Being Grown Up?

“What is meant by being adult?” This is the question that is lingering in my mind these days. What do we mean when I say, “I am adult, and I am grown up”, to be in the real world, to fight with all the things & prove you? Has anyone thought about it? & if anyone ever has, has anyone find out the answer? If so, please tell me.

Where do we lose innocence we carry for years & then suddenly give it up under the name of ‘Maturity’? Does being mature mean being introvert? Stopping to share, stopping to laugh, stopping to seek friendship, stopping to see at any relation innocently & even stopping to cry? Are all these the symptoms of being matured?
I knew my friends for last so many years & they are among the best I am talking about. They stop talking, showing the signs of maturity. At least they call themselves of being mature, thinking that in this whole real world nobody needs anybody, everybody has its own life, and if others do not bother then why should I bother? I am confused. Is this what is meant by being grown up?

I never wanted to get there so fast. I knew we will eventually go away and everybody will start his/her own life with better half. We will not meet often still we should not go apart. At least that is what I expect. These people are the ones whom I will rely; I will talk to during the sad & merry moments. But now if they think that being grown up means going away from each other & wearing masks, Hiding emotions from near & dear ones, where will I go?

Want to quote few lines from rockband 'U2' song 'City of Blinding Lights',

Don't look before you laugh,Look ugly in a photograph
Flash bulbs purple irises,The camera can't see
I've seen you walk unafraid,I've seen you in the clothes you made
Can you see the beauty inside of me?
What happened to the beauty I had inside of me?

I suffer from these questions, do you? & if we do, what do we do to resolve or we blindly go & mix up with this world, real world as it is being called?