The Disappearance of Childhood (Paperback)

by Neil Postman (Author) "As I write, twelve- and thirteen-year-old girls are among the highest-paid models in America..." (more)
Key Phrases: craft literacy, social literacy, electric media, Middle Ages, Moral Majority, New Mexico (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The author of Technopoly examines the embattled nature of childhood in contemporary American culture.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher
"Postman persuasively mobilizes the insights of psychology, history, semantics, McLuhanology, and common sense on behalf of his astonishing and original thesis."
--Victor Navasky

Product Details

• Paperback: 177 pages
• Publisher: Vintage/Random House; Reissue. edition (August 2, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679751661
• ISBN-13: 978-0679751663
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #75,880 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #5 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Communication > Contemporary Issues
  #24 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Sociology > Children
  #34 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Children's Studies

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wow! If Postman is correct, we should all be concerned!, January 18, 1999

By A Customer

Based upon Postman's description of childhood and the reason for its being, our society may be in jeopardy of losing this long-standing concept. Postman says that childhood came into existence about the time of the printing press; it arose out of a need to become a literate society in which adults controlled the information that children could access. Children had to learn to read so they could gain this information. Thus, schools were necessary. Furthermore, the adults' control of the information established a gap between adulthood and childhood. Adults could provide information to children when they deemed it was appropriate to do so. With the growth of electonic media and the move into the information age, adults have somewhat lost their control over the information; consequently, the gap between adulthood and childhood has been narrowed. Children are exposed to those"adult" ideas and thoughts sooner now because of their access to the information, i.e. consider today's television programs as just one example. Postman even contends that adults are more "child-like" in some ways; he give examples of the lack of distinction between clothing and language for adults and children. Perhaps a bit unfairly, Postman blames many of the less than positive changes in today's society on the media. However, this is a great read and provides a lot of "food for thought." The historical perspective that Postman provides on the "invention" of childhod is fascinating. His tracing of the developments growing out of the information age are logical and make a lot of sense. While he raises our concerns, Postman offers no real solutions to the problems.

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great information, not-so-great argument., August 30, 2003

By A Customer

I must disagree with Postman that childhood is not a biological reality. I would be very inclined to agree, if he gave some evidence for that statement. Though, childhood may be also a social construction, as well as a biological one.

This book basically says that everyone acted the same until the printing press came along. This medium created a society where you had adults that could access information via reading, whereas kids really couldn't (not like adults anyway). Hence, we now have a separation between the people that read (adults) and the ones that don't (children). As time went on, adults' books were complicated and had things forbidden to children in them. Children's books were simple and well constructed for their age. People then started seeing children as qualitatively different from themselves; they made special laws and special clothes for children.

However, that changed with TV. Now what adults know, children also know. There is no hiding any adult type information from children (like sex), because of the ease of accessing T.V. Furthermore, unlike books, you don't need to acquire a skill to access information via TV (like being able to read). Since most people aren't blind, the 6-year-old is similar to the 60-year-old now in accessing information. Consequently, we see the disappearance of childhood. (He offers a range of proofs on how childhood is indeed changing.)

Personally, I agree with the thesis, but believe the way it was derived, was weak. However, there is a lot of information to be learned by reading this. It is also a fun book to read. That is why I give it four stars.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vale Neil Postman - Your Books Will Always Provoke, January 7, 2004

By	Daniel Dennis (Brisbane, Queensland Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When browsing for other items I saw by happy accident that this book is still available. It's a pleasure to recommend this brilliant piece of argument - that the postmodern world of hyper-communication has erased the passage of development we have hitherto called childhood and replaced the child with the little adult, with access to all the "secrets" of sexuality, risk and pleasurethat once were revealed in a series of steps over time as the young grew to maturity. Postman's message, that technology has not liberated but infantalized society, puts a frame around modern problems of education, child-raising, and loss of meaning. Whatever you make of this book you will not be neutral. It's a superb polemic, and one of my favourite books. Unreservedly recommended to everyone contemplating the raging "culture wars" with confusion.