This paper will critically discuss the ‘disappearance of childhood’ debate which centres on electronic media and consider why such a debate has come into existence. This essay will critically discuss both sides of the debate that is the disappearance proponents and those who are more optimistic about the effects of technology on the lives of children. In response to both arguments, I will propose that there is a new concept of childhood which has evolved throughout history; this concept is one of changing childhoods for a whole variety of reasons. It is noteworthy that these arguments are developed from American and European opinions and do not necessarily reflect the experience of children internationally.
There are proponents of the
…show more content…
This I would argue has been as a result of how society has changed and the greater concerns to not only protect children but to give them more ‘rights’. Buckingham (2000) proposes that in the last two to three decades childhood has changed in two ways firstly, it is more institutionalized, privatised and with greater surveillance; secondly, the boundaries between adults and children are eroding with children becoming empowered as a result. As society has changed, so there has been influence from the children themselves in what I would argue is as a result of a differing relationship between adults and children. To explain, since the 1950s a surge of parenting theories have developed for example Dr Spock and John Bowlby. As such I argue that they have influenced parenting for some who have adopted a more responsive and democratic style whereby children’s views are taken into account. In sum, I propose that childhood has not disappeared, rather as a result of complex historical and societal factors has …show more content…
However, contemporary children have longer school years and days, compared to the 1950’s child partly as a result of women working but also due to engagement in extra-curricular and after school clubs. Thus, the autonomy the contemporary child enjoys in the access to more information, technology and television can be offset by greater adult control in organised activities such as playing, sport and other leisure
Turkle argues that technology has fundamentally changed how people view themselves and their lives (271). She reports that, “BlackBerry users describe that sense of encroachment of the device on their time. One says, ‘I don’t have enough time alone with my mind’; another, ‘I artificially make time to think…’” (274). Her point is that people have to make a deliberate choice to disconnect, to exist in their own mind rather than the virtual world (Turkle 274). Another point Turkle brings up is that in this technologic age children are not learning to be self- reliant. Without having the experience of being truly alone and making their own decisions, children are not developing the skills they once did (Turkle 274). As Turkle reports, “There used to be a moment in the life of an urban child, usually between 12 and 14, when there was a first time to navigate the city alone. It was a rite of passage that communicated, ‘you are on your own and responsible.
Somewhere around the beginning of the seventeenth century, the perception of the nature of childhood -- its duration, its perceived purpose, its requirements, its quality -- changed rather significantly in the Eurocentric world, a period Valerie Suransky identifies as a watershed for the modern notion of childhood (1982, p. 6). Actually, two things seemed to have happened: first, the idea of childhood as a separate developmental stage began to arise; second, the idea of who was deserving of childhood also began to broaden. The pattern was similar in Europe and America, with some minor variations which resulted from geography, religion, etc., but the differences are inconsequential. Generally speaking, the factors which influenced this change are the view of the nature of humankind, the development of industry, urbanization, parents themselves, and the women's movement.
For the idea of childhood to come into being, there was a change in the adult world; specifically adulthood must be defined differently, adults must become the ‘care takers’ of children. This change happened during the middle of the fifteenth century, propelled by the invention of the printing press, which in turn developed a new symbolic world. The new adulthood excluded children; therefore it became necessary to create a new childhood (Postman 1994:21). Childhood is acknowledged to exist, as a feature of the natural order. The child became a special creature with a different nature and different needs, who require protection from the adult world (Postman 1994:37).
The dictionary definition of a child is a young human being, an immature person and offspring (Oxford, 1976). This idea is reflected in Mead’s statement ‘that children to adults are representative of something weak and helpless in need of protection, supervision, training, models, skills, beliefs and ‘character’’ (Montgomery et al, 2003, p vii). The emphasis is on the concept of the child by adults rather than the size or mentality raising the notion that a child, and therefore childhood, is not just a biological concept but also an ideological one (Falconer, 2009). This ideology makes an oxymoron of Children’s Literature according to Rose (Hunt, 2009a) as adults write, publish and purchase books with each set of adults having their own ideas about childh...
Views on childhood have and still continue to change (Waller, 2009). The contemporary view that children are empty vessels (Skinner, 1974) is being disregarded as children are no longer perceived as passive recipients in an adult world (O’Kane, 2008...
Childhood is the period of being a child which is from birth up until when the child reaches puberty (adolescence). A myriad people perceive childhood as being fun and joyful but many would disagree and would now begin to consider it as being problematic. This essay will be impartial and promiscuous by discussing supporting arguments that childhood is and is not considered as being in crisis. Part of this essay will be looking at different authors or journalists who believe childhood is in crisis due to many factors such as; children not spending time outdoors, them being allowed to used electronics too much etc. While other authors and journalists will be looking at the opposite side as to children only being innocent or that parents are to blame and the media due to confusion over whether childhood is in crisis.
Children and Childhood: In History and Society. Ed. Paula S. Fass. Vol. 2. New York:
In her essay, “A Child’s Garden of Subversion,” Cornell professor Alison Lurie reminds adult readers of the ‘sacred texts’ of childhood, which “recommended—even celebrated—daydreaming, disobedience, answering back, running away from home and concealing one's private thoughts and feelings from unsympathetic grown-ups” (Lurie 131). Such subversive books “overturned adult pretensions and made fun of adult institutions, including school and family” (Lurie 131). In other words, these books are unlike the moral didactic books, wherein a ‘bad’ child undergo a pivotal occurrence ultimately making them seek out help from their caregivers, and reforming them into a ‘good’ child; however, realizing that this philosophy is irrational, authors of subversive works celebrated the fact that children are indeed, children and should be children to their fullest potential while they are in this “unusual, partly savage tribe, ancient and widely distributed” (Lurie 130).
Childhood is a highly contested model because its meaning and interpretation varies from person to person as it is influenced by cultural-heritage, family-background and experiences (Alderson, 1995). For instance, the United Nations’ Convention on Rights of the Child (1989) defined children as everyone under the age of eighteen. Additionally, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (2005) postulated that the period of childhood is a special period during which a child should learn how to live and survive the world through schooling, playing, as they grow strong and develop their confidence with the affection and support fr...
While all societies acknowledge that children are different from adults, how they are different, changes, both generationally and across cultures. “The essence of childhood studies is that childhood is a social and cultural phenomenon” (James, 1998). Evident that there are in fact multiple childhoods, a unifying theme of childhood studies is that childhood is a social construction and aims to explore the major implications on future outcomes and adulthood. Recognizing childhood as a social construction guides exploration through themes to a better understanding of multiple childhoods, particularly differences influencing individual perception and experience of childhood. Childhood is socially constructed according to parenting style by parents’ ability to create a secure parent-child relationship, embrace love in attitudes towards the child through acceptance in a prepared environment, fostering healthy development which results in evidence based, major impacts on the experience of childhood as well as for the child’s resiliency and ability to overcome any adversity in the environment to reach positive future outcomes and succeed.
James, Jenks and Prout (1998) argue that childhood is characterised by sets of cultural values whereby the ‘…western childhood has become a period of social dependency, asexuality, and the obligation to be happy, with children having the right to protection and training but not to social or personal autonomy’ (James, Jenks and Prouts 1998 pg. 62). Here, childhood is described in sets of distinguished features and these features imply that the concept childhood may vary from place, culture and time. Therefore suggesting that there is no fixed or universal experience of childhood, for example, childhood in the medieval UK will be extremely different to the childhood in modern UK and therefore it varies over time, place and culture. Since the definition and state of childhood may vary depending on our cultural and historical background, some sociologist claim that childhood is not just biological, but must have been socially constructed for a specific society needs at a particular time. In this essay, I will attempt to explore ways in which childhood is said to be socially constructed by looking at historical childhood and how it has led to construction of modern childhood in the modern society. I will also explore the agency of children as competent social actors able to construct their social world.
Over the years, childhood has changed in many ways. With the invention of the printing press and the spread of a print culture, this culture became the causal agent of the rise of childhood. When the print culture was replaced with an electronic medium, it became the primary agent in the decline of childhood (Postman, 1994).
...o centuries. Thanks to the development of health care and education, lots of people had a chance to have a normal childhood without suffering from illness, poorness and bad social environment. But it wasn’t as easy as it look from the first view. The traditional family has changed, leaving place for such an institutions, as kindergarten and school. On the one hand, for children this wasn’t so bad. Professional teachers gave much better education than anybody could receive at home. But on the other hand, children were deprived of the part of communication with their parents, especially on the emotional level. Besides that, the other problem is a commercialization of the youth in the adverts and entertainment market. Of course, this process has, both positive and negative sides, but mostly they cause the disappearance of the childhood as an important life stage.
John Palerey and Urs Gasser. "Born Digital: Understanding The First Generation Of Digital Natives." (E)Dentity Ed. Stephanie Vie Sothlake, Tx: Fountainhead, 2011 7-20 Print.
Digital world gave rise to a new generation called the “Digital Natives” – who are the “native speakers‟ of the digital language of computers and the Internet (Jones & Shao, 2011). These kids are born into a world of modern technology and are immersed in a world of video games, computers, digital music players and cell phones. (Rudi, 2011).