The Death of Childhood

Abstract

ABSTRACTChildhood and adolescence are always evolving. Although every new medium has brought with it fears of children and teens being “corrupted” or worse, the onslaught of new technology in the past several decades has had a major impact on growing up. The impact of media violence has helped to instill a climate of fear in children and adolescents so that no one feels safe playing outside anymore—very different from fifty or sixty years ago. Cyberbullying has overtaken in-person bullying as a threat. The availability of sexual images and dialogue has rendered school sex education programs obsolete. The incidence of obesity has doubled in just a few decades thanks to the increased sedentary behavior of young people, who now spend an average of more than seven hours a day with a variety of different media. Schools are trying to keep up with new technology, and administrators think that if all of their students have iPads, they’re doing so. Media are not the only catalyst for the change in childhood and adolescence, however. Schools, parents, and the federal government all play key roles. Schools are twenty years behind the times because the paradigm of what it means to be “educated” has not changed. Parents are increasingly overwhelmed and stressed, often divorced or separated, and working one or more jobs, leaving latch-key kids at home to fend for themselves. The federal government increasingly ignores children’s issues as the U.S. population ages considerably. As a result, childhood is dying.