Instead of Saturday morning cartoons and Raffi, children are watching MTV and pelvis thrusting to corrupt rappers’ inappropriate lyrics. That’s not to say that these children can’t pelvis thrust to Raffi, because I have seen it done before. Our generation grew up to the prime of Disney movies on VHS, watched over and over. In terms of childhoods, the years of our lives, which we experienced as children, were blissful. No technology interrupted the creativity of our imaginations. Playing in the mud, exploring forests, using our own imaginations without video games to shape our creativity. We drew with real felts and paints, not on an interactive screen. On road trips we played car games and were brutally aware of just how far we were from our destination.
The children of now are parked in front of a TV, lacking the motivation to do any sorts of physical activities of their own choosing. They spend countless hours playing virtual games, and drawing on virtual screens. On road trips they are distracted with built in movie screens in the modern-day mini-van.
With technology advancing, kindergarteners will be equipped with cell phones, and will probably sport a catchy ring tone such as “Shake that ass” or something of similar appropriateness. How young is too young for Facebook? How will parents ever be able to keep their children away from sensitive material with the internet’s accessibility becoming something preschoolers can man?
Along with this pop-culture awareness at such a young age, comes the ability to partake in the understanding of adult subjects and words. Already primary school children are swearing, and repeating phrases they heard on Family Guy. Little boys sit in front of the TV gunning each other down virtually, when in reality, none of them likely know the true power of a gun. Will these children be bringing vodka samplers in their lunch kit for a recess buzz?
The media shapes the minds and bodies of the children nowadays. Eight-year-old girls can buy bikinis with padding in them, young boys have their pants hanging halfway down their legs, make-up is a norm in elementary schools and showing skin is seen as acceptable my many young girl’s mothers. Instead of kids in comfortable play clothes, we’ll have herds of prostitots prowling the streets.
Most of this unfortunate information saddens me deeply. Instead of enjoying the golden years of their lives, children are in such a hurry to mature. My largest question is, what will the students of our generation do to keep children, children. Will our generation be the ones to say nay to the degradation of a good old fashioned childhood, or will we be the ones who perpetuate the fast forward of childhood years. I can say for myself that I can only imagine my children with a similar childhood to mine. Is there actually any way for us to advance technologically, improving our world while still keeping the innocence of our children?