This cartoon also utilizes the children to count and remember things in interact with it. In today’s society there are both educational cartoons and educational programs that are now widely available on television for children. These differ from other programs on television today because there are strict guidelines for learning. While there are many different ways for children to learn and the television can become another resourceful tool for everyone to utilize. Some parents do not realize that when they are allowing their children to sit down and watch television for hours on end that there could be a show that is educational and will help to fill the child’s mind with knowledge and not pollution.
So goes the sayings “the key to life is moderation”, “variety is the spice of life”. A great deal is known about children and television, because there have been thousands of studies on the subject. Researchers have studied how TV affects kids' sleep, weight, grades, behavior, and more. It’s worth looking at what the research says when deciding how to manage television in your family. We do know that time spent watching TV replaces time spent interacting with caregivers and other children.
Positives with the Internet and Growing Up The youth generation today uses the internet so much in their daily lives it has created an epidemic. The epidemic caused uproar of different ways of learning, communicating, teaching and even shopping or advertising done online. Technologies such as ipad, laptops and smart phones make internet access unbelievably easy. Since it is so easy, “Growing up Online”, a document by Frontline that aired on Januarary 18, 2008, claimed that the internet has caused many issues in the youth’s lives. One problem the internet caused stated in the documentary is, it is very hard for parents and authorities to regulate what kids do on the computer.
Sue Palmer is another sociologist that believes the increasing impact of technology and the media over the past 50 years is causing childhood to deteriorate. Palmer argues that in modern society there is a ‘toxic childhood’ due to an excessively screen-based culture which she feels is why there has been an increase in developmental conditions in children. She has reasons for some of these conditions, for example ADHD could be caused to screen saturation as the rapid changes of images on TV can make an immature brain go into overdrive resulting in the child seeing real life as boring. Palmer also believes the increase in screen-based activities has made it more difficult for children to develop literacy skills. Also Palmer
Consuming Kids. After watching “Consuming Kids,” and hearing the various insights of many industry professionals, it is no doubt in my mind that mass media creates a social reality, and a backwards one. This commercialization of childhood is a lot more than selling just products and services, it’s a society issue which has direct impacts on human development and relationship. This commercialization of childhood involves marketers and advertisers doing everything they can to influence the 52 million kids under 12 that hold a buying power totaling $42 billion dollars a year. The mass media aims and is successful in getting a brand in front of a child’s face 24-7, whether it be through brand licensing, product placement, viral marketing internet, videogames or many other ways.
Kids and Education John Taylor Gatto states his thesis “Why Schools Don’t Educates” that two institutions control children’s lives: Television and school. The reader must accept that no fact for the balance of the article to make sense. One has to agree that pressure and parental guidance are of minor influence. However, assuming that the massive amount of time he claims is spent watching television is correct, it quickly becomes clear that the place to begin to help a child grow intellectually would be to severely limit the fantasy world of television. Fifty six hours a week is amazing.
Be Supportive: When we least expect it, children are listening. Whether they seem mesmerized or distracted by the television, their iPods, or their cell phones our words, both positive and negative, stick. They will begin to model or try to become what they think you think of them. If your consistent message is "you are overweight and all you do is sit in front of the TV all day", then that is what they will eventually emulate. Positive reinforcement like, "You looked so fast running from the school bus to the front door today.
Childhood and Consumerism The essay title that I have chosen to write about under the title of ‘making the familiar strange’ is Childhood and Consumerism. One concept that is greatly important within this topic is “Consumer Capitalism”. This relates to the huge desire and ‘need’ that consumers have to have the latest gadgets, fashions, technologies among others. This desire is becoming more and more of a norm and has, within the last decade or so, become almost ‘expected’ rather than objectionable. Children as consumers is a topic that has always been controversial and has become even more so over time with influences such as the media and celebrities having a huge impact on these young children and what they are buying or wanting to buy.
Children today don’t get enough exercise. Pastime used to include many different ways a child got their daily exercise. Today’s children exercise is their fingers typing on a computer or cell phone or using a game control or television remote. Other than that if they didn’t have to walk around their school, they would be lucky to get ½ hour of exercise. Having all these electronic gadgets are fine but we need to as parents, get our children back outside getting exercise like children in the past used too.
Parents worry more and become overly protective over their children. Having parents that are over protective have children stay inside which leads to being on their computer with their social media, online gaming or whatever they may be doing on the computer. Many youths in America are so obsessed with what people think about them on their social media account that they will post pictures of what people would like just so they can get many likes. Others will even add people that they do not know on their social media account just