read a book.
I am convinced by this heterodoxy:
"This groundbreaking book argues that adolescence is an unnecessary period of life that people are better off without. Robert Epstein, former editor-in-chief of "Psychology Today," shows that teen turmoil is caused by outmoded systems put into place a century ago which destroyed the continuum between childhood and adulthood. Where this continuum still exists in other countries, there is no adolescence. Isolated from adults, American teens learn everything they know from their media-dominated peers--"the last people on earth they should be learning from," says Epstein. Epstein explains that our teens are highly capable--in some ways more capable than adults--and argues strongly against "infantilizing" young people. We must rediscover "the adult in every teen," he says, by giving young people adult authority and responsibility as soon as they can demonstrate readiness. This landmark book will change the thinking about teens for decades to come."
Don't bother trying to reason with americans. to them, anyone who even looks at an under18 is literally hitler. For anyone who think that adolescents are helpless little, innocent children, I recomend The Case Against Adolescence for an alternative viewpoint.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Case-Against-Adolescence-Rediscovering/dp/188495670X
You live in a society that has purposefully forced childhood onto humans for a much longer period than is natural. Culturally around the world there was never an "in between" stage from childhood to adulthood - quinceañeras, bah and bar mitzvahs, and many other cultures had a celebration or line where you went from child to adult, instead we created "adolescence" and research shows it is being strangely extended especially in western countries. All of this affects dating, maturity, the way one views all relationships, etc.
The extension of adolescence was born out of western countries who formerly used child labor for mining and other work. Instead, they trumpeted in true fascist form how important and precious children are. (Read the quote from Hitler.) During this same period of time many children were in smaller school houses where kids of all ages learned together. Instead, we created a separated grade system that kept age groups together and separated from older peers.
So, now we have adolescence, where humans' emotional and mental maturity is almost purposefully stunted. "Teen angst" is arguably a rebellion against the forced stunting because they want to be treated as adults and not as children. Has enough time passed where children readily accept their emotional and mental maturity being stunted?
Some articles and research you may consider:
The Case Against Adolescence
► Book on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Case-Against-Adolescence-Rediscovering-Adult/dp/188495670X
► Executive summary of the book https://drrobertepstein.com/pdf/Epstein%20-%20The%20Case%20Against%20Adolescence%20-%20Q&A.pdf
► Review of the book - The Case Against Adolescence:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43854258
Article about adolescence...
https://aeon.co/essays/adolescence-is-no-longer-a-bridge-between-childhood-and-adult-life
** As always, do your own research. The world won't change by accepting "this is the way it is," and only you can change you.
Doesn't bother me, honestly. Most people around that age want nothing more than to be responsible for themselves. You can't have that, then play the victim card in the same breath. If someone around that age thinks it's in their best interest to fuck a 70 year old, power to them. It doesn't really make a difference in the grand scheme of life either way, until people start making a big deal out of it and making them feel bad about it.
To me books like this have some real merit behind them, when you consider how disjointed our current view of adolescence is from how it was historically and evolutionarily. Take someone who, from an evolutionary standpoint, is trying as hard as possible to be impactful and validated, and treat them like children, and what you're left with are rebellious assholes.
I think it's important to acknowledge that, historically, humans lived about 30 years, and to consider that when you decide how to size up an adolescent's capacity for being responsible for themselves.
Here's an article by the same guy that goes over the same issues.