I agree with all of this. Which leads me to my deep concern, which anyone who has suffered any kind of addiction (heroin/sex/porn/etc) could probably attest to:
Once you've developed a method to produce maximum pleasure in yourself, you'll keep chasing it no matter what, for ever-diminishing returns, and all the meanwhile your body and mind are growing weaker and less responsive.
The younger someone is, the worse the damage. For instance, as a teacher at an elementary school, I'm no stranger to seeing kids get picked up from school with a Nintendo Switch already waiting for them in the car. This is often the case for kids who can't even read yet because they're in kindergarten or first grade. Their media consumption diet contains heavy doses of things like Mr. Beast, which they can access pretty easily even without necessarily knowing how to read or type. (Just click on the thing that grabs your eye, and then keep clicking.) On the last day of school last year I tried to show a (fun, non-educational) kids movie revolving around a certain well-known mustachioed plumber, and was astonished to find that most kindergarteners and about half of all first graders refused to pay attention to or engage with the film in any way because it was too "slow" and "boring." Now, let's get one thing straight--these kids LOVE Mario. They'll be the first to tell you so! They've just been raised on such a constant diet of hyperstimulation that they never developed the level of attention span required to *watch a movie.* The second graders were all right, for the most part, but I remember loving movies even as a three-year-old. If this is the state of things, then it's not wonder that Millennials and (especially) Generation Alpha don't generally afford the art form of cinema any cultural clout.
An old friend of mine teaches middle school. Sometimes he carried out classes in the computer lab, and he had one student who had NO impulse control concerning YouTube. He was apparently incapable of not compulsively minimizing the assignment window and opening the browser to watch something with captions on and the volume off.
After months of this my friend got sick of it and told him you don't get to use a computer anymore, you're going to be looking over the shoulder of someone at the front of the class.
During the last session in the computer lab before the summer break, there was nothing left to do, and he told the students "go nuts, watch videos, do whatever." But with the problem student, he stuck to his guns. "I gave you multiple chances, and you blew it. Sorry." He made the child sit behind a divider where he could work on unfinished assignments for other classes or theoretically read or draw.
When he checked on the kid he caught him on the floor, lying on his belly, trying to peep under the divider and look up at the nearest screen.
Okay, I like this essay, but I'm going to tell you that I disagree at least a little bit on that idea that children can't distinguish between content. At least if we're talking about commercials anyway. Because just like you I learned how to use a VCR when I was 4. But I DID fast-forward through those commercials. I didn't even have a remote, I would actually get up and run and hit that fast forward button when my family was watching a taped show, and then try to rewind back to the exact spot if I overshot. I learned very quickly that the ads are not part of the show. And I'll admit I'm just guessing here, but I'm sure there are a few depressing 4 year olds growing up on those tablets that will skip the ads on Youtube after 5 seconds. Like crust on a sandwich, it doesn't take long for kids to reject what they don't want to consume.
You're not wrong, but my point was that just that there IS a learning curve. The slope isn't as steep or as high as with becoming literate, but discretion in terms of what kind of hypnotic light we like on our faces is something that must be acquired.
With small children viewing YouTube videos on a tablet, the curve must be MUCH shorter because the delays and interruptions are far more JARRING than they were (or are, I guess) on network television. In retrospect, those jingly and cheerful "after these messages, we'll be riiiiight back!" bumpers for kids' shows were a very clever idea. While they do signal the transition between the entertainment and the advertising, making the transition fun and exciting helps to keep the audience captivated (or captive), or to otherwise go into the first GI Joe or Barbie ad in a good mood at least.
(i don't know what toys are sold on children's programming blocks anymore.)
I agree with all of this. Which leads me to my deep concern, which anyone who has suffered any kind of addiction (heroin/sex/porn/etc) could probably attest to:
Once you've developed a method to produce maximum pleasure in yourself, you'll keep chasing it no matter what, for ever-diminishing returns, and all the meanwhile your body and mind are growing weaker and less responsive.
The younger someone is, the worse the damage. For instance, as a teacher at an elementary school, I'm no stranger to seeing kids get picked up from school with a Nintendo Switch already waiting for them in the car. This is often the case for kids who can't even read yet because they're in kindergarten or first grade. Their media consumption diet contains heavy doses of things like Mr. Beast, which they can access pretty easily even without necessarily knowing how to read or type. (Just click on the thing that grabs your eye, and then keep clicking.) On the last day of school last year I tried to show a (fun, non-educational) kids movie revolving around a certain well-known mustachioed plumber, and was astonished to find that most kindergarteners and about half of all first graders refused to pay attention to or engage with the film in any way because it was too "slow" and "boring." Now, let's get one thing straight--these kids LOVE Mario. They'll be the first to tell you so! They've just been raised on such a constant diet of hyperstimulation that they never developed the level of attention span required to *watch a movie.* The second graders were all right, for the most part, but I remember loving movies even as a three-year-old. If this is the state of things, then it's not wonder that Millennials and (especially) Generation Alpha don't generally afford the art form of cinema any cultural clout.
An old friend of mine teaches middle school. Sometimes he carried out classes in the computer lab, and he had one student who had NO impulse control concerning YouTube. He was apparently incapable of not compulsively minimizing the assignment window and opening the browser to watch something with captions on and the volume off.
After months of this my friend got sick of it and told him you don't get to use a computer anymore, you're going to be looking over the shoulder of someone at the front of the class.
During the last session in the computer lab before the summer break, there was nothing left to do, and he told the students "go nuts, watch videos, do whatever." But with the problem student, he stuck to his guns. "I gave you multiple chances, and you blew it. Sorry." He made the child sit behind a divider where he could work on unfinished assignments for other classes or theoretically read or draw.
When he checked on the kid he caught him on the floor, lying on his belly, trying to peep under the divider and look up at the nearest screen.
Haha, replace "Millennials" with "Gen Z." *I'm* a Millennial, so I probably shouldn't be saying such things about myself!
Eh, we're just as fucked. Or we're just as adapted to a new way of being in the world. Take your pick.
Okay, I like this essay, but I'm going to tell you that I disagree at least a little bit on that idea that children can't distinguish between content. At least if we're talking about commercials anyway. Because just like you I learned how to use a VCR when I was 4. But I DID fast-forward through those commercials. I didn't even have a remote, I would actually get up and run and hit that fast forward button when my family was watching a taped show, and then try to rewind back to the exact spot if I overshot. I learned very quickly that the ads are not part of the show. And I'll admit I'm just guessing here, but I'm sure there are a few depressing 4 year olds growing up on those tablets that will skip the ads on Youtube after 5 seconds. Like crust on a sandwich, it doesn't take long for kids to reject what they don't want to consume.
You're not wrong, but my point was that just that there IS a learning curve. The slope isn't as steep or as high as with becoming literate, but discretion in terms of what kind of hypnotic light we like on our faces is something that must be acquired.
With small children viewing YouTube videos on a tablet, the curve must be MUCH shorter because the delays and interruptions are far more JARRING than they were (or are, I guess) on network television. In retrospect, those jingly and cheerful "after these messages, we'll be riiiiight back!" bumpers for kids' shows were a very clever idea. While they do signal the transition between the entertainment and the advertising, making the transition fun and exciting helps to keep the audience captivated (or captive), or to otherwise go into the first GI Joe or Barbie ad in a good mood at least.
(i don't know what toys are sold on children's programming blocks anymore.)