Leo Morales

Laura Gatzkiewicz

LENG-111-37 Intro to College Writing

October 8, 2019

Adult-child

Many people would agree that in the time we live in there are at least 4 (maybe 5)

stages of life that everyone experiences; Infancy, childhood/adolescents, adulthood, and

elderhood. During the first few years of life, an infant attempts to make sense of his

environment and understand his own body and how it interacts with the world. Infancy than

turns into childhood, where the now child begins trying to understand not just what he sees,

but what he must do. Although many people would consider adolescents its own stage of life,

we shall combine it with childhood because it is very similar, the only difference is adolescents

begin developing their own ideas about what they see. This leads to adulthood. By adulthood,

people should have the skills and understanding to make their own rational decisions about

their lives and the world around them. Finally, in elderhood, people have reached a point

where they have been through so many situations, they now possess knowledge on a plethora

of topics.

Although these stages of life are recognized by many people in the modern society, one

man disagrees and decided to write a book about it. In 1994, Vintage Books published a book

by Neil Postman titled, The Disappearance of Childhood. In this book, Postman argues the line

between being an adult and a child has blurred and become one stage of life he calls, adult-

child. He blames this trend on the lack of literature in our culture due to advancement in

technology such as the home television. He claims television has destroyed adulthood and
caused many adults to make decisions similar to the way a child does; without question to why

or how.

In the middle ages, children were considered adults early into the second decade of

their life due to a lack of literacy. An adult of the middle ages did not need to be completely

capable of forming their own, individual opinions. A literate community, on the other hand, is

able to learn to process what they hear for themselves and make their own judgements on

what they read and hear. Postman claims televisions has created a culture similar to that of the

middle ages because the television discourages reading and does the thinking for the audience.

He then gives examples of how commercials and news stories all work to make the audience

believe something without second guessing it. And after many years, the audience have lost the

ability to create their own ideas.

Although Postman makes valid points about how the advancements in our culture has

created a shift in many people’s ways of thinking, his arguments ultimately come short. His

personal bias fuel his obvious hatred of the direction of the media and it creates a clouded

judgement over himself.

Postman mentions early in his essay that there is not as much literacy in the modern

society, and this is undeniable true. Thousands of studies have shown a decrease in Americans

reading books. However, it does not take a scientist to recognize this. Any average person can

see the declining number of book stores or the fact that no one is actively engaged in

conversations about books. Instead people conversate about the newest television series or

movie franchise.
 Yet despite the lack of reading, in many ways technology has promoted reading

for many. For example, the number of films or series that have been based off a novel

have encouraged many people to purchase a copy of that novel. And read it for

themselves. Many people also read the latest news or their favorite articles right from

the palm of their hands.

Postman claims that modern technology has caused people to stop reading yet

there are popular programs on television like Sesame Street that encourage young

children to begin reading. Surely, Postman is familiar with Sesame Street, yet his

emotions block him from recognizing it. He feels too emotionally against technology,

which is ironic because his other point in his essay was about just that.

Postman also states that the ways television news and commercials have caused

viewers to react based on the initial emotions rather than thinking logically about the

subject. He argues that the news is so fast paced that people do not have the

opportunity to make their own opinions about the subject and only follow what us

being told to them. Furthermore, commercials claim that their product is the best and

repeat that until it is engraved into their audiences mind. It is repeated so much, the

viewers no longer form their own opinions about what it is said and simply believe what

is told to them.

However, this is not any different than any other time period in history. Humans

have always been driven by their emotions. Although we are rational beings, people

tend to panic when emotions strike and react without completely thinking about the

outcome. Many wars have begun because people were too emotionally connected to

their countries. The statement that people have become more emotional due to
technology is redundant and can only be stated by someone who has not carefully

looked into the history of humankind.

Postman claims that the direction of our culture was going downhill, yet he

made this claim before one of the greatest shifts in culture had happened yet: the

introduction to the internet and social media. I believe social media has furthermore

encouraged people to read and use their literature skills.

If Postman saw today’s society, would he still think it was headed down the same

path or perhaps he would be able to recognize the literature in our community?