The Disappearance of Childhood – Neil Postman
In his “The Disappearance of Childhood” Neil postman distinguishes
three periods in human history when it comes to childhood.
1. Pre-childhood phase - the Middle Ages. There was no
concept of childhood, the child was a small adult, a full partner in rights and
duties, and in terms of knowledge there was no difference between adults and
children.
2. The childhood stage - the age of printing. Thanks to the
pattern, an understanding is needed, literacy is needed, a partition is created
between children and adults - adults know literacy and children do not know and
they depend on parental mediation, there is authority between parent and child,
the child needs the parent to read the book. This is the ideal period according
to Postman.
3. The stage of childhood loss - TV - As a result of its
visual nature, television is accessible to everyone - a child and an elderly
person equally, it does not require control of a particular code. In this age,
according to Postman, we lose innocence and childhood - children grow up very
quickly, parents and teachers lose their authority. Creates maturation very
fast - the child matures very quickly and the parents try to stay young
forever, blurring the distinction between the adult and the child. This is manifested
in many areas: clothing, violence, rape culture, phenomena that have been
prominent in recent years and according to Postman it is created because
television becomes a socializing agent more and more affects children - they
want to look like they are shown on TV In fact, in the war of company agents in
front of the media. With the book the situation is different - because if a
child wants to be exposed to a certain book that is problematic in terms of
content - it is more limited - you have to buy it Of medium-level and
content-level television.
And if Postman’s “The Disappearance of Childhood” was written
in 1982, imagine what he would say in its 2022 updated digital age version?
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