Adult and Children Essay examples

Submitted By jayprim291
Words: 2446
Pages: 10

Children: An Endangered Species

Children of today are growing up in a society that is vastly different from the world their parents and predecessors were raised and matured in. Through the course of the years the definition and dynamic of a family has changed significantly; in this day and age women are no longer expected to merely be housewives and mothers, and men are no longer envisaged as the sole breadwinners of the family. With changing family dynamics and countless innovations that have been developed that were originally conceptualized to make our lives easier comes a price to be paid, and at the expense of our children’s youth, trust, and innocence. As time and technology have progressed the goals we strive to achieve and our expectations of what life should be like has also evolved and adapted; this evolvement has not necessarily been beneficial for everyone. Throughout history, as advancements are made we start to require and demand more out of life to meet our basic needs. We also expect more out of our children and are forcing them to grow at a pace that might not be the most suitable for them to thrive and flourish. We no longer view children as little humans that need nurturing and guidance to help them prosper, we view them as little adults who have obligations and objectives that must be met by a certain time in order to be considered fitting in today’s society. We no longer judge our children’s success according to their personal growth and development, but rather they are judged according to the standards that are set for them by others and their scores on standardized tests. We have allowed quantitative standards to become the principal definition of our children’s worth. “To see children as assets or investments is calculating enough, but it is clear that plenty of parents-to-be see them in less favorable terms: as burdens, risks, and liabilities” (13). Children are no longer being viewed with the prospect that they could potentially have the ability to bring great change to the world, rather now we expect conformity from them. Children must never deviate from the plan that’s laid out for them; they must meet irrelevant standards in order to be considered successful by our current society’s specifications. Due to our dependence on technology and media for entertainment and teaching, the lack of attention being given, and our high expectations that are placed, we are forcing our children into an early adulthood that they aren’t properly prepared for. There are numerous different facets of technology present today that surround the children of this generation. This abundance of technology and media has consequently caused children to learn and develop in a way that would be difficult for their parents to truly comprehend. Information received from television does not require verbal encoding or decoding to expand our experiences and also tends to capture the undivided attention of a child every time it’s turned on, for as long as it’s on. With the advent of television most homes were lucky just to have one set in their living room; the original conceptualization was regarded as a means to bring the whole family together every evening. Televisions are very accessible to children in today’s world with them being found in practically every room of the house, even being a feature of many “family” cars. They have evolved from being a source of family togetherness and have become a medium for seclusion and a major factor that drives families apart. Children’ rooms and lives are now cluttered with all different forms of technology, from cell phones, computers, and tablets amongst many other forms of technological distractions. With this exorbitant amount of access children now have to media it can hurry them into witnessing terrifying events never before witnessed by this age group. “Children today are exposed to a steady barrage of images and expressions whose combined effect may be far greater than that of