Assignment #1 – Current Status of Childhood
February 13, 2011 by cmohamed
To some degree the future of childhood, in the writings of Postman, seem to be continuing a similar pattern to which he focuses his evidence, regarding the disappearance of childhood, from. Currently, the status of childhood, in my opinion, has changed a lot since my own personal experience with childhood. Not only are children learning more explicit details about adult life at a younger age, but various issues regarding media and games, and has led me to believe that there are very little differences between children and adults, outside the realm of biology.
Children are being exposed to a vast network of media. They can access information regarding any topic with ease. In the recent study by Kaiser Family Foundation, “the average American child spend more than 38 hours a week on video games, music, TV, reading and their computers.” Also in another recent study, 68% of what children watch contains sexual content. This number has increase two years ago from 56%. There is no barrier separating the knowledge of adults and children anymore. Although various outside organizations try to encapsulate childhood by providing adult content labels and parental locks, it just doesn’t seem to work to a large degree. With increasing technology and pop culture intertwined with sexual material, it’s harder for children not to be exposed unless they were isolated from the world. I think that childhood can still exist with the amount sexual innuendos children see on the television and hear from music however it should be monitored as a threat.
Video games have changed the layout of older childhood games. Rather than spend their time outside of school playing sports and having a hobby, “about 90 percent of U.S. kids ages 8 to 16 play video games, [spending] about 13 hours a week doing so.” Children are playing more with the rapid release of games as well the downward slope of prices overtime. Graphics for some games developed some much in the last 10 years that it visually looks real. A lot of popular games have excessive violence and gory images. Although there are age restrictions on certain game with a mature rating, there is no law that stops a child from playing it, other than the authority of their parents. Studies have shown that an exposure to violent games may lead to aggressive behavior in real life. Most of the logic is the study is based on the idea that children imitate what they see however no real solid connection between violent behavior and violent games can be proven. I don’t define video games as a unique attribute to childhood; however a majority of children play them and are being exposed to adult situations.
Overall I think Postman has generalized the definition of childhood and has provided evidence to support what he believes childhood should be like. The idea that it is disappearing seems ridiculous, rather it is evolving with society and can’t possible stay the same forever. Nostalgic beliefs of what childhood should be have clouded peoples mind’s to assume it’s in danger. If the preservation of childhood is in jeopardy, I have faith in society to correct and adjust to benefit the future. Certain threats do exist such as aggressive video games and sexually explicit media; however it does not erase the foundations of childhood. There is no specific definition of what a childhood should be like, however it is a period of time for development in a person’s life that is somewhat of a unique experience for them.
