Cultural industry, childhood and play in times of technology

Abstract

This paper aims at discussing the technological child play and the influence of the Cultural Industry in instilling unrestrained consumption desires, to think of other forms of play that are not only linked to consumption. These reflections arose from the activities related to the Postgraduate Program - Doctorate in Education of the State University of Londrina and participation in the Study and Research Group on Education, Childhood and Critical Theory of the respective university. The methodology was based on a bibliographic study through the edges of Frankfurt School philosophers Theodor Adorno (1995), Max Horkheimer (1995), Walter Benjamin (2009) and contemporary authors who dialogue with the topic being addressed. We found that, with the advances of modernity and commercialization, there was a loss of the uniqueness of the toy, which began to bear the marks of capitalism and with a fetishistic character in managing children's play. With this, we do not propose a return to the time that has passed, but we draw attention to responsibility as a society for the human formation we are giving to our children before the traps of a world fascinated by technology.