How Modern Culture Is Affecting Childhood

Before the technology invasion children were spending most of their playing time outside in the open. They were exposed to the environment with all its benefits and drawbacks. They communicated with the neighbors and school mates. Their world was easy without any complications. They exercised without even knowing that they actually were, they ran after each other, they went to school on foot, and several other physical activities were done. When they were at home, they spent time helping in the house chores, or playing with their siblings. With friends, they built houses and forts with their primitive plastic bricks tolerating their creativity to flourish. They had time to read stories and study using paper

It is one o’clock in the afternoon. The summer sun is beating down on your back as you are being chased through the sprinklers with your best friends. As you hear the neighbor kids cheering, you sprint to see what has happened. Your older brother just hit a homerun. Excitement rushes through your body and you scream with joy. Nobody captured the moment on their phones though. All you have is the memory and scent of summer to bring you back to it. Those were the best days over your life. No phones, no pressure from society and yet there was still a competitive drive to live the American dream.

Childhood, in the 21st century, has become the center of attention because of the highly influential book “Centuries of Childhood” published in the year 1960. In the book, Aries (1960) argued that the concept has been created by the modern history and further indicated that children were considered as mini-adults before the 17th century. According to Dr. Montgomery (2013), the childhood in 1970s and 80s have enormously transformed in terms of their treatment and their lives. Moreover, Dr. Montgomery revealed the contemporary and historical differences in the terms childhood. For instance, children in the 21st century have fewer responsibilities and their lives are characterized by school, play, consumption and family instead of paid labor, work, production and public life. This implies that the standards of childhood differ on the basis of economic setting and traditions of the societies.

From parent seminars, to books and movies, to even games consoles, children are not only being taught the basic concepts of the world, shapes, colors, language, but they are also being taught the norms and values of a particular society. This essay will look into what the children's materials of

“ Roman, eighteen admits that he texts while driving and he is not going to stop. I know I should, but it’s not going to happen. If i get a facebook message or something posted on my wall I have to see it. His friends admonish him, but then several admit to the same behavior” ( Sherry Turkle 236). Kids are tethered to their devices and the internet, they are willing to risk their lives and the lives of others just to stay connected with others online.

Anyone who has children, or who is often interacting with children, will recognize that childhood is not the same or how they remembered. The popularity of technology and especially social media has changed what it means to be a child. The largest problem told by care givers of children is that they participate less in imaginative play. Modern technology means that their devotion is being demanded by more and more things, so they don’t have the inclination to play.

Unfortunately, children are also exposed to a world where their personal information can be available to people around the world, and they might be threatened or intimidated by others. Youngwood is aware of the fact that parents cannot isolate their children from the digital world. Therefore, he recommends parents to stay updated with latest technologies to supervise their

This disadvantages being poor in real life connection, privacy, and the fear of missing out are more substantial.” The thesis statement for the revised essay “Monitoring Children’s Online Activity could be stronger. The author could have focused the thesis statement to why children should be monitored and what the outcome of monitor could be as well as focusing it more to the situations/events that happen online that a child may not be able to handle. Although the authors thesis statement could be stronger her point is made clear as to what she wants the readers to gain from reading her essay. The appeals the author used to convince the audience was getting quotes from parents who use an app to monitor their child’s account, explaining situations and events that may happen online, and talking about maturity. The evidence the author used included some scholarly sources as well as some popular sources. The author could have used more credible

Starting from toddlers, parents have allowed their children to start being addicted to a device. Since then, they know how to use it and when they use it more, they want to use it more. Adults and children are going on their devices doing things that do not really matter to them. These people are getting more and more disconnected from regular human beings. Not only they are missing out on their daily lives, but the risk of problems in life.

My cousin's wife Irina Olaru has a positive attitude about the internet use of their children, a girl of four years, and a boy of two and half years. Irina graduated Bethel University, in Minnesota, four years ago. She said to me that their children use a laptop and cellphones every day. Asking her how much time daily their children spend in front of a laptop or cell phone, she said more than two hours every day, which confirms above statistical data. Asking her what attitude they have, as parents about the computer use of their children at such young age, she explained that the internet gives many opportunities of learning and developing for their children. They do not want to ban computer use because they need a time when their children

In conclusion, as we know, the internet has become so popular that even little kids can gain access to it without the help of an adult, they are the same people encouraging them in getting access to it; they give them expensive smartphones, even the elderly ones cannot retrieve and that is the place where they access negative information that will destroy their future.

Technological advancements have flourished greatly over the last few years and have continued to become a large part of the societal norm, today. With increasing reliance on devices such as smartphones, laptops and televisions, access to information is not just easy but also prompt. However, there exists a downside to the excessive screen time exposure that children are allowed, especially internet exposure. Evidence of the pervasive nature of internet access can be inferred when statistics show that “60% of children between the age of 8 and 17 years” (Subrahmanyam et al., 2001) have some form of access to the Internet. Approximately, 14% of these children also meet the criteria for excessive Internet Users. With the rising degree of internet

Perception of childhood, has many cultural influences. These influences have social and medical routes many questions come to mind when individuals become caregivers and guide a child into toddler hood. Expectations from friends and family encourage patterns of behavior for parenting, for example the connection of the “time out”, this this related to to shame and doubt in a child’s development. Often, overlooked is the topic of discipline and long term factors such a early introduction to daycare, verses homeschooling.

The excessive utilization of technology in today’s society is a major contributing factor to distraction among the general population, consequently exposing our youth to adult-like subjects. The exaggeration of social networking sites alone, has led parents to disregard their routine obligations, therefore setting bad examples for their children and ignoring the responsibility of remaining great parental role models. Our technological advances have significantly promoted the ease of utilization of all the current social media sites. Once upon a time we chatted online, emailed and surfed the web with only the use of a computer. In today 's modern world there are hand held devices such as cell phones and tablets, with a simple swipe of the touch screen your entire account is accessible. Over the past 10-15 years, many new social networks have been created and they seem to gradually become more appealing to the average human. Every time a new website is customized, the contents are more advanced than the last, making communication almost effortless, allowing for more rapid use. "Around 59 percent of children have already used a social network by the time they are ten, and 43 percent have messaged strangers online by the age of twelve"(Williams 1). Caretakers need to start being more observant to the dangers that their kids are facing and monitor their use, so that they are able to appropriately instill safety guidelines. An

Some parents are not aware of dangers of internet that brings to their children particularly making friends through internet. For example, their children might get cheated with someone else on internet and their children will not tell what happen to them when they encounter danger. According to BBC News, a 47 year old man defrauded a 13 year old girl online and asked to meet face to face. Luckily, the girl’s mother found out beforehand or else her daughter might be in danger. From this news, we can see that there internet friends are not always honest and they are more likely to consider as un-trustful strangers. Therefore, parents should concern more about their children, teach them about the dangers of making friends on internet, and avoid them from going out with a stranger.