Is Today's Culture Ruining Childhood?

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Modern Mayhem “The fact is that modern life has deprived us of life's one great luxury: time” (Colwin). Childhood is a sacred time to every individual because it is the root of who the person is, even as an adult. That is why it is crucial to spend one’s childhood doing activities that will be remembered. This has been difficult for the youth today because of the way culture has evolved. Although modern culture could provide children with more opportunities, it is ruining childhood because of the effects that technology, food choices, and the media have on youth. Kites, forts, playgrounds, and other imaginative activities were many apparatuses of childhood for previous generations. These concepts are very unusual to see in today’s culture.
Rather, technology has become the norm for individuals of all ages. This is because due to the advancements in technology, it has …show more content…

Rather than doing physically reliant activities, youth spend most of their time looking at a screen. “A 2010 Kaiser Foundation study showed that elementary aged children use on average 7.5 hours per day on entertainment technology…” (Rowan). This not only causes children to lack the physical activity they need, but the social activity as well. Technology can cause social isolation in children. Although social media keeps individuals updated, it keeps them more “distant” and “lonely” in their phoneless lives (Price). Technology also limits the need for imagination to create entertainment, because staring at a television requires no thinking at all. "The advent of television altered that attention by offering children visual stimuli, fragmented attention, and little need for imagination" (Taylor). This affects most children because many have their own TV. "A 2010 Kaiser Foundation study showed that 75% of… children have TV's in their own rooms, and 50 percent of North American homes have the TV on all day"

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