Brain has five 'eras' with adult mode not starting until early 30s

Perceptions of “Adult Mode” and Late Maturity

• Many commenters report only “really” feeling adult in their early 30s or even 40s: more emotional stability, better grief processing, clearer priorities, less obsession with career status.
• Others say they still feel like “kids in trench coats” despite careers, mortgages, or children, suggesting subjective adulthood doesn’t track cleanly with milestones.
• Some argue tough responsibilities (kids, mortgage, job loss, bereavement) force maturation at any age; others stress you’re never truly “ready,” you grow into it.

Parenthood, Brain Changes, and Happiness

• Several highlight that the study did not control for parenthood despite known brain changes after childbirth; early-30s is a common age for first kids, making causality unclear.
• Strong disagreement on whether one can “truly” mature without children: some see engaged parenthood as a unique next-stage perspective; others reject this as demeaning to childless adults.
• Parents describe profound joy mixed with burnout, financial strain, sleep deprivation, and deep unhappiness in some cases, blaming modern isolation of nuclear families and loss of “village” support.

Normative Uses: Voting, Age Limits, Infantilization

• Widespread unease that descriptive neuroscience will be weaponized to delay legal adulthood (voting, drinking, driving) or justify paternalistic policies.
• Proposals appear ranging from raising or narrowing voting ages to tax-weighted votes and presidential age bands; critics call these oligarchic or discriminatory.
• Debate over 18-year-olds: some insist they’re capable and unfairly dismissed; others say life skills and wise decision-making lag far behind raw intelligence.

Methodological and Conceptual Skepticism

• Several question whether ~4,000 scans (all US/UK) can robustly define universal “eras,” especially the >83 group.
• Concerns that media mislabel biological phases with loaded terms like “adolescent” and “adult,” encouraging overreach similar to the old “brain finishes at 25” meme.
• Some see the work as a descriptive snapshot strongly entangled with culture, economics, parenthood, and retirement, not a clean biological timetable.

Broader Reflections on Development

• Many note shifts around 30–40: from self-improvement obsession to self-acceptance, from “me-focused” to responsibility-focused, or into midlife crisis and recalibration.
• Others stress environment and adversity (war, poverty, early bereavement) can compress or reorder any purported brain-based stages.