Ellen Goodman Family Counterculture Analysis

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Do you think today’s culture has produced “an increasingly hostile environment”? If so, you concur with Ellen Goodman, the author of Family Counterculture. In Goodman’s literary piece, she urges parents to “counter the culture” because prevailing cultural norms are taking young children by storm, and not in a positive way. Goodman focuses on subtle ways in which the media influences children; one being food. However, I will discuss the more popular, yet unfortunate ways in which social media negatively influences children of this generation. Today’s children are no strangers to social media. Most social media platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook requires everyone to be at least 13 years or older before creating an account. However, there are many children below the age of 13 that change their birth year in order to successfully create an account. Thus, being exposed to the world of social media at such a young age can open a ‘can of worms’ called insecurity. Insecurities can immensely change the way a child views his or her abilities, appearance, and personality. According to the National Eating Disorder Association website, 47% of elementary school girls said …show more content…

Young children along with adults use the Internet as a doorway to push around or intimidate someone else of a different race, gender, sexual orientation, and religion or even sometimes for an unknown reason. According to DoSomething.org, approximately 43% of kids have been bullied online and nearly 75% of students admit they have used the Internet as a way to bash another student. One of the most horrific ways children deal with cyber bullying is by taking their own life. Hundreds of families each year loses their younger son, daughter, brother, sister, cousin, niece, nephew or dear friend because of the malicious, yet often disingenuous regretted words typed by

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