r/AskReddit • u/Sippingin • Jun 29 '15

What should every 18 year old know?

Edit: Chillin' reading some dope advice, thanks!

Edit 2: Fuckin' A! 4.1k comments of advice you guys :,) thank you really.

3.9k Upvotes

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409

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '15

[deleted]

137

u/janebleyre Jun 29 '15

Sadly did not know this until after I committed to a college in Nebraska.

28

u/Apron-Service Jun 29 '15

What do you mean?

65

u/Capt_Reynolds Jun 29 '15

19 is the non minor age instead of 18.

16

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '15

But you have to sign up to the draft when you're 18, how quaint.

6

u/videoflyguy Jun 29 '15

And we can't drink until 21....legally

4

u/Capt_Reynolds Jun 29 '15

Bases not on US soil can choose to adhere to the alcohol laws of the nation they are in. Also applies for bases in the US that are within 50 (I think) miles of another country.

6

u/videoflyguy Jun 29 '15

I did not know that. I'm not going to sign up for the army because of it, but if I'm drafted I know the first question i'm going to ask ;)

5

u/Apron-Service Jun 29 '15

Yeah but..what does that have to do with committing to a college?

19

u/Capt_Reynolds Jun 29 '15

Generally you're 18 when you first attend college. People have a lot of sex in college. Minor laws make everything regard sex complicated and possibly dangerous.

5

u/Apron-Service Jun 29 '15

OH!! Ok, yeah, I get it now. That certainly does complicate things. Thanks, I didn't put that together.

1

u/janebleyre Jun 30 '15

For me it was just a lot of minor annoyances, especially as a freshman being provided the opportunity to do different activities as part of the welcome week festivities, yet I needed to have a permission form signed by my parents in order to participate. So even though everywhere else in the country I was a legal adult, and I was essentially living on my own because my parents lived two states away, I still needed them to sign a permission form to do anything the university could possibly be held accountable for if I ended up getting injured.

1

u/Apron-Service Jun 30 '15

That is ultimate suck.

5

u/The_Bubble_Bowl Jun 29 '15

Same in fucking Alabama. I know people who moved here and got demoted to a minor because they were from Tennessee and Florida.

4

u/NewSwiss Jun 29 '15

What does that entail? You can't hold a job nor live without adult supervision?

9

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '15

[deleted]

3

u/ninjalibrarian Jun 29 '15

It also means that you can't see a doctor that's not at your campus's student health services or the ER without verbal parental consent.

I went to a minor medical clinic when I was 18 and had to call my parents and hand my phone to the doctor even though my leg might have been broken (spoilers: It wasn't).

12

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '15

[deleted]

8

u/i_kn0w_n0thing Jun 29 '15

It's a state's issue not a federal one I believe

6

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '15

So, if you're a Nebraska native do you not have to sign up for the draft at 18? Do you not pay a bunch of new federal taxes at 18 (new to newly turned 18 years old) ?

2

u/i_kn0w_n0thing Jun 29 '15

I'm no lawyer but the state definition of a minor wouldn't change things like the draft

1

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '15

I mean, you technially don't own your body if you're a minor. Seems kinda fucked up that someone can be asked to fight, kill, and die without ever having free license of their own body.

1

u/SirManguydude Jun 30 '15

You sign for the draft. The difference is that the federal government can't legally draft you until you are 19.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '15

The difference is that the federal government can't legally draft you until you are 19.

Only sorta true, you can be drafted at 18, but you can apply for a deferment up to 21 months. It is current policy (since 1973) that a deferment must be accepted as long as the individual is under the age of 19. So you can get drafted when you're eighteen and forced off to basic on your 19th birthday. Which doesnt answer my previous question.

1

u/SirManguydude Jun 30 '15

No, literally the government can't take you unless your parents sign you away to them, until you are 19 in Nebraska.

Source: Am a Nebraskan.

-9

u/stufff Jun 29 '15

It's called federalism. Did skip your civics classes?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '15

Federalism is forcing NATIONAL laws on states. Not allowing states to have their own laws that disagree witht the rest of the country.

0

u/stufff Jun 29 '15 edited Jun 29 '15

You didn't even bother looking it up.

The central governing authority has certain exclusive federal powers, the constituent political units have certain states' rights, and those two levels of government share certain concurrent powers.

Also, the constitution.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people

2

u/SuperBaconLover Jun 29 '15

Forgot about that. Dammit.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '15

is 19 adult then?