In many respects, "teenage-ification" is a mark, not just of great wealth, but probably also the harbinger of societal decadence. Leisure is a wonderful thing, but great wealth has a way of allowing leisure to become an end in itself, which is poison.
We have, indeed, belittled "the value of craftsmanship and manual labour," not least by insisting that a college education is an absolute necessity.
“A good article, the final paragraphs of which could easily become a book-length discussion.”
It already has. Read “The Death of the Grown Up”. Really interesting stuff...