On the Commodification of Childhood
Josiah Rogers
The commodification of childhood is no new occurrence.
In days gone by, childhood was commodified through various goods, such as toys and candies, and through media, such as radio programs and television shows. This comparatively benign consumerism is still alive and well - and a quick look through online message boards show its older iterations now serve as fuel for warm nostalgia (author included.) Commodification only reached as far as products to be sold or media to be consumed; most people, and certainly almost all children, existed comfortably out of the crosshairs of productification for the past two hundred or so years of modern capitalism’s existence.
This all changed with the dawn of social media. What do tech giants have to gain from spending millions on maintaining a free service? Capitalism demands a product to be sold. So logically, what is left to commodify?
You. From selling data to help advertisers target the most malleable, to now even the commodification of living.
It is no coincidence that “lifestyle products'' grew in popularity and presence alongside social media. Social media is not only selling your data (which, although very concerning in its own right, is beyond the scope of this essay,) but it’s also selling you a lifestyle. To be an influencer is to commodify one's own lifestyle. It demands constant curation and product placement; experience reduced to a mere sales pitch. And even scarier, rather than just adults who are making a conscious (or less than conscious) decision to commodify themselves, children are now having that decision made for them.
This spells a grim future for future generations. To literally be born into productification, to have one’s first moments livestreamed to sell cruise tickets. The nature of capitalism is colonialism. It demands constant expansion; of territory, consumption, and profit margins. And finally it seems, capitalism has found the technology not only to colonize continents, but every living, breathing moment we experience as humans.
This essay was a response to this article by the New York Times.