Running head: MY VIRTUAL LIFE REFELECTION PAPER 1

My Virtual Life Reflection Paper 2

Abigail Floriano-Monarrez

Catawba College

Submitted on partial fulfillment of the requirements of Psychology 1500-5, Human Development

11/11/20
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Life can come with many obstacles and tribulations but in the midst of all that, you can

forge relationships and live an eventful life. This simulation compared to the last one was a bit

darker in terms of what it talked about (i.e., death in the family). There were certain aspects in

life that my virtual person came across that I have not even given much thought to for instance,

having to take care of my parents when I have kids later on, the stress of marriage, my parents

passing away, moving out on my own, just more death (I am not really comfortable with the idea

of death). My avatar went through a lot and although I know some aspects may not happen to me

(i.e., Alzheimer’s), it is good to be aware of possible futures. In the adult simulation, I went

through four stages: emerging adulthood, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood.

I learned a lot about myself and other people in my life currently going through these stages. I

would like to explain my experience through what happened virtually, real life experiences, and

connections with our literature/outside resources.

Emerging adulthood was kind of weird in terms of living out my current stage and

making unrealistic decisions since I did not experience the college life, as in living in a dorm,

having a roommate, etc. I still live with my parents at the moment since I want to save up money

while I am in college. Lally & Valentine-French (2019) state that adults 18-34 are more likely to

live with their parents and this can be related to not choosing to settle down and move out so

early, like people used to. I can relate to this because, I really do not have marriage on my mind

right now and honestly, I feel comfortable at the moment not worrying about rent. Another thing

that was mentioned in the simulation was if we felt like an adult at 18 and what things makes

someone an adult. At the age of 21, I still do not feel like an adult, I feel the same as I felt when I

was 18. People in the 18-25 age range are experiencing that back and forth feeling of feeling like

an adult and not, and this experience is usually called the age of feeling in between (Lally &
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Valentine-French, 2019). I honestly do not see myself as an adult yet due to my lack of income

and a stable job, those were my answers on what I would describe an adult to be. Something that

was also mentioned in the emerging adulthood section was on how my avatar viewed dating and

it asked how I met a guy I had just started seeing, I answered that I met him online. I view this as

normal for my generation, being Gen Z. Western Governors University (2019) explains that Gen

Z is very interconnected since the generation grew up with high-speed internet and has had more

accessibility to sharing personal information on social media. I personally have met some of my

friends online and my current partner.

Early adulthood is where my brother is right now and he is doing relatively well, so I am

not too scared of getting to that stage. During early adulthood, we go through another

psychosocial stage known as Intimacy vs. Isolation, where we need to establish our identity in

order to pursue intimate relationships (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019). My avatar met someone

she was serious about during this stage and spoiler alert, they end up having children later on.

Honestly, I still am trying to figure out who I really am. I have gone through a lot of events in

my lifetime and they all have me jumbled up on who I should be. I know for sure what I want to

do career wise and I eventually want to attend graduate school, but I just cannot figure out

myself like personality wise. It seems like something I have to work on now or I will not pass the

Intimacy vs. Isolation stage successfully. My avatar in this stage also begins a family with her

partner, which is something that I had planned to do when I was younger. I planned to have kids

at age 26-27, but now that the idea of having children is a more salient idea due to my age, and I

think that the plan has now been postponed until further notice. My brother who is currently 26,

is not even thinking about children at this point, he has sort of figured out himself though and has

also met someone he thinks might be the one but rejects the idea on having his own children
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anytime soon. He is part of the Millennial generation and their thoughts and views on having

families have been radically different from the previous generations. Newman (2018) explains

that millennials are not having children any time soon due to them relying on doing things

‘later’, being too young, not wanting to give into the pressures of starting a family, and not being

financially stable. I think I am also swaying in this direction in terms of having children, honestly

the child simulation was a wake-up call to be more honest with myself if I am really ready for

children.

My parents and most of my other relatives are in the middle adulthood stage of life. My

avatar has had some trouble with her sight and had to get glasses. Lally and Valentine-French

(2019) explain that during this stage, we tend to go through a lot of physical changes. Our hair

may begin to thin, our skin starts to dry out quicker, etc. We also go through some sensory

changes like vision and hearing (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019). In my 21 years of life, I have

not experienced any difficulty in my eyesight, but my brother has, and I relate that to my father’s

terrible eyesight. I tried wearing his glasses once and they made me really dizzy, they were also

cut thick. My father used to be able to read my school forms easily when I was younger but over

the years, he has squinted and used glasses to read more properly. Something else my avatar has

dealt with while in middle adulthood has been taking care of her children and her parents at the

same time, Lally and Valentine-French (2019) explain that what my avatar is in right now is a

sandwich generation, they explain that Hispanics are more likely to be in this generation. My

parents are in this generation currently and there is stress especially with my grandparents not

being in the same country as us. The only care my parents can send is by sending money for

living expenses, health expenses, and other things they may need. I see this type of care in my
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future since it is a very common thing in my culture to care for our parents when they get older,

so they can finally rest from working so hard to raise us.

I have relatives currently in the late adulthood stage and I recently interviewed my

grandmother to get some insight on how she is at this stage. She mentioned that she has hearing

problems and now wears hearing aids. My avatar also mentioned that hearing was starting to

fade. I know that this may be in my future due to my carelessness when I was younger, with

blasting music through my headphones, so now my ears are kind of okay on listening to things

on low volume. Lally and Valentine-French (2019) explain that both frequencies and the

intensity of sound we can hear drastically change at this stage. Usually when talking to my

grandma, we have to raise our voices so her hearing aid can pick up what we are saying. In the

simulation, my avatars sisters husband dies. My grandmother has gone through the loss of losing

her husband, my grandfather. Luckily, my grandmother has family around her she could lean on

for support and not let her fall into a pit of loneliness. I am very grateful for that family because

Lally and Valentine-French (2019) explain that after losing one’s spouse, they can feel adrift in

life, and it can also pose health risks. I was shocked when I found out about my grandpa, but I

never really got to meet him, only when I was a couple months old. I was told he was a

wonderful person and my father still talks about him here and there.

Overall, this simulation was more realistic in a way that I have family members currently

going through these stages and I saw my avatar going through the same problems as them. It was

fun living out a different life than mine and seeing my avatar grow up to be a wonderful

grandmother. Although fun, it did hit some tough areas I have yet to deal with, It brought up

some themes in life (i.e., death) that I am not comfortable with yet, but I will eventually have to
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overcome them. It has made me think about my future and if the things I am doing right now are

going to positively affect it.

References

Lally, M. & Valentine-French, S. (2019). Lifespan Development: A Psychological

Perspective (2nd ed.) OER Resource. Retrieved January 2020 from

http://dept.clcillinois.edu/psy/LifespanDevelopment.pdf

Newman, S. (2018). Should We Worry About Millennials Not Having Babies? Retrieved from

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/singletons/201804/should-we-worry-about-

millennials-not-having-babies

Western Governors University. (2019) Who is Gen Z and how will they impact the workplace?

Retrieved from https://www.wgu.edu/blog/who-is-gen-z-how-they-impact-

workplace1906.html