The Super Swell Singalong – Old School Meets New School
Does social media really rot children’s brains?
I was not the last kid on the block to have a TV in his room. I bought my own so the choice was mine. A dumb choice, but one you make when you’re 15, have your first job, first spending cash, and a passion for pop culture.
While it wasn’t until college that I my family got its own computer, I was the first kid on the block to see any given rated R movie. My parents were of the new school of media censorship, where too much TV would rot your brain, Blade Runner and Body Heat were the Shakespeare of the age.
While much ado has been made about the new new school of media consumption of late, it’s overblown. It’s fear-mongering and typical of our age. I see social networking as edifying precisely because it is entertaining.
Example:
David, my 16-month-old, will come over to me with the remote control in his hand and ask me to put on his “show.” He does this first thing in the AM and throughout the day, whether we give in to his pleas or not. That said, we love to watch Jack’s big music show together. Last night, I was telling Steph that David isn’t so much a TV addict but he’s media literate. There’s a big difference between plopping a kid in front of the TV and forgetting about him and, I hope, what we practice, which is singing and dancing and being together in front of the TV when his show is on. We go on family walks together. We eat together. And we watch shows together. As it should be. Now if only we could surf the web together…Oh, wait, we have:
I would love to read what Henry Jenkins says about this.
For more brain-rotting, check out these facts of life:
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1153583/Social-websites-harm-childrens-brains-Chilling-warning-parents-neuroscientist.html
- http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/24/why-social-networks-are-good-for-the-kids/
