Brain Drippings (Blog)

June 7, 2026

When I was a kid, I would say that I never wanted to grow up. I thought adults were boring, and that they had brought this fate upon themselves. They never talked about fun things, and they never played or goofed around. Growing up didn't feel real, though I knew intellectually that it would happen to me one day. I thought of myself as a fully realized person, so I didn't see why I would have to change into one of these boring creatures who seemed blind to the best and most important things in life, a.k.a. having fun.

Well, now I've become a boring adult. I've learned to sit around having polite conversations about the material details of our lives and take everything very seriously. But I think I might have been onto something when I refused to accept that we would all grow up into these very serious, mature adults.

Everyone considers maturing to be a good thing, but I think there's something to be said for staying immature. Of course, since maturity is an abstract concept with no comprehensive definition (literally it just means reaching biological adulthood, which is marked by the ability to reproduce), some things we associate with it I don't contest are good things. It's good to be able to handle difficult emotional situations with empathy and a measured attitude, and it's good to be able to take some things seriously when the situation calls for it, and having an attention span and the ability to focus and work toward abstract goals at the expense of immediate gratification is a very useful thing. In addition to being necessary for the functioning of society (which, seeing how society is functioning right now, makes you wonder how much most people really have "matured"), these qualities allow us to live more meaningful and interesting lives.

But everything in moderation: it's possible to have too much of a good thing. Because these "mature" qualities are important in some situations, in everyone's scramble to become (or be seen as) mature upon entering adult life, we end up taking life too seriously at the expense of having fun.

I grant that there are certain behaviors you just need to learn to adopt in the appropriate situations in order to successfully navigate life and attain the things you want, like relationships, jobs, education, a place to sleep, etc. The fact is that most people just are going to become immersed in the seriousness of adult life and internalize all of its conventions as they grow up.

Everyone is entitled to live how they want. If you all this seriousness works for you and you don't feel a deep sadness, if you're content with childhood nostalgia being just a pleasant memory to reflect upon with no hope of ever returning to or reclaiming that state of playful joy and innocence, good for you! I sincerely hope that society is filled mostly with people who are satisfied with the conventions of adulthood that they conform to, because the alternative is a society of people who are deep down miserable and stunted, trapped in a self-constituted cage.

Personally, though, I'm thinking Fuck That. I hope that I stay immature. When you realize the meaninglessness of life, it suddenly seems absurd to respond to every situation with seriousness. Nothing means anything besides the meaning that you assign to it, and what you mutually agree with other people to treat with certain meaning. I'd rather recognize the absurdity of all this and laugh about it. Isn't it great that we can create joy and have fun at any time? But most people spend such little of their time actually taking advantage of this. Come on, guys!! That's not how I want to live my life. I just have to seek out people who have the same attitude, the same openness to having fun and staying immature.

Like, as adults, we don't play enough games. Kids are constantly making up games. We don't touch enough things. There are so many free available physical interactions of varied textures and creation/destruction but we stay encased in our bubbles of solitude. Kids just go around touching things for fun. We get into the habit of using our imaginations less and less, for smaller and smaller things, because it's not "practical." Maybe not, but what's that matter? Imagination is one of the most fun, interesting, and amazing parts of being alive. We can just make anything in the world happen in our minds. We stop making up stories and telling them to each other for fear of being boring or weird or bad. We stop making fun of each other for fear of "offending" or "crossing boundaries" or touching a "sensitive subject," and in doing so, we stop being able to laugh at ourselves. As we try to hide our irregularities and insecurities and foibles, shame and embarrassment become become imbedded deep inside.

Basically, my thesis is, listen: everyone can do what they want. But for my part, as I'm trying to figure out what the fuck I'm going to do with the rest of the years I have on this planet, permanently consigned to adulthood, I have to figure out what adulthood actually means, and what it doesn't have to mean. I don't want to spend the whole time limiting my experience of existence just because I'm automatically following the example of others. That means not agreeing to the conventions of maturity, and finding other people to fill my life with who also don't put stock in these conventions.

Here follows the manifesto of immaturity: I will stay up late and cover my walls with posters and be messy and make up games and be strange in public. I will talk to strangers and spend money instead of saving for the future and live for today instead of ten years from now. I will take risks and say too much and feel too much and I will pack up and leave on a whim and argue and change my mind and I will try to tell people what I mean instead of fencing around to seem cool and indifferent. I will adopt only those qualities and attitudes which I choose to value. I will stay immature forever!!