I'm going to attempt this... but I might have to do it in several parts, because I don't feel like writing a book right now. Besides, Neil Postman has already done it. So if you want to understand where I'm going to, read the following books and see the connections:
*** Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
*** The Disappearance of Childhood, also by Neil Postman
*** Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
*** Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (or at least "The Pedestrian", a short story of the same theme)
*** Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss.
Basically, I want to summarize Postman's ideas, apply them to the 21st century, to my daily experiences, and to link them to other ideas from the books above.
The core idea is that Childhood, as defined by Postman, is disappearing, More importantly, however, is the idea that Adulthood, as defined, is also vanishing, merging into one group of people. This is happening because the way that we communicate with each other has changed significantly since the beginning of the 20th century, and is continuing to change today. In short, Childhood cannot survive in a world of Reality TV, the Internet, and constant bombardment of information through electronic means. Hopefully I won't be too wordy.
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