30 April

This trend has been clear for a while. ‘Grown-ups’ who are still essentially teenagers. Obsession with bands and music, with consumer goods, with fantasy fiction and films, with binge culture, grown-ups having ‘besties’, constant comparison through social media of each other’s lives, an obsession with the body beautiful and personal appearance, and overwhelming sentimentality (everything is either a tragedy, or the most awesome thing, ever). Some say it’s because we live in an anxious age, and this ‘Peter Pan’ effect is a defensive response to the anxiety. Or maybe the cause and effect is reversed - maybe not growing up is why society is becoming an anxious place.