I was flipping through Hulu Plus this morning and came across a new show: "MasterChef Junior." I'd seen some ads for it and I love "Top Chef" (not "MasterChef" or "Hell's Kitchen"--Ramsey, who is the judge on those as well as "MasterChef Junior" is way too mean for my taste), so I gave it a whirl. Much to my surprise, I actually liked it! It was entertaining, nice to see kids who can be creative and think critically, Ramsey was actually nice, and it was well produced. With a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, I turned off the TV and went about my morning.
And then I got to thinking (much to my chagrin!).
Regardless of whether these kiddos are actors or not (there is apparently some controversy over this right now), is being on shows like this one good for them? Yes, they're making money and making a name for themselves at that age, which our society values and respects, sure. But is it good for the kids? "MasterChef Junior" is by far the best kid-involved show I've seen--there's no yelling (yet), swearing (yet), or making kids feel like they're horrible people (yet). But what does it do to the kids psychologically? Is being on TV something we should encourage and push our kids to do?
When I was in college, my sister and I found the "Toddlers and Tiaras" YouTube channel. It was like watching a car crash--we couldn't look away! We spent an entire Saturday morning watching "Toddlers and Tiaras" episodes. In my opinion, some of what those kids go through could easily be classified as child abuse. But in our society, it's just thought of as "beauty is pain" and we want our little girls to learn to do whatever it takes to be "glamourous" and "beautiful." But those kids are being massively messed with! I don't know how long that show's been on now, but I would love to see a 10 year reunion of those girls and find out how being on "Toddlers and Tiaras" and being in homes like that has affected them. I'm willing to bet that they're not well-balanced young women with high self-esteem.
Another show that involves kids is "DanceMoms." I can't even make it through an episode of it because it's so horrible. The main mom is verbally abusive to the kids and the other moms. What is "DanceMoms" teaching our society? That it's okay for moms to treat their little girls like crap because they "want what's best" for their kids? And what does it teach our kids? That it's okay if mommy yells at you and makes you cry? That if you're not good enough it's better to not try instead of going on stage and doing your best even if you mess up?
We need to think as a collective society: parents, kids, acting studios, "talent" agents, etc: Would we like make a quick buck on a television show that gets good ratings regardless of the content? Or would we rather raise kids in healthy environments and maybe not make as much money because we're not exploiting them for high TV ratings?
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Monday, September 30, 2013
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Mini-Experiment: 1 Month Without TV
In all honesty, this experiment happened by accident! My husband and I had signed up for a great cable package when we moved in July 2012. One year later, the price of that package went up by $40/month! We decided we didn't watch enough television to pay that much per month, so we cancelled our cable, with the understanding that we would get an HD antenna for the TV. That way we could still watch our local channels, which is pretty much all we'd watched when we had cable anyway.
Days turned into weeks after we cancelled our cable; still no HD antenna. I was having a lot of trouble with fibromyalgia flare-ups, my teacher-husband's school year was starting, and we were just generally busy. About two weeks after we cancelled cable, I realized two things:
So, time went on. And then football season started. I am the biggest football fan ever, so that's when I drove my husband to Best Buy and we chose an HD antenna! I was so excited to see everyone at WCPO and ABC again! It felt like I was seeing friends I hadn't seen in a month! And my anxiety went through the roof.
This mini-experiment was an accident, but I learned so much about myself both during it and in the few weeks since it's been over. I grew up without television, not getting one in my house until I was 16. Since that time, I have loved TV, almost feeling like I'm making up for lost time! But at what cost?
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi
Days turned into weeks after we cancelled our cable; still no HD antenna. I was having a lot of trouble with fibromyalgia flare-ups, my teacher-husband's school year was starting, and we were just generally busy. About two weeks after we cancelled cable, I realized two things:
- I missed my local ABC station team (WCPO) and the Good Morning America and ABC World News Tonight teams like crazy! I had gotten so used to starting every morning with them, that they'd become like a second family; not to mention the fact that I'd grown up watching Diane Sawyer and seeing her giant poster downtown for the seven years I lived in Louisville, KY. I had been tweeting with them almost every day and had actually developed Twitter relationships with some of the local anchors and reporters, as well as a few people at the national level at ABC. It felt like I was missing something without them in my day.
- My anxiety level was nowhere near as high as it had been when I was watching the news every day. It's not like I didn't know what was going on; I read the ABC app headlines and stories every day, but did not watch one news video. No war in Syria videos with dead bodies, no anxiety-filled potential Korean attack videos, no celebrity gossip videos, none of it. And I was calmer and happier without all of that horrible footage inundating my home.
So, time went on. And then football season started. I am the biggest football fan ever, so that's when I drove my husband to Best Buy and we chose an HD antenna! I was so excited to see everyone at WCPO and ABC again! It felt like I was seeing friends I hadn't seen in a month! And my anxiety went through the roof.
This mini-experiment was an accident, but I learned so much about myself both during it and in the few weeks since it's been over. I grew up without television, not getting one in my house until I was 16. Since that time, I have loved TV, almost feeling like I'm making up for lost time! But at what cost?
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Are Ads Fueling Bad Parenting?
I watch TV on a daily basis. I am also very sensitive to what I perceive to be "right" and "wrong" when it comes to family values. Lately I've noticed that a few ads have had the adverse effect on me than what the advertisers were going for. While I've noticed what they are for and remember them, they leave a bad taste in my mouth.
For example, a couple of commercials have implied that poor parenting is acceptable. In the following Nutella ad, the mother doesn't enforce anything she says: "Breakfast is ready!" No kids come. She says that she's putting Nutella on their toast and then they come. The mother says, "Put your plates in the sink, grab your backpacks" and the kids run off without cleaning up their plates, like she had asked. In response to this, she just smiles and waves it off. If I had ignored my mother like that when I was a kid, I would have been in so much trouble! I feel like this commercial is saying "it's okay" if your kids don't listen to you and you need to bribe them with a supposedly healthy treat to get them to follow directions. I think this mother needs to get a spine and set some expectations in the household.
This PediaSure commercial blew my mind. The little girl is trying to "poof" her healthy food away. The mom says that since she gives her daughter a PediaSure snack, she "doesn't have to worry so much" during dinner. Worry about what? Her daughter not eating her healthy food? Why not just tell your daughter that she is required to eat her food? I remember when I was five years old I sat at the table for an hour because I was refusing to eat my homemade tomato soup. My parents wouldn't let me leave the table until I finished. An hour later, it became clear to me that I was going to lose this battle if I kept it up, so I finished my (now cold) soup. What happened to parents enforcing rules?
In this Allstate ad, the dad says he's going to spend the money he saves by using Allstate instead of another insurance company to get noise canceling headphones after the kids start fighting and screaming in the background. While I think it was supposed to be a joke, the parents look resigned and the agent looks like she could not agree more. This commercial makes me feel like "it's okay" to just ignore your kids and let them fight it out. While, sure, all parents have felt this way at some point, wouldn't it be better for the media to be promoting good parenting?
So these are only three commercials, but I've had a TV for less than a year and before these three ads, I'd never seen anything like this. If anything, ads made it seem like everyone in them loved being in a family. But these three ads caught my eye because I'm not used to seeing parents refuse to do their jobs and parent their kids.
What are these ads teaching parents? That if you're busy and give your kid a semi-healthy snack it's okay to put on headphones and ignore them? That you're not the only parent who's overwhelmed and doesn't want to enforce rules in your house?
And what are these ads teaching kids? Granted, kiddos don't really watch ads, but they absorb everything. Everything! Are kids learning that it's okay to refuse to eat veggies because mommy can buy a shake that you will get for a snack? That it's fine for you to fight as long as your parents don't care enough to help you and your sibling learn to compromise? That it's totally okay to ignore a direct order from your mom because she'll just laugh and wave it off?
Parenting is something I take very seriously--and I'm not even a parent yet! It is hardwired in my brain to think in every situation, "How would I explain this to my kid?" or "Would I feel like it's appropriate for my child to take part in this or watch this or have this become part of their habits?" Sure, I don't have kids yet, but I have two extraordinary parents who took their jobs as parents extremely seriously. And I feel like these ads are not conducive to promoting a culture of good parenting.
What do you think?
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi
For example, a couple of commercials have implied that poor parenting is acceptable. In the following Nutella ad, the mother doesn't enforce anything she says: "Breakfast is ready!" No kids come. She says that she's putting Nutella on their toast and then they come. The mother says, "Put your plates in the sink, grab your backpacks" and the kids run off without cleaning up their plates, like she had asked. In response to this, she just smiles and waves it off. If I had ignored my mother like that when I was a kid, I would have been in so much trouble! I feel like this commercial is saying "it's okay" if your kids don't listen to you and you need to bribe them with a supposedly healthy treat to get them to follow directions. I think this mother needs to get a spine and set some expectations in the household.
This PediaSure commercial blew my mind. The little girl is trying to "poof" her healthy food away. The mom says that since she gives her daughter a PediaSure snack, she "doesn't have to worry so much" during dinner. Worry about what? Her daughter not eating her healthy food? Why not just tell your daughter that she is required to eat her food? I remember when I was five years old I sat at the table for an hour because I was refusing to eat my homemade tomato soup. My parents wouldn't let me leave the table until I finished. An hour later, it became clear to me that I was going to lose this battle if I kept it up, so I finished my (now cold) soup. What happened to parents enforcing rules?
In this Allstate ad, the dad says he's going to spend the money he saves by using Allstate instead of another insurance company to get noise canceling headphones after the kids start fighting and screaming in the background. While I think it was supposed to be a joke, the parents look resigned and the agent looks like she could not agree more. This commercial makes me feel like "it's okay" to just ignore your kids and let them fight it out. While, sure, all parents have felt this way at some point, wouldn't it be better for the media to be promoting good parenting?
So these are only three commercials, but I've had a TV for less than a year and before these three ads, I'd never seen anything like this. If anything, ads made it seem like everyone in them loved being in a family. But these three ads caught my eye because I'm not used to seeing parents refuse to do their jobs and parent their kids.
What are these ads teaching parents? That if you're busy and give your kid a semi-healthy snack it's okay to put on headphones and ignore them? That you're not the only parent who's overwhelmed and doesn't want to enforce rules in your house?
And what are these ads teaching kids? Granted, kiddos don't really watch ads, but they absorb everything. Everything! Are kids learning that it's okay to refuse to eat veggies because mommy can buy a shake that you will get for a snack? That it's fine for you to fight as long as your parents don't care enough to help you and your sibling learn to compromise? That it's totally okay to ignore a direct order from your mom because she'll just laugh and wave it off?
Parenting is something I take very seriously--and I'm not even a parent yet! It is hardwired in my brain to think in every situation, "How would I explain this to my kid?" or "Would I feel like it's appropriate for my child to take part in this or watch this or have this become part of their habits?" Sure, I don't have kids yet, but I have two extraordinary parents who took their jobs as parents extremely seriously. And I feel like these ads are not conducive to promoting a culture of good parenting.
What do you think?
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi
Friday, March 1, 2013
Is Ignorance Bliss When It Comes to "Breaking News"?
Yesterday my friend, Becky, drove up from Louisville to visit me. She doesn't have a TV and doesn't listen to the news very often. My new apartment is the first place I've had any TV since high school. I've become used to watching the news multiple times a day and keeping up with everything that's going on in the world.
When Becky got here I was watching the live footage of Pope Benedict XVI's last moments in the Vatican. She asked, "Why is this important? We're not Catholic." At first I was incredulous! I couldn't understand why she didn't know that the leader of 1.2 billion people giving up essentially unlimited power was a really big deal. I explained it to her and she seemed nonplussed.
Later on, we got out some food for lunch and she asked why I had so much meat in my fridge (she's vegetarian and it was only a pound of ground turkey and a few pork chops). I told her that if the sequester happened the price of meat was going to go up so I had bought more than normal because it had been on sale. She said, "Yeah, I've heard a little bit about that...what is it?" Again, I was shocked! This is a giant thing that's really going to have an impact on us and she knew nothing about it.
After Becky left, though, I got to thinking about our conversations about current events. I didn't have a TV in our house until I was 16 years old. When we lived in Montana, we listened to the Canadian news radio station for our news in the mornings and that was it. When we lived in Vanuatu, we listened to BBC Australia for our news (when we could get it). When we moved to Louisville, we had a TV, but we weren't interested in 24 hour news networks and didn't even watch the evening news, really. In college, I paid attention to politics, but didn't have a TV, so I got my news from the Internet when I felt like looking for it.
Now, I watch the Morning Joe, Good Morning Tri-State (our local morning news show), Good Morning America, Hardball with Chris Matthews, and ABC World News Tonight every day, as well as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. I also sometimes watch AC360 and Piers Morgan Tonight or The Rachel Maddow Show, depending on what they're talking about. And when I'm in the car, I listen to NPR. Oh, and on weekends, it's Up with Chris Hayes. That's a lot of news!
So, why is this even a topic of conversation?
I am concerned about the state of our country on a daily basis. Becky is not. I'm very worried that my fiancé will lose his job and we won't be able to afford our current lifestyle because of the sequester cuts. Becky is not. I'm fascinated and nervous about the next pope (will he address contraception, gay marriage, etc?). Becky is not.
Is ignorance bliss? In all honesty, I remember being in Vanuatu in my early teen years when the Columbia space shuttle didn't make it back safely. We heard about it on the same day--kind of a big deal in and of itself--and it was sad. That's all we heard for a few days and we had time to reflect on it. When we were there, I didn't hear anything that wasn't massive news.
Now, I hear so many "Breaking News" stories that I can't remember what the "breaking news" was yesterday! How do you separate fluff from substance? How is it possible that I watch around six hours of news a day and can't tell you what the headlines from yesterday were, yet my anxiety about the state of the world is at an all-time high?!
So, could the 24-hour news networks, the morning shows, and the evening shows (not to mention the 24-hour connectedness on our mobile devices) be contributing to our country's insane anxiety rate?! I think so.
What do you think?
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi
When Becky got here I was watching the live footage of Pope Benedict XVI's last moments in the Vatican. She asked, "Why is this important? We're not Catholic." At first I was incredulous! I couldn't understand why she didn't know that the leader of 1.2 billion people giving up essentially unlimited power was a really big deal. I explained it to her and she seemed nonplussed.
Later on, we got out some food for lunch and she asked why I had so much meat in my fridge (she's vegetarian and it was only a pound of ground turkey and a few pork chops). I told her that if the sequester happened the price of meat was going to go up so I had bought more than normal because it had been on sale. She said, "Yeah, I've heard a little bit about that...what is it?" Again, I was shocked! This is a giant thing that's really going to have an impact on us and she knew nothing about it.
After Becky left, though, I got to thinking about our conversations about current events. I didn't have a TV in our house until I was 16 years old. When we lived in Montana, we listened to the Canadian news radio station for our news in the mornings and that was it. When we lived in Vanuatu, we listened to BBC Australia for our news (when we could get it). When we moved to Louisville, we had a TV, but we weren't interested in 24 hour news networks and didn't even watch the evening news, really. In college, I paid attention to politics, but didn't have a TV, so I got my news from the Internet when I felt like looking for it.
Now, I watch the Morning Joe, Good Morning Tri-State (our local morning news show), Good Morning America, Hardball with Chris Matthews, and ABC World News Tonight every day, as well as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. I also sometimes watch AC360 and Piers Morgan Tonight or The Rachel Maddow Show, depending on what they're talking about. And when I'm in the car, I listen to NPR. Oh, and on weekends, it's Up with Chris Hayes. That's a lot of news!
So, why is this even a topic of conversation?
I am concerned about the state of our country on a daily basis. Becky is not. I'm very worried that my fiancé will lose his job and we won't be able to afford our current lifestyle because of the sequester cuts. Becky is not. I'm fascinated and nervous about the next pope (will he address contraception, gay marriage, etc?). Becky is not.
Is ignorance bliss? In all honesty, I remember being in Vanuatu in my early teen years when the Columbia space shuttle didn't make it back safely. We heard about it on the same day--kind of a big deal in and of itself--and it was sad. That's all we heard for a few days and we had time to reflect on it. When we were there, I didn't hear anything that wasn't massive news.
Now, I hear so many "Breaking News" stories that I can't remember what the "breaking news" was yesterday! How do you separate fluff from substance? How is it possible that I watch around six hours of news a day and can't tell you what the headlines from yesterday were, yet my anxiety about the state of the world is at an all-time high?!
So, could the 24-hour news networks, the morning shows, and the evening shows (not to mention the 24-hour connectedness on our mobile devices) be contributing to our country's insane anxiety rate?! I think so.
What do you think?
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi
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