Diary of a Gen Z Student: Why am I acting 'old' when the night is young?

Isn't bit of debauchery not what our 20s should be all about?

Jane Cowan: 'We've got it wrong. In our young and foolish era, my generation are optimising sleep schedules instead of rustling up their next stupid idea.' Picture: Moya Nolan

There I am, sitting on the sofa at 6pm on a Friday evening, drinking tea and wearing my pyjamas. My mother comes in the front door with a "surprise" for me. She takes ice cream out of her bag and tells me to find something hilarious to watch on Netflix.

Nothing particularly terrible about this scene, besides the fact I’m 21, it’s Friday night, I’ve been marinating in my pyjamas since 4pm, and I’m genuinely excited by the prospect of getting a nice, early night.

That evening, as I turned down a second scoop of ice cream (so as not to interfere with my sleep), I had a bit of an epiphany. A ‘when did I decide to spend my life like an arthritic pensioner’, epiphany.

Now, I don’t think I’m alone in this lifestyle. My Instagram page is full of young people talking about going sober, training for Hyrox, prioritising their sleep, and their health, and their futures.

And I’m not saying those things are bad decisions. These are the pursuits of sensible, responsible, upstanding citizens. But I am also left wondering, are we all skipping over the young adult stage? The stage in our lives where bad decisions should be welcomed as anecdotes for the future, where we can live by our vagaries, stay out too late, kiss the wrong people. And wake up the next day with a heavy head and a story for the archives.

This is a rare time in our lives where we’ve got basically no responsibilities: no children, no mortgage, no high-power careers, no one checking if we’ve shown up to our lectures. Is a bit of debauchery not what our 20s should be all about?

Of course, there’s plenty of reasons why my generation are spending more nights in than out. Sure, there’s the cost associated with going out. And then, when you do go out, bars will often tell you they’re only letting in over 23s for whatever reason.

But the fact most of us have to live with our parents is probably the main issue. Couple that with the fact it’s a bit awkward to throw a house party with your mother watching the nine o’clock news in the next room, and you might just find yourself living my life.

Jane Cowan: 'Are we all skipping over the young adult stage? The stage in our lives where bad decisions should be welcomed as anecdotes for the future, where we can live by our vagaries, stay out too late, kiss the wrong people.'

Living at home when you’re an adult isn’t simple. It feels silly to have to keep your parents in the loop on your comings and goings. Letting them know if you’ll be out for dinner. Or telling them who you’re seeing, when you’re going out. And if you don’t want the third degree on the fact you’re going on a date, you just have to get good at lying.

I’m not blaming anyone. It’s not their fault they’re still being plagued by a 21-year-old child, disrupting their peace. This is just the state if things.

But we can’t get complacent about this stuff either. Soon, some of our finest soldiers will be lost to the beckoning call of the corporate ladder. By our mid-20s, engagements and babies will start popping up all over. Before you know it, you’re driving a people carrier to swimming lessons and reminiscing on all that freedom you had when you were young and foolish.

Except now, in our young and foolish era, my generation are optimising sleep schedules instead of rustling up their next stupid idea. We've got it wrong. 

I get that wellness gurus online have us all convinced death will be imminent if we don’t eat enough protein to power a small Swedish village, or if we drink coffee before our breakfast, or whatever the rules are. But we can't let that get to us.

As I was gearing myself up for that 10pm bedtime on a Friday night, I too had fallen victim to such propaganda. No more! We must break up with such matronly tendencies.

Everyone has come into the new year with 80 ways to improve their cholesterol. But if, by the end of 2026, I’ve gotten less sleep, spent more time with friends, consumed more alcohol and less leafy greens, caused a bit more trouble on the streets of Dublin, and added to the collection of stories I’ll be telling in the nursing home in 60 years, I think I’ll have accomplished a lot.

Don’t let the wellness influencers corrupt your brain. If you were born in the 21st century, you don't need to worry about inflammation. You need to worry about the fact you'll never be hotter than you are right now. We must not surrender to middle age before our brains have even finished developing. Let’s embrace the chaos while we can.