Jordan here. I've watched plenty of TV in my days, but I'm not sure if I have a favorite cartoon. I used to love cartoons; I could watch them all day long. Anything from SpongeBob to Sesame Street, I enjoyed all types of cartoons. It's weird how your perception can change. I have a younger brother who turned 8 in December, and now I hate kids cartoons. They consume him, that's all he wants to do. It’s very rare to have a family meal with the TV off, and it's slightly disturbing. It’s to a point that my parents would rather let him watch TV than put up with his complaining. It’s not only my brother; his closest friends seem to have the same problem. I’ve watched my fair share of trash, but the cartoons these days are strange, to say the least. I feel there is little to no educational value. Even worse, from what I’ve seen there’s no social benefits from most of these shows. One show in particular, Adventure Time, gets negative reviews for language and sexual humor. A kid’s show should never involve borderline language or sexual content; kids cannot distinguish what’s appropriate and what’s not.
As kids get easier access to technology, should we worry about losing our youth? It’s not always TV; video games have the same effect. Hand-held devices make it extremely easy for a kid to play anywhere they’d like. If you were raised watching TV and playing video games all the time, would you want to apply yourself in other areas? My brother struggles with effort, he’s very lazy with things that are not easy. He’s a smart 8 year old, but he always argues when it’s time for homework. What does he want to do instead? Watch TV. Play video games. Same with sports, he’s 8 years old, just less than 100 pounds and he is the tallest in his grade. He could dominate in sports, and he does, until he gets tired. He hasn’t been pushed enough as a child. Instead of watching educational shows, pro-social shows or not watching TV at all, he has been fed junk. Is there a correlation between the amount and quality of TV/video games, and your laziness in everyday life? I believe so.
I completely agree that the media and access to technology these days is going to have a huge negative impact on children's lives. Kids rarely play outside or play sports anymore; all they do is sit inside and play video games for hours on end. I remember as a kid my parents would limit the amount of tv I watched to one hour a day, which I thought was ridiculous, and the rest of my free time they made me play outside with other children. Now I'm thankful for that because I'm more social and I was not brain washed by the meaningless cartoons that are on tv. These days parents don't even care; they'll let their child watch tv all day and play video games at the dinner table just so they won't complain.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you're saying about TV and video games affects on kids and their negative effects toward physical health and wellness, however I disagree with the notion that you say technology brings a absence of youth. I think it's just a different youth. He has his own childhood, you had yours, and your parents and grandparents had theirs. It's hard to compare them because certainly your grandparents didn't have TV and video games as abundant as your little brother, but I'm sure they could be just as lazy as a kid today. Laziness should not be blamed on technology, it should be blamed on the individual, it's a choice. Although it's harder for your little brother to no be lazy with all of the TV and video games, it's still his decision. Also, if he chooses to utilize his youth playing video games and watching TV and that makes him happy, so be it.
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