my teens. The two topics aren't related. I insisted that they were to the ends of the earth before, but they aren't. Alcohol is a dangerous trap. Having the age be 21, even with some sneaking it early, is smart. 18…
Yeah, now tell that to the adults that have had to pay fines and their license revoked because of drinking.