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Feb 27

Justice Sonia Sotomayor Appears on Sesame Street

Before the lecture, I had no idea that Sesame Street’s purpose was to help disadvantaged children and foster diversity.  After the lecture, however, it started making sense.  I noticed in retrospect that there was more diversity on Sesame Street than I was used to seeing on television at the time. <a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-mcelroy/justice-sotomayor-sesame-street_b_1288984.html“>Huffington Post</a> recently had a news story on its website’s “Parents” section that highlighted Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s guest appearance on the show recently. The episode actually aired “two weeks ago” at the time of the publishing of the article, which was February 20, 2012.  In the episode, Justice Sotomayor came in to settle a dispute between Baby Bear and Goldilocks.  Justice Sotomayor had to rule on whether Goldilocks should have to fix Baby Bear’s chair, which was broken when she snuck into the three bears’ home. She also answered questions from the muppet characters about what a Justice does, and why there are rules in the first place.  She also had a chat in Spanish with Maria over coffee. I thought it was interesting that the Sesame Street writers were able to incorporate that kind of diversity, language and teach the children about how the Judicial system of the United States government works. After discussing the complaints against Sesame Street, it was very interesting to see how the minds behind the show are taking steps to make sure all of these areas are properly covered. On another level, it also shows children that the Supreme Court Justices are not superhuman, and in many ways, live very normal lives.

 

Sesame Street: Sonia Sotomayor: “The Justice Hears a Case.”

Feb 27

Technology: Society’s Youngest Handicap

A button on Barbie Photo Fashion's belt is pressed to take a picture that appears on her shirt, which can then be downloaded to a computer.

The New York Times article “Go Directly, Digitally to Jail? Classic Toys Learn New Clicks” by Stephanie Clifford follows the progression of what used to be simple toys, and their journey through the technologically enhanced world.

Following the American timeline through today, parents have been put under increased pressure to keep their children entertained and therefore “entertainment standards went up accordingly.” (Stearns 5) Toy companies have taken advantage of the technology boom and created a world where “Kids like to play with the gadgets that they see their parents using” according to John Alteio, director of toys and games for Amazon. Toy manufacturers are aware that kids will inevitably be playing with technology and have decided their “job is to not necessarily avoid that, but if you can’t fix it, feature it.”

Barbie Dolls used to “represent a free-spirited teenager, she enticed girls to emulate her style,” (Chudacoff 173) but has evolved into a doll (if you can even call her that) with less meaning and more function. One of the newest Barbie “Dolls” Clifford describes has “a lens in her back; children point the doll at an image, and press a button on Barbie’s belt to take a photo. The image then appears on the front of Barbie’s T-shirt.”

Typically games like Monopoly that were usually played without technology are now played on iPads. Technology has transformed the world of games that previously existed. However now a different phenomenon has emerged. The technology-based game comes first and stuffed animals follow – a different nontraditional way to make even more money.  Clifford sites the “Moshi Monsters, which started out as an online-only game, started selling plush toys.”

“Low-income families were unlikely to have downloaded apps for their children’s toys, for instance, which many of the new toys require,” according to the Common Sense Study. The iPhone and its apps have become the new version of the American Girl series. An American Girl “combination of doll, book and accessories for just one character sold from around $100.” (Chudacoff 185) Both examples are pointing to the inevitable truth that entertaining children to such an extent will only increase the material gap between children.

Julia Johnson argues that “You definitely lose out not having board games be the way they used to…” I would argue that just because it is different isn’t necessarily bad, however toys such as Barbie has lost its original intent and devices like the iPhone are creating a separated society, starting at a very young age.

Feb 27

The Oscars

The Academy Awards were last night and the results were nothing short of exciting.  For the first time since 1929 a silent film won best picture.  The Artist took the film world by a storm this year, and rightfully so.   For those of you who have never seen a silent film, this is a perfect place to start.  The Artist takes us back to the beginning of Hollywood and the transition from silent films to talkies.  Sure sometimes we just want to watch robots beat the hell out of each other, but The Artist brings us back to why we fell in love with movies in the first place.  It is truly a work of art that has sadly been forsaken by the society that we live in today.  Martin Scorsese’s film Hugo also deals with this time period.   Taking a break from his traditional gangster films, Marty took us on a journey to Paris.  Hugo is a film about George Milies, who was a wonderful director, filmmaker, and visionary.   It was through this wonderful film that Marty reignited “movie magic” which has been lost for sometime now.    These two films made a huge, and significant, impact on the film industry this year.  The Artist left an impact on the Academy Awards winning three of the top awards which were best picture, best leading male actor, and best director.  Michel Hazanavicius, the director of The Artist, actually beat Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen for this award.  So hopefully the film industry will stop remaking movies from the 80’s and start making genuine films.

Feb 27

Time Killer

Prior to my early teens, I eagerly used my after-school hours to get my daily fix of an Japanese anime TV show known as Dragon Ball Z.  The show consisted of a team of flying muscular martial arts masters defending the earth from all-powerful, usually extraterrestrial threats.  At the beginning of each season, a  super powerful bad guy would show up and start wreaking havoc on fictional earthling cities.  The Z-Fighters, the team of muscular martial arts masters mentioned earlier, move in to kick some evil butt, only to find their new foe too powerful to overcome.  After suffering a number of casualties, the Z-Fighters retreat, train until they reach a new level of strength and speed, and take on the bad guy once more (said bad guy was killing countless innocents while these training sessions were in progress).  There is always a small amount of blood, a moderate amount of fists punching holes into stomachs, and an extreme amount of taunting, threatening, stare-downs, explosions that last for forty-five seconds, and emotional outbursts that serve as indicators that someone is about the get the snot beaten out of them.Of course, after much struggle and determination, the bad guy is annihilated without a trace and the Z-Fighters save the earth once more.

This is not only funny because this synopsis applies to every single season of Dragon Ball Z, but also because the makers of this mindless cartoon always managed make each season about one-hundred episodes in length (each episode being about twenty minutes long).  With such a simple story line, editors were forced to insert countless fillers, which are scenes, episodes, sometimes even characters added for the sole purpose of using up time (i.e. before a fight, two characters will stare at and taunt each other, only allowing enough episode time for only one or two rounds of high-octane brawling).

Protagonist Goku vs. Villain Frieza. They stare at each other before they fight, which kills about seven minutes in each episode.

These fillers occurred so often that the average viewer, an eight year old boy with an overactive imagination, did not realize that time he will never have again was being flushed down the toilet.  This show pertains to our class discussions about television and the effects of its availability to children nowadays.  But unlike the argument derived from our discussion asserting that television can act as a pacifier for the  children of busy parents, I will assert that specific television programs, like Dragon Ball Z, only appear to pacify children while in reality are stealing from them.  Time is the very essence of life, and when children spend about three-fourths of their pre-teens watching a show that wastes time on purpose, pacification should be the last concern of parents.  Some parents just choose any binky and shove it in their child’s mouth, mistaking silence for good parenting.  If a mother truly wants her child to live a rich and fulfilling young life, she must actively engage in everything their child indulges in.  I say this because my familiarity with time killers.  Shows like Dragon Ball Z might seem extremely stimulating if the only thing being observed is a child’s ecstatic reaction to them, but in reality, no lessons are learned, good unrealistically triumphs over evil, and time that could have been spent reading or running is wasted.

Feb 27

Babies and TV

Einstein Baby from mymommatoldme.com

In an article on the TLC website titled, “Is it OK for Babies to Watch TV?” contributing writer Jacob Silverman discusses the negative effects that TV watching has on babies. In the article Silverman addresses several studies which found positive correlations between time spent watching TV and difficulty reading. From these studies, many psychologists and educators have recommended that parents limit their children’s TV consumption. But what about TV programs that claim to be educational for children? Silverman says that studies have been released that show programs like “Baby Einstein” may actually hinder child development. While these programs are very popular, they mostly contain rapidly moving images to attract babies’ attention, rather than active dialogue. Parents think that because shows like “Baby Einstein” are supposed to be educational, it makes it more okay for them to use the TV as a kind of babysitter while they are doing chores around the house and can’t devote their full attention to their baby. This poses a problem because of the sensitivity of babies’ brain development before the age of 2. During this time babies are forming important neural connections and the best way to do this is by providing interactive stimulation, which most programs claiming to be educational fail to do. In one study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, vocabulary development of babies 8-16 months old was studied as a function of watching programs like “Baby Einstein.” It was found that for every hour a day that a child watched these programs, they knew six to eight fewer words compared to children of the same age who did not watch them. Studies suggest that the best way to encourage proper brain development among children is to have parents interact with them and if parents do allow babies to watch TV than it is best to watch with them and provide explanations for the content.

Silverman’s critique of “educational” programing is relatable to the veldt in Ray Bradbury’s story “The Veldt” because the parents in “The Veldt” thought that by providing their children with this new technology they were helping to entertain them and enhance their lives, when in reality the veldt was detrimental to their well being and inhibited interaction between them and their parents. While programs like “Baby Einstein” are not as crazy as the veldt, they do make parents think they have the benefit of educating children while keeping them busy. Overall it seems the most important way to influence children’s well being is by providing them with personal interactions. Also “The Veldt” and Silverman’s article show that it is important to know the real costs and benefits of programs that may be sold as beneficial to children but in reality are not.

Feb 27

Nintendo Lazii

In an article originally appearing on HealthDay, Mary Marcus describes a surprising study on the Nintendo Wii and the effects it has on children being active. Despite the Nintendo Wii commonly being thought of as a healthy alternative to child video gaming, the study conducted by Dr. Tom Baranowski suggests this may not be the case.

Conducted by Dr. Baranowski of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, the study tracked the daily movements of 78 children who were given Nintendo Wiis by having them wear motion detector belts. Half of the children chose an “active” game, one that simulated dancing, boxing, etc., and the other half picked from “inactive” games, like Mario Kart Wii. After six weeks, the children were allowed to select a new game.

Dr. Baranowski expected that there would be an increase in physical activity from the children who were playing the “active” games at the beginning of the study, and then again at the midway point when the children were given a new game to play. But in contrast to his hyptothesis, Dr. Baranowski found, “there was no difference in the level of the activity between the treatment and control groups. What we detected at baseline, before playing active video games, was exactly the same in weeks one, six, seven and 12.” The results led the authors of the study to the conclusion that either the children were not playing the “active” games at the anticipated intensity level, or the children were compensating their expended energy by being less active throughout the day.

I believe that the findings of this study contradict the image of the Wii which Nintendo has created, one of fostering healthy and physically fit video game play for children. This puts the Wii in violation of the self-regulatory guidelines created in 2001 by the Children’s Advertising Review Unit of the Council of Better Business Bureaus which states that toy advertising must be truthful, as described by Howard Chudacoff in “The Commercialization and Co-optation of Children’s Play” (packet page 179).

“Lazy Wii Guy” from Comedy.com

Feb 27

Silence that Idiot Box!

In Jeff Jacoby’s article on the harmful effects of watching television on children, called Silence that idiot box!,  he argues that letting children watch extended periods of television on a daily basis is no different than giving them a drug that produces zombie like effects. He cites several other articles, including scientific publications from both the 1960’s and today, in his rant against what he also refers to as the “boob tube.” He points out that children who watch one or more hours a day of television are more likely to have poor assignment completion rates and negative attitudes towards school. Jacoby sums up a 2005 study published by the American Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine with these words: “Increased time spent watching television during childhood and adolescence was associated with a lower level of educational attainment by early adulthood.” He also points out studies which show correlation between children watching television and being more likely to smoke, be overweight, or suffer from sleep difficulties and high cholesterol.

Daily views of television in different countries from Boston.com

It is clear that that Jacoby is rabidly against the high volume of television watching that goes on in the world of children, but it might help to understand his point of view if we better understand his background. Jeff Jacoby works for the Boston Herald, is a nationally recognized conservative voice, he briefly practiced law, and has been a commentator for WBUR.

Jacoby points out children watching an extended period of television, and this relates to Bradbury’s story of The Veldt because of the fact that the children in the story Peter and Wendy have been corrupted by the nursery. The facts that the children would much rather have the nursery than have their parents are an extreme of the theory that children can be corrupted by television. In the story, The Veldt, the children are so dependent with the technology that natural activities seem like a chore to them. The fact that the children questioned and complained when their father wanted to move to a different house because the technology has been corrupting them shows that the authority of the household was not the parents but the technology. At the end, the children killed their parents with the help of technology controlling their overall thoughts. This story shows a fictional consequence of how technology can affect and corrupt children.

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