Discussion Post:
Consider your age in life in conjunction with your accomplishments thus far. Now consider the accomplishments of your peers or friends of your same age group. Have you accomplished more or less? How do you feel about that?
What is this culturally determined psychological timepiece called that we use to judge our benchmarks against others? Are we being fair to ourselves? Why or Why not?
If this “timepiece” is not fair to you, what should we determine our benchmarks on?
Discussion Post Requirements:
* Your INITIAL Discussion post must be 2 substantive paragraphs answering the topic, with citations for your sources underneath – if you use information that is not your own – which is most of the time. A substantive paragraph is at least 5-8 sentences.
* REPLIES TO CLASSMATES should be in response to a classmates post in which you further the conversation by adding a personal anecdote, asking a question, or adding more facts from the readings to your classmate’s post. Response posts to classmates must be substantive in nature, meaning at least four sentences and not simply, “I agree.” One and two sentence replies to classmates garner 1/2 credit. “I agree” garners NO credit.
Reply to Classmate 1:
The accomplishments among my peers or friends vary in comparison to my accomplishments. Some peers and friends have accomplished more while others have accomplished less. However, the friends who I feel have accomplished more than me are the ones that affect me. It makes me feel like Im falling behind, or I shouldve taken a different route to reach success quicker. Sometimes these feelings will start to get me down if I dwell on them.
We call this culturally determined psychological timepiece a social clock. I dont think we are being fair to ourselves using this social clock. It isnt fair because everyone is on a different path at a different pace. We shouldnt hold ourselves to these time constraints because when we dont make the deadline, we start to doubt ourselves. We should base these benchmarks on our individual circumstances. Everyone should set their own time clock for themselves and not based off of society.
Reference
Feldman, R. (2014). Development across the lifespan (7th ed., pp. 447-448).
Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Reply to Classmate 2:
This has been an aspect of my life that I have struggled with for a long time now. I am not sure when it started but I have felt like I am running behind in terms of accomplishment in my life based on my age. While I am only 26, I have no kids and no established career. I come from a traditional family, in a small town, whereas a woman you get married, have babies, either stay at home or have a small job. While there is nothing wrong with that, it was never my priority to have kids. Most of my high school peers have a kid(s) and some do have careers. I do however see so many that have picked one or the other and have accomplished those goals and Im stuck in limbo. Not ready for kids and still working towards a career. My mom turned 46 today, one of the first things she said was Im almost 50 and still no grandbabies. She means well, but it does not help the feeling of not being accomplished enough as a woman. The expectations of my family and how I feel is an example of the social time clock (timepiece). I know I am not fair to my self when it comes to my accomplishment. I know that I am hard on myself because I want to make my family proud and provide a good life for me and my partner. I sometime must take a step back and look at what I have done that I am proud of. I dont know if we should have set benchmarks as all. I think we should have personal goals that we set for ourselves to make us happy. As developing adults, I think as we age our way of thinking changes and so do our plans and goals. Life does not always go as planned so I believe we should be able to adapt our plans and not be dragged down by benchmarks set by someone other than ourselves.
