Is Modern Society Ruining Childhood? If a carefree childhood is
a goal, Western society seems to be failing miserably. And the
media isn't helping, some suggest. A trio of new surveys
indicates kids are worried about modern problems and fearing
things that weren't even in youngsters' vocabularies in
generations past. And an alarming number appear to be bored to
death. A survey of 500 U.S. children aged 6 to 11 found that
one-third fear Earth won't exist when they grow up. And 56
percent believe the planet will not be as good a place to live.
(The truth: Earth may indeed become less hospitable in the next
few decades as the climate warms and seas rise, but barring a
surprise cosmic catastrophe —with odds that are astronomically
long — the planet will be around for a few billion years. Feel
free to share that with your kids.) The study was conducted by
Opinion Research for Habitat Heroes, an environmental charity,
and a report on it by Treehugger.com has been widely cited. It
should be noted that the findings s