The future of childhood

• Postman-childhood is disappearing at a dazzling speed due to the trend of of giving children the same rights as adults, the similarities between adult and children clothes and children committing adult crime (eg-murder)
  --> this is due to the rise and fall of print culture and it's replacement with television culture

• reading creates a barrier between adults and children

• Postman-childhood emerged as a seperate status as long as mass literacy as printed word created an information hierarchy
  --> the information hierarchy gave power to adults as they were able to keep information about adult topics (eg-sex,death and violence)
  --> however tvs removed the information hierarchy as it does not require any special skill in order to access it so children can learn about adult topics easily which replaced children's innocence with knowledge

• Opie-childhood is not disappearing based on a lifetime of research there is strong evidence of continued existence of separate children’s culture

• over emphasis on one cause (tv) at the expense of other factors that influence the development of children

• shows how different types of communication technology influences how childhood is constructed

• Jenkins-childhood isn't disappearing but is changing
  --> modern society was obsessed with futurity as childhood was seen as preparing the child to be a productive adult in the future by making children need to be nurtured, protected and controlled especially in child centred families and using the education system which imposed discipline and conformity on children
  --> in modern society relationships were more stable but as we move to postmodernism relationships become more unstable due to relationships speeding up (instability leads to increased in divorce)
  --> postmodernism generates a feeling of insecurity as relationships with children become more important as a source of adult's identity and stability as marriages csn end in divorce but you will always be an adult
  --> children become an adult's last refuge from the uncertainty of life causing parents to be more fearful for their children's safety and become more preoccupied protecting them which strengthens the view that children are vulnerable and in need of protection

• some evidence that parents see their children are more important then their partners and that they are concerned for their safety but it's from small and unrepresentative studies

• overgeneralise as it acts as if all children are in the same in the position despite growth in family diversity