Open letter to media outlets everywhere

Every so often, some media outlet or another does an article on "failure to launch" among Kids Today. Media people, whenever you feel the need to do one of these articles, please think critically about the indicators of adult independence you cite, and ask yourself if they really are necessary to adult independence, or if they're just things that grownups tend to do.

The lastest offender is the Globe and Mail. Just looking at the blurbs, they mention living with one's parents (which I agree is generally a sign of failure to launch, although there may be extenuating circumstances such as if the parents are ill or can't support themselves without the kid's income) or "delaying [one's] career" (for which I agree with the point they're trying to make, but it's worded a bit vaguely - some people can still support themselves with a big capital-c Career).

However, they also include not buying a house and not getting married. Buying a house is so optional! You can also buy a condo or rent a house or rent an apartment, and in all these cases you're living independently. Some people prefer to live in a high-density urban area, or don't want the extra work of a house, or want to rent so they aren't responsible for repairs, but they're still grownups! Think about the characters on Seinfeld - they might be immature at times, true, but they have definitely launched. Except for the period when George lived with his parents, they are all independent, self-sufficient adults. Similarly, getting married is not only highly optional, but also beyond one's full control as an individual. Someone can live their entire life in a way that is by all standards exemplary and beyond reproach, and simply happen to never meet someone who would make a suitable marriage partner. Or they could find a suitable marriage partner, but marriage is unfeasible for one of any number of reasons, and they prefer to continue loving their soulmate rather than ditching their soulmate and taking up a marriage of convenience with someone they don't love. Or they could have found their soulmate and be enjoying conjugal bliss, but not be allowed to marry because they happen to be of the same sex and live somewhere that's stuck in the dark ages. Choosing to marry only when it's the right thing to do rather than marrying someone, anyone, just for the sake of getting married, is a mature, adult way to carry out your life. Making getting married your primary goal and focusing everything on finding someone, anyone, to marry so that you can Be Married simply doesn't belong in the 21st century. Therefore, you cannot judge people as immature or unadult for not being married. Certainly no one would think that, say, Condoleeza Rice has failed to launch!

If you use examples like this, things that aren't actually problems but you're presenting them as problems, it ruins the credibility of your entire article. Use indicators of adult independence that actually indicate adult independence, rather than arbitrary factors. If you can't find enough concrete examples using only appropriate indicators, then maybe that means the "problem" isn't big enough to be writing an article about it.