I didn't forget when I was 16. I was attending high school, didn't drive, didn't drink, didn't do dope, and didn't date. Neither I nor my friends desired to become "working girls." I spent half that year living in San Diego, and the other half in Connecticut. (My younger brother and I flew from CT to CA alone, and then took the bus back alone.)
After high school graduation I worked 40-60 hours per week except for the two weeks I took off to backpack tour Ecuador with a friend. When I was 19 I enlisted in the Navy (during the Vietnam war).
I've also raised a teenager (who is now a very independent adult), and have college-age grandsons, so I'm not living in an ivory tower.
I realize that some 16-year-olds are
forced into adult situations but that's not to mean it's preferable or even the most common way to grow up.