However, entertainment only succeeds through particular themes which generally involve subjects of an adult nature and delinquency and children of today’s society are now more heavily influenced by consumerism than those of their parents. With television programs such as the ‘O.C’ presenting teenagers committing inappropriate acts that are considered ‘adult’ actions, children will too perform such acts. Role models are often formed through the television based on fictitious characters that are currently presenting such an image that is causing a great impact on the child population of the twenty-first century. Children aspire to resemble their role models and will imitate their actions in order to be similar to them. This is evident in the style of clothing and the type of behaviour the children of today’s society are adopting.
In addition to television and the media, technology plays a dominant role in breaking down the distinction between children and adults. Whilst various computer games endorse violence and aggression, the internet makes adult content widely available to any child that uses it. Although there are several types of software aiming to block the free access obtainable by children, it is likely that those who use the internet are very capable of finding methods to defeat the software (Waltermann & Machill 2000). Postman (1983) believes that the loss of childhood is directly attributed to the widespread influence of popular culture and the rise of new electronic technologies. He suggests that the content of television works to expel images of the child by “adultifying” the child whilst promoting the rise of the “childfied” adult. There are clear examples of this in most contemporary societies where children are constantly trying to appear older and adults are attempting to appear younger. The moral and cultural boundaries that have separated children and adults throughout the past have slowly been eroded due to the influence of electronic media. It is largely accountable for the destruction of childhood as we know it (Sanders 1995).
However, Postman ignores the fact that popular culture is a site of negotiation for children where they have to ability to speak for themselves and voice their own opinions. Papert (1993) argues that computers and technology produce forms of learning that exceed the limitations of former methods. According to Papert, the computer is “the children’s machine” which generates a natural creativity a desire to learn. Similarly, Katz (1997) considers the internet as a means of children’s liberation as it provides them with an opportunity to escape the control of adults.
Nonetheless, once a child obtains access to the adult world, he or she possesses the information and the ability to behave like one. For instance, employment is regarded as an adult pursuit however; it is acceptable for children as young as thirteen to maintain a job. Childhood is considered a stage of life where play and carefree pleasure should be indulged. During childhood, children should be cared for and protected from the adult world of work. However, contemporary society is preoccupied with the potential of the future and as a result, stresses the importance for the ‘children of the future’ to succeed. In doing so, children are subjected to strenuous schooling and pressure, either to earn money or succeed in life with a good occupation. In some countries children as sent to school at the age of four in order to ensure that they are successful. Children are now faced with much more responsibility that forces them to resemble the judgment of an adult. In addition, children receive underserved responsibilities and continual demands and pressures to ‘grow up’ and act their age when in fact children are essentially still ‘growing up’ despite finishing their education and moving on into the ‘real world’. Children are expected to act like adults and yet are condemned for mimicking and emulating adult behaviours. The perplexity of what is really expected of children only conceals the boarder between childhood and adulthood.
Children are now very capable of behaviour that is generally considered as adult routine. There are a number of cases that demonstrate the authenticity of this notion including the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado, USA, in 1999, and the case of James Bulger who was brutally murdered by two ten year old boys. These cases not only demonstrate that children are capable of what is deemed only as adult behaviour, but they illustrate the eradication of child innocence, and thus the disappearance of childhood. The very insinuation that children are capable of violence, muggings and even murder, is an idea that does not correspond with traditional formulations of childhood. The cases above are regarded as inconceivable due to their occurrence within the conceptual space of a childhood which was thought of as “innocence enshrined” (Jenks 1996). These events annihilate the former categories created between ‘child’ and ‘adult’ whereby innocence is a trait encompassed by children and “corrupting knowledge” (Jenks 1996) by adults. However, the conceptual boundaries separating childhood from adulthood have become vulnerable to attachment, diminishing the very existence of childhood.
Children are expected to behave like children and yet, when crime is involved, they are treated much like adults. When both a child and adult commit identical crimes, the child will often receive a harsher punishment. In addition, politicians such as Jim Pittis have attempted to pass certain state laws that would apply the death penalty to children as young as eleven (Henry 2000). This is a prime example of the ‘disappearing child’ and a representation of children becoming less ‘child-like’. The laws that are currently in place clearly present conflicting perceptions of childhood in society. In Scotland, a child is criminally responsible at the age of ten (Mizen 2004), whilst in Hong Kong the legal age of adulthood is twelve. The image of children painted by society contradicts the legal rights of children which creates difficulty in determining the exact period in which a child becomes an adult. Furthermore, there are a number of laws that suggest differing ages at which a child has become an adult. For example, the legal age to drink alcoholic substances is eighteen, whereas the age of consent is only sixteen. What’s more, sexuality is closely tied to ideas about reproduction and marriage which are considered adult behaviour. Conversely, at the age of sixteen many children are still regarded as a child in almost every other aspect of their life.
Children are increasingly subjected to the influence of society that exploits them through the dynamics of sexualisation and commercialisation. The culture of child beauty pageants function as a location where young girls learn about pleasure, desire, and the roles they might adopt in an adult society. These pageants play a dominant role in marketing children as objects of pleasure, desire, and sexuality – aspects generally attributed to adulthood. In addition, they create a dubious outlook on the home as a safe space for children. This is questionable as parents of ‘beauty queens’ will impose their own fantasies onto their children and in doing so will deny them of an identity suitable for a child. It is evident in this case that society participates immensely in the disappearance of the child, encouraging children to emulate adult behaviour. The pageants deprive a child of her innocence by portraying her as a sexual icon. Child innocence is masked by the sexualisation and commodification of young girls who are taught to identify themselves through the pleasures and desires of the “adult gaze” (Henry 2000).
Popular culture demonstrates a range of events similar to that of child beauty pageants, all of which work towards manipulating children, encouraging them to resemble their elders. The ambivalence surrounding childhood is illustrated in the ways in which issues of sexuality have the power to disrupt adult conceptualizations of childhood and to challenge the concept of what essentially is a child and what they can be. As a result, adults too receive a distorted image of all the elements a childhood should be composed of. This, in turn, places a large liability on the adult generation for the reasons behind children becoming less ‘child-like’.
However, the disappearance of childhood is not merely the fault of parents. The government also contributes to the situation in the restrictions placed between ‘adult space’ and ‘child space’. Children are increasingly being excluded from public spaces outside of schools and homes that gave them the opportunity to spend time with acquaintances, work with mentors, and develop their own identities. Children are being stripped of participating in ‘child-like’ activities due to the privatization of recreational spaces. There are no longer any youth centres, or play areas where children can enjoy ‘child-like’ pursuits. As a result, children are forced to participate in adult activities where they are not readily accepted. This relates to aspects of control and respect amongst adults and children. As adults are increasingly losing control over children, children’s respect for their elders is deteriorating rapidly. Matthews (2000) suggests that children today are ‘less subsumed within an adult world of discipline and control’ which is partly due to the fact that adults are more likely to recognize children as ‘able, willing and reliable contributors within their own significant social contexts’. This is significantly different from the period where children were ‘seen and not heard’. This demonstrates how childhood has evolved over time and the changes that have been made as to what is expected of a child.
The concept of childhood has not always been present and as a result, the boundary between childhood and adulthood has never really existed. This is due to constant change that has occurred between cultures, history and society, causing the margin between the two phenomenon’s to be blurred. It is apparent that children of today’s society are increasingly becoming less ‘child-like’ and this is represented by various arguments stated above. Children have lost their special qualities as vulnerable, innocent and dependent which is demonstrated in a major shift in the character of contemporary childhood that now reflects the gradual ‘disappearance of childhood’.
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