An 18, 19, or 20-year-old in 2022 is not the same as an 18, 19, or 20-year-old in the 1960s through 90s or even the early 2000s. With things like the cost of living, education cost, and housing prices constantly rising while wages and career opportunities remain low and stagnant the 18-20-year-olds of today aren't nearly equipped with the tools 18-20-year-olds had at their expense back in the day that allowed them to exist as adults. So it made sense for 18 being the socially acceptable age to do things like getting married, date older people into their 20s, and join the military.

Nowadays, in terms of maturity and life experience, 18-20-year-olds are closer to their teenage maturity and experience than they are to their adulthood. So instead of forcing them to exist by antiquated standards and with more people pushing off adulthood things like marriage, kids, and buying homes into their 30s, 21 should be seen as the benchmark age of adulthood as well as the standard age of consent, and 20 and under should be considered minors to coincide with societal trends.

21 would become the new 18. Dating anyone 20 and younger would be considered dating a minor. Situations like 25-year-olds dating 18-year-olds as taboo (and rightfully so) as it already is, would begin to be phased out and less defended. However, it'd still be socially acceptable for a 21-year-old to date within their age range (18-20) similar to an 18-year-old dating a 17-year-old.

Either way, raising the age of consent to 21 would raise countless protections for people 20 and under from a life of adulthood that they're simply not equipped to deal with, which would, in turn, help eventually eliminate things like waiting for somebody to turn "legal" at 18, grooming, early marriages, extreme age-gaps in relationships and everything else people under 21 are preyed on for.

Edit: no age restrictions for college. 18 would still be an ok age for higher education.

Edit 2: if you think the point of this post is to advocate that younger people shouldn’t have sex, read it again. Don’t most people lose their virginities in high school? C’mon now