How Does Childhood "Disappear" in the Algorithmic Age? ——The Ontological Poverty of Childhood and Ethical Intervention

The "disappearance of childhood" in the algorithmic age does not only refer to the cross-age flow of information in Neil Postman's book, but refers to an algorithm-based systematic shift of the child as the existential anchor of Dasein. This paper constructs an analytical framework from the three-dimensional structure of "space–time–intersubjectivity", and examines how the algorithm squeezes children's existence at the three levels of cognition, action and being. In space, the cognitive justice of childhood is deprived, the pure land of information is replaced by traffic logic, and the information environment cannot be controlled by the child itself and thus loses power; in time, the natural duration of growth is compressed into stress reactions, socialization experiences are replaced by traffic-chasing herd behavior lacking truthful experience, and the child cannot control its own growth pace and falls into incapacity; in intersubjectivity, real Others are replaced by data mirrors, the ontological basis of empathy and cooperation is hollowed out, and the information and interaction ecosphere in which childhood is situated becomes distorted. It can be seen that the disappearance of childhood is a kind of ontological poverty in cognition, in initiative and in the confirmation of existence. In response to the three-dimensional predicament, this paper proposes the path of "cognitive repair—time sovereignty—the return of the Other", aiming to rebuild for children a sovereign existential space in the algorithmic world.