"I know you are, but what am I?"
Some of you may remember this saying made popular in the 1980's by the beloved icon Pee Wee Herman. I do, and I wasn't even allowed to watch his show. I may have seen little clips of the mysterious program when visiting friends, but Pee Wee was off limits in our house. He gave my mom the creeps and she thought we could do better in the entertainment department. I don't think we ever actually heard a verbal "I told you so" when I was nine years old and the actor was arrested for {ahem} inappropriate business. And I don't think I ever gave my mom an official "You were right" in 2002 when he was arrested again for child pornography charges. However, there were millions of children that did watch Pee Wee's Playhouse and I am pretty sure that many of them still turned out okay.
Basically, the study that showed that kids who watched SpongeBob SquarePants were more likely to be distracted and did not rate as high on tests compared to their 4 year old peers that colored, or watched PBS kids. Of course the results of this research did not go over well with many parents and Viacom investors (who own Nickelodeon). From what I understand the study has as many holes as SpongeBob himself. Either way, I personally am not a SpongeBob fan. We allow such little TV time around here anyway, there's not a ton of room for the smart mouth SquarePants.
What I find fascinating about this debate is that the controversy of SpongeBob has nothing to do with the vulgar humor or rude behavior that is exhibited in the show, but it is all about the pace. It is the constant changing, quick, snappy stimulation that is bringing concern for a generation that is already saturated in hyper activity and attention deficiency. On one side you have experts saying it's great and children need to be able to learn to keep up in this fast paced society and SpongeBob is helping them do that. In the other camp you have studies and pediatricians from the AAP, warning parents to be aware of the pitfalls that this type of entertainment can bring.
I agree with the stance Jeanne Sager takes. Her article for The Stir is titled "I Don't Need Science to Tell Me SpongeBob Is Bad" Or, to quote my own eloquent wisdom from a previous blog post, "study schmudy". We could argue all day about who is right when it comes to what cartoons to watch, but before everyone gets their SquarePanties in a wad, why not consider just going with your gut?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
3 comments:
We definitely do not watch SpongeBob, but I'm with you - it's because of what's in the show, not how it's made. And I wasn't allowed to watch PeeWee Herman, either. Or the Simpsons. Actually, I still don't like the Simpsons. :)
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks SpongeBob's humor is way too rude and crude for young impressionable kids. I actually cut off our Satellite bill and I have noticed my son is actually playing with his toys, reading more and doing art projects. I don't even miss it myself anymore
My baby loves spongebob. I was brought up on ren and stimpy and the simpsons and I have an I.Q of 138, I have always earned good grades, and I still am in my college classes (honor roll). She watches tv for a few minutes and then goes and plays with her toys. She was crawling, and crusing early. She says Mama, Daddy, kitty, up, she picks up the phone and says "hi", she waves, blows kisses, and gives them. She just had her first birthday about 2 weeks ago. Even her doctor says she is smart for her age. I don't thinktv has anything to do with it.
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