- the bandwidth for introspection and the freedom to test assumptions.
Absolutely. You always put things so succinctly.
That freedom is what comes into play when you get out of your parent's house and into "the real world". Partially, you aren't being told what to do. But you also have the ability to do things without your parents judging you, punishing you, or event finding out. Your decisions are now 100% your own and you have to deal with the consequences of your actions at that point. In high school, going out late and getting drunk meant the possibility that your parents would find out and punish you. When you are older, going out late and getting drunk means the possibility of making decisions you will regret (hangovers, saying/doing stupid things, etc). You are testing assumptions every single day.
As you get older, you spend less time experimenting with the decisions you make. I know what will happen if I go out late and get drunk on a weeknight: I will be hungover at work and miserable. For that reason, I don't have to test it anymore. Of course, you will test assumptions as you encounter new experiences or predicaments but you have a lot more related knowledge to help you out. The tests occur more rarely as you mature and grow.
Do me a solid - re-evaluate this statement at your next birthday, and the birthday after that, and the birthday after that. I think you'll find your perspective shifting.
Seen through the long lens of history, "100% your own" and "deal with the consequences of your actions" in reference to "college" seems naive. Not to say that there's any more responsibility just for getting older - but the "responsibility" of a dorm-dweller is different from the "responsibility" of a person with a mortgage, two car payments and a time-share.
Likewise, the experimentation doesn't go down as you get older, but the nature of it changes. I'm not sure the "get drunk on a Wednesday" example is appropriate as it can be solved by inspection; I can also say that the consequences are no more an inhibitor than they were when I was 17.
I think it's safe to say that "experimentation" and "exploration" continue for anyone that isn't completely inhibited, while understanding that the things experimented with change. Seen from the perspective of "just out of college" the experiments might not seem as daring... but the same could be said of "just out of college" experiments as seen from the perspective of "just skipped my 20-year reunion."
There are people who never explore themselves. there are people who are saddled with responsibility at the age of 6. Society does arrange similar mileposts at certain ages but I maintain those mileposts are related to experience and opportunity, not age.