The Downfall of Children’s Shows
Design pitting new and old forms of childhood entertainment ( The Puma Prensa / Bella Guerrero )
By Bella Guerrero, Staff Writer
In the past 20 years, children's television has changed drastically. With a new generation of kids, new television shows, movies, and content directed towards children are being created. But how different are kids shows now, versus how they were then? And have they gotten better or worse over time?
In recent years many kids, typically ages one to four, have taken a liking to a 2006 children's television series called CoComelon. Available to stream on Netflix, CoComelon has caught the eyes of many Gen Alpha kids due to its ability to capture and hold their attention. The show has no long term plot or storyline and is instead a collection of nursery rhymes that focus on learning and everyday activities. In hindsight, this show seems completely harmless to the undiscerning eye. But can the TV shows that our kids watch have a negative effect on them?
CoComelon contains characters and settings with overly vibrant colors, constant singing and music, and scene changes every one to three seconds. This constant stimulation and fast paced animation is what keeps these kids so entranced with this show, but it’s not very appealing to the parents who also have to engage with it. With the screen consistently changing, music always playing, and the overwhelming visuals, CoComelon is constantly giving kids a hit of dopamine. It keeps them hooked and leaves them wanting for more when it’s over, while the parents are completely unaware of how addicting this show can be for kids. If children are watching fast paced shows like these on the daily, it could lead to a short attention span, obesity, behavioral issues, and sleep irregularity. It can also decreasetheir ability to perform successfully in a school setting.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (MLP) is also a brightly colored children's show that contains musical numbers and singing, but what makes it different from Cocomelon, and how is it better in comparison?
MLP is about a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle, who is sent to a town called Ponyville by her mentor, Princess Celestia, to learn about friendship. While the show still consists of bright colors, they are not highly saturated and the songs are completely original and catchy, without being annoying. The visuals are able to be entertaining to both kids and parents, without overstimulating either audience. This aspect is what a good kids show should be based around; it should be entertaining to kids, but it shouldn’t annoy the heck out of parents.
MLP carries a storyline, great visuals, music, and also contains valuable lessons on friendship and how to be a good friend. While CoComelon can try to be educational by singing songs about colors, numbers, and shapes, their overstimulating way of going about it completely cancels out what they’re trying to teach. These kids can not focus on learning the alphabet, colors, or numbers if their brains are so hyper focused on the bright colors and constant sound effects.
Children have more to gain from watching a show like MLP, where they can learn friendship lessons, than a show like CoComelon that delivers nothing but long term negative effects while pretending to be educational. If you want to keep your child or sibling from watching overstimulating TV shows, look out for the warning signs: highly saturated colors, screen changes every one to three seconds, and constant auditory stimulation. Instead have them watch something less stimulating that is also educational like Word World, The Backyardigans, Sid the Science Kid, or Little Einsteins. The television that we allow our children to watch has a bigger effect on them than we would typically think, so it’s important that we be aware of those effects, and think carefully about the media that we choose for them to consume.