Friday 29 May 2015

Is childhood disappearing?

Everyone has a very different experience growing up and I think that this is a really important question which will affect the future of society.
It is debatable as to whether a) childhood is disappearing and b) is it a bad thing.

So, it is arguably true that childhood is disappearing.For example, the sexualisation of children. Nowadays you can buy baby bikinis, baby high heels etc, why are we trying to grow our children up so damn fast?!
Another example would be access to information. In the past children did not have access to news and adult information because the only way to gather this information would be through a newspaper for example. However in the modern age, children live in a television culture where they only have to watch and listen to understand a situation. They're getting exposed to our world much earlier than ever before.

Some would argue that 'childhood is a social construct' - Stephen Wagg. This means that childhood changes from place to place and from time to time. This is supposedly normal and makes complete sense if you really think about it. For example, in pre-industrial times, children were an economic asset to parents and would work just as an adult would. However soon the compulsory education act was introduced and child labour laws prevented children from working. Policies such as these have reformed childhood and what you experienced as a child will be extremely different to what your great great great grandchildren will experience, that's for sure!

Personally, I would argue that childhood is not disappearing, it is just developing and changing to fit in with society as human kind continues. People have to adapt to the situation which they are thrown into just to survive on this crazy planet.

Whether these changes in childhood are for the better or the worse, I guess that only time will tell.

Thank you very much for reading, I hope that you enjoyed this post which was inspired by part of my sociology a-level course. Please let me know what you think and don't forget that you can get email updates every time this blog is updated by entering your email address into the box on the right hand side:)

 How was your childhood different to your parents?

Thanks again.

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