Why Do Teenagers Act as Though They Are Immortal?
Why teens act immortal: Blame it on the immaturity of their frontal lobes.
Posted August 3, 2025 | Reviewed by Jessica Schrader
I have been teaching college-age students about the brain for the past 43 years. My most popular course was about the effects of drugs upon the brain. During that time, I noticed one consistent theme that has not changed: young people like to experiment with drugs. I know this because every year the students enjoy “telling their drug story” to the rest of the class. Sometimes their stories were simply shocking. One young man told the story that he discovered an opium poppy growing in his yard. He knew that it was an opium poppy because he Googled a picture of it. I asked him what he did with it. His answer even shocked the rest of the students in the class. He said that he ate it! "All of it?" I asked. Yes, all of it. His girlfriend found him unconscious in the front yard and called an ambulance. This young man’s story is not unusual. Year after year, their stories never really changed. Although their reasons for taking psychoactive drugs varied, depending on the drug and the situation, their rationalization has remained fairly consistent: they simply did not believe that anything truly bad will ever happen to them. They are young, their lives stretch out before them, and they feel immortal. I believe that the consistency of this reasoning across so many decades and thousands of students is likely due to a feature of the human brain.
What part of the brain makes us feel mortal?
Neuroscientists have provided a clear answer to this question. It’s the prefrontal lobes that are found a couple centimeters just behind the forehead. This region has many important functions, including controlling impulsivity and avoiding risky behaviors. I blame the feelings of immortality of teenagers on the fact that their frontal lobes are not fully working. The reason the frontal lobes are not fully engaged is because they have not yet completed the process of neuronal myelination. Think of myelination as the insulation on the electrical wires inside your house. Without myelination in the brain, electrical signals from neurons fail to reach their destination. The parts of our brains that myelinate last are also the parts that evolved most recently. These parts include our frontal lobes, which contribute most to our unique personalities and allow us to anticipate the consequences of our actions. Essentially, your frontal lobes tell you that it's a bad idea to drink alcohol and drive or to ignore the consequences of taking heroin. When your frontal lobes finally complete their process of myelination, they begin to work properly and you stop doing dangerous things. Most importantly, you stop feeling immortal. Apparently, women finish this myelination process by age 25 years and men finish by age 30. Thus a 20-year-old female, although her brain is still myelinating, is closer to maturity than her 20-year-old boyfriend, who still has another 10 years before he can really appreciate the wisdom of warnings such as those against drinking and driving or against taking any drug that comes his way.
What’s driving the immortality?
The limbic system. It’s an ancient group of structures that are vital to survival. The limbic system controls many aspects of our emotional experience. Parts of the limbic system are wired up, i.e., myelinated, before birth. This double-decade difference in timing of the maturation and activation of the limbic system, as compared to the maturation of the prefrontal cortex, contributes to more risk-taking . Subsequently, adolescents are motivated to seek emotional thrills, usually involving fear , that sometimes come from risky behavior, such as reckless driving, smoking , or drinking. Prior to the myelination of the prefrontal lobes, young adults do not have the cognitive control to resist impulses or focus equally on the potential risks.
Whenever I discuss this developmental process, and the delayed myelination of the frontal lobes of males, the young women in class all nod their heads knowingly; finally, they have an explanation for the behavior of their boyfriends or certain members of fraternities. The delay in access to the functions of the frontal lobes, as well as any insight into our mortality, also correlates with another phenomenon familiar to parents with teenagers: car insurance rates. Young women always get a break on insurance rates at a much younger age than men simply because their frontal lobes are wired up sooner. The condition of the female frontal lobes translates into a history of young women having fewer driving accidents than young men of a similar developmental age.
One day in the future, we may be required to carry a recent MRI image of our frontal lobes to vote. Young men might start carrying pictures of their fully myelinated frontal lobes to show worried parents when picking up their dates that they are less likely to make stupid decisions.
Romer D, (2010) Adolescent risk taking, impulsivity, and brain development: implications for prevention. Dev Psychobiology 52(3):263–276. doi: 10.1002/dev.20442. PMCID: PMC3445337
Vorobyev V, et al., (2015) Risk-taking behavior in a computerized driving task: brain activation correlates of decision-making, outcome, and peer influence in male adolescents. PLoS One, 8;10(6):e0129516. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0129516
Wenk GL (2017) The Brain: What Everyone Needs To Know . Oxford University Press.
Share this post Facebook Bluesky Linkedin Email
There was a problem adding your email address. Please try again.
By submitting your information you agree to the Psychology Today Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy
Gary L. Wenk, Ph.D. , is a professor of psychology, neuroscience, molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics at the Ohio State University.
Get the help you need from a therapist near you–a FREE service from Psychology Today.
This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.