Connect and Check
Core concept Modern childhood is often described as child-centred, mediated and risk-aware, but experiences vary strongly.
- Media and consumption can expand knowledge and choice while also creating anxiety, surveillance and inequality.
- Learners link contemporary childhood to evidence, theory and careful evaluation.
Study builder
Postman
Media may reduce the boundary between childhood and adulthood by widening access to adult knowledge.
Palmer
Toxic childhood arguments link consumerism, screens and pressure to childhood difficulties.
Jenks
Childhood is surrounded by adult anxieties about risk and uncertainty.
Choose your route
Access
Access: identify claims about modern childhood.
Check: have you used one key concept accurately?
Core
Core: compare two explanations using a case.
Check: have you explained the mechanism rather than just naming it?
Stretch
Stretch: make a nuanced judgement about media, risk and inequality.
Check: have you qualified your judgement by evidence or social group?
Exam practice
Evaluate the view that modern childhood is increasingly shaped by media and consumption. [20/30-mark planning]