There is nothing I love more than coming across Instagram posts that refer to a much simpler time in all of our lives—childhood. I remember growing up during a time of classic Nickelodeon and Disney shows (with boppin' theme songs), Disney original movies, the Disney Channel Games (I was a major blue team fan except for that one time when Nick Jonas was on the red team), push pops, skip-it, silly bandz, and of course MTV (when they actually played music).

As I observe the world in which we live in today, it is safe to say that childhood is losing its essence as new forms of technology and communication emerge and pressures to keep up with the ever-changing trends of our society heighten.

I have had the good fortune of growing up without the distraction of technology. I rarely stayed indoors and was in constant human interaction with others. Stemming from this upbringing, I have developed meaningful relationships with people, created invaluable memories and experiences and have learned so much about myself.

It seems as if our youth have skipped the stage of childhood straight into maturity and this could, in large extent, be credited to media. The media plays a huge role in shaping the attitudes and values of young children, particularly those between the ages of 8-12.

There is so much accessible exposure to different kinds of content on television, social media, the Internet, music and magazines, and this is influencing the way children think and act. As people with still malleable minds and perceptions, children will more often than not imitate that which they see and those that they look up to, especially celebrities.

I am seeing a lot more 12-13-year-olds wearing excessive makeup as a way to make themselves appear more mature. This is not to say wearing makeup is a bad thing, but wearing too much of it due to the pressure of being and appearing "grown-up" is unacceptable. Kids at that age should not be worrying about how mature they present themselves to be; they should be enjoying life's simple pleasures, learning more about themselves, their interests, and building relationships with others in a genuine way.

This culture of superficiality and maturity is a contributing factor to the social issues that our youth is facing such as cyber-bullying, depression, low self-esteem, and substance abuse. As times become more advanced and progressive, there is a higher degree of competition among people, even children. There is a lot of emphasis placed on doing well in life and striving to be the best. For kids, that means attaining academic and extracurricular excellence. With this way of thinking about the world, kids will start to place more importance on winning than learning. The only focus would be to outscore their competitors instead of being eager to try something new and expanding their horizons while having fun and making friends in the process. This kind of pressure erases the purity, innocence, and freedom of childhood.