Suchergebnisse

In reflecting on categories of childhood, youth and adolescence, this article challenges the emphasis on linearity that often emerges within and between these representations of different life stages. It is argued that the focus on the linear dimension of children's lives can act to hide some of the more vital, nonlinear and situated aspects of children's becoming. In a context where children will inevitably be required to navigate increasingly complex local/global tensions and uncertainties, a shift towards the nonlinear can help us to better understand ways of living with/in this world that are both responsive and attentive. Through this, it is possible to see why these nonlinear dimensions of becoming hold a transformative potential; one that can help overcome the inertia that ironically arises within the frenetic pace often associated with contemporary childhoods.

Children are at the forefront of the rapidly changing technological landscape, living in a world where both physical and virtual spaces are an intertwined part of daily experience. As an example of a child's changing relationship with new technologies, this article explores the increasing presence of surveillance technologies in the day-to-day spaces children inhabit. It suggests that childhood experience needs to be understood in the context of fluid and interdependent relations with others and the worlds around them, including their relationships with new technologies in the surrounding environment. At the same time, it is important to retain a view of the child that is more complex than what is simply gleaned through their relationship with new technologies, even as this becomes a prominent mode of interaction with others and the world around them.