Yet, for many young adults, this stage of life can also feel like a race against an invisible clock, with milestones to achieve and expectations to meet before turning 30.
The pressure can become more noticeable when social media brings other people’s achievements into everyday view. Although these moments represent individual achievements, seeing them constantly can encourage comparisons about personal progress.
For young people still pursuing their education, searching for employment or working towards financial stability, such comparisons can create the impression that they are falling behind.
When people compare their everyday experiences with the highlights shared by others, they may end up measuring their progress against an incomplete picture.
A 2017 study published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking examined the relationship between Facebook use, social comparison and psychological wellbeing among 1,104 undergraduate students.
The researchers found that Facebook use was “associated with greater social comparison” among the participants studied. The study also linked social comparison with lower self-esteem and poorer mental health indicators.
The findings highlight one possible way online interactions can influence how people evaluate themselves, although they do not mean that social media affects everyone in the same way.
Beyond social media, expectations about adulthood can contribute to the feeling that there is a correct timeline for success. Young adults may feel that they should have established a career, achieved financial independence, found a suitable partner or reached particular personal milestones by a certain age.
However, there is no universal schedule for achieving these milestones. Educational opportunities, economic circumstances, family responsibilities and access to employment differ considerably from one person to another and these differences do not automatically indicate that one person is more successful than another.
When ambition turns into constant self-criticism
Having goals can encourage people to learn new skills, pursue opportunities and work towards a more secure future. The difficulty arises when ambition becomes tied to the belief that personal worth depends on achieving particular results within a limited period.
Under this pressure, ordinary setbacks may begin to feel like evidence of failure. A rejected job application, a delayed graduation or a business that takes longer than expected to grow can become a source of frustration rather than an opportunity to reassess plans. And related comparisons can also make it difficult to appreciate progress that does not look impressive from the outside.
However, research suggests that the relationship between social media and wellbeing is more complicated than simply labelling online platforms as harmful.
A 2025 study published in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication examined social media browsing and momentary wellbeing among emerging adults. Its findings highlighted that the relationship varies according to browsing habits and the content users encounter.
This suggests that the effects of online comparison should not be treated as identical for everyone. Social media can provide opportunities for learning, connection and inspiration, but the way people engage with online content also matters.
One way to reduce the pressure is to reconsider how success is defined. Instead of measuring life exclusively through visible achievements, young adults can also consider the skills they are developing, the responsibilities they are managing and the lessons they are learning from setbacks.
Setting personal goals that reflect individual circumstances can provide a more realistic basis for evaluating progress than following expectations created by other people’s experiences.
There is no single timeline for success
The expectation to have everything figured out by 30 overlooks the fact that adulthood is not a uniform experience. People develop their interests, careers, relationships and ambitions under different circumstances.
For young people navigating these years, the goal need not be to abandon their ambitions or stop celebrating the achievements of others. It is to pursue personal goals without treating someone else’s timeline as a measure of their own worth.
Success can involve securing a first job, completing a degree, learning to manage money, building meaningful relationships or gaining clarity about what matters most and not every achievement will attract public attention, and not every period of growth will produce an announcement worth sharing online.
Sometimes, progress is simply the work being done away from the spotlight and rather than asking whether life looks successful enough compared with everyone else’s, a more useful question may be whether the choices being made today are helping build the life one genuinely wants.
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