Is Modern Culture Ruining Childhood Literature Review

Many sociologists see childhood as socially constructed; as something created and defined by society. Many argue that what people mean by childhood, and the position that children occupy in society, is not fixed but differs between different times, places and cultures. It can be seen that by comparing the western idea of childhood today with childhood in the past and other societies. It can be determined by many sociologists that there have been many changes in society that have affected children over the last 50 years, however there are several there are several different sociological views on whether these changes have been beneficial to children or not.

The way children grow up and are treated by their parents has changed immensely from the 18 and 1900s. Adult perspective of children has also changed. Children are no longer viewed as property, but an actual human being who has choices. New laws and organizations have outlawed and forbid certain acts against children. In the United States, if one is under the age of 18 years old they are considered a child. There is a vast difference between how children were treated in the 1800s and in today’s society; whether it’s child abuse or child labor, how children are raised has changed for the better.

Different discourses of childhood have different ideas of childhood which has different implications on the way in which children are treated. Within the social constructionist theory there are 3 main discourses - romantic, puritan and tabula rasa. This essay will look

At first glance, technology changes the way children think. The new generation has a power to do many tasks in the same time, but it is hard for them to focus on the book. The tablet, cellphone, etc. become a toy in hand of children. As people write code for program and devices, those tools code human’s minds too. The subconscious of children is clear when they were born by reputation their minds learn how to act. There is a video on YouTube about a one-year-old girl; her father gave her a tablet. She used tablet easily, she touched a page and played well with the tablet. After that, her father gave her a magazine; she did not know how to change the page. She touched the picture of a magazine 's cover and

Children have been described as our future, our greatest resource, and our hope for a better tomorrow. For many Americans, though, children invoke fear. They represent violence, a segment of society lacking in self-control and devoid of ethics and morals, and the failure of the family to instill traditional values, chief among them being the value of human life and respect for others.

Therefore by arguing that childhood is social constructed, the “new sociology of childhood” enables one to understand young people from a different perspective. Such notions of childhood innocence, vulnerability, helplessness, economic dependence among others are scrutinized with regard to broader structural forces. Thus young people even though by virtue of their biological and psychological make-up may be similar across all cultures, what they are expected to do or how they view themselves differ from place to place, situation to situation. For instance even though the United Nations universalize childhood by defining it as,   “Childhood is the time for children to be in school and at play, to grow strong and confident with the love and encouragement of their family and an extended community of caring adults” (UNICEF 2005).

In “The Kids Are Not All Right ,” author Joel Bakan argues that it is necessary to believe that childhood itself is now in a crisis. He states that it is necessary to reignite the guiding of ethos and practices of the century of the child. Bakan claims that children are endangered due to the exposure to violent media, potentially harmful psychotropic drugs, and increasing quantities of toxic channels. The author believes that we should work together as citizens to provide a safe community, through democratic channels and institutions, to bring change.

Childhood is a social construction and varies between times, places and groups. Most sociologists see our ides of childhood as a fairly recent one, the result of industrialisation and other social changes. Modern society constructs childhood as a tie of vulnerability, innocence and segregation from the adult world. The March of progress sociologist believe we live in an increasingly child-centred society. They state that children have existence of child poverty, abuse and exploitation. Child liberationists argue that children in modern western society are victims of age patriarchy and are subject to adult control. Some argue that we are witnessing the disappearance

Increasingly, there is a large dependence on technology today as opposed to ten or twenty years ago. Technology has changed a lot of how life is lived today. It affects shopping, job seeking employment opportunities, entertainment and academics. There is no doubt that technology has set its foundation and is here to stay. One area in which the effects of technology can be clearly noted is in the lifestyle of children. The addiction to technology by children today has increased over the years. This is clearly seen in the developmental progress of children today. This dependence has greatly influenced how children

From this lesson, I would like to know the meaning of social construction of childhood. I am very familiar with the history of psychology and children’s literature. My grandmother used to live with us when I was a young, and she told me many stories of the past. For this reason, I am able to link the materials I study to the real world. The social construction of childhood is somehow new to me. Especially the way Postman (1999) expresses social construction of childhood. For example, he stated, “In the twentieth century, childhood began to unravel, and by the twenty-first, may be lost altogether- unless there is some serious interest in retaining it”. (p. 116). This lesson inspired me to express my point of view of social construction of

Even though childhood has change for the better there is an argument stating that childhood is disappearing “at a dazzling speed” (Postman, 1996) says that there is a closing gap between childhood and adulthood. Neil Postman (1996) claims this in his book “The Disappearance of Childhood”. Postman theory was purely based on the way that communications through technology were made which shapes society today. He thinks that due to the technology such as television and the Internet children nowadays are much likely to have more access to the ‘adult world’, thus childhood to be disappearing (Postman, 1982). He claims its “Frankenstein Syndrome” consequence of the mass media is mainly the responsible for the usage of television, and the social media.

​Another article focusing on the negative effects of technology on society is “5 Ways Technology has Negatively Effected Families” by Kim Williamson. The difference of this one is that is focuses specifically on family issues. Williamson first mentions that School Performance is affected by the distraction of TV and the Internet. Kids can easily pull out their iPhones and go onto the Internet in a matter of seconds. During school, kids only want to use their technology to aid their boredom and that does not help their learning. Williamson then brings up the fact that Quality Time is being taken away from families due to excessive

Children have been described as our future, our greatest resource, and our hope for a better tomorrow. For many Americans, though, children invoke fear. They represent violence, a segment of society lacking in self-control and devoid of ethics and morals, and the failure of the family to instill traditional values, top among them being the value of human life and respect for others.

This modern society has, without a doubt, adapted to technology; which makes it difficult to visualise life with anything technological. This significantly influences children in a negative impact, seeing as technology takes up of all

Another source of the overdependence of technology in children is school. At school, they are introduced to technology at a very young age, sometimes even in preschool. Children are introduced to calculators at a very young age, helping them with math problems they should be able to do in their heads. The teachers are encouraging it so the students don’t take the time to learn how to do it out and then struggle when they have no calculator. Also, children today are proven to have much worse handwriting than in the past. They are now expected to type English essays and in elementary school; many aren’t taught cursive but rather how to use computers. For example, in 2009, 97 percent of teachers had at least one computer in their room, and out of that, 93 percent of the computers were connected to the Internet (Gray, Thomas, Lewis). Intelligence is continuously decreasing due to all of the shortcuts children now are able to take advantage of. In some aspects, the advancements are really aiding students. They have almost any information they can imagine wherever they go, just by going to Google. Typing is neat and