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How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

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Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#171

Post by KirinDave »

ArtDev wrote: post #157
Amezarak wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Children under two aren't even supposed to watch television. > Television and other entertainment media should be avoided for infants and children under age 2. A child's brain develops rapidly during these first years, and young children learn best by interacting with people, not screens. https://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/aap-health-ini...

My kids had virtually zero screentime before the age of 6. I really think all parents need to try to do this. Limited media is fine for older kids though.

I could program pascal and play basic Sierra adventure games by 6, on my own. I expect my daughter can surpass me if she gets interested.

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#173

Post by ramanamit1234 »

bane wrote: post #153
bitwize wrote: post #52

I'd rather a million Elmo-centric Sesame Street episodes than even one episode of Barney or Caillou. That said, every kid needs some old-school, Elmo-free Sesame Street and Mister Rogers. (No, "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" is not the same; it's insipid and dumb by comparison.) Also, back in the day, Square One TV had a police-procedural parody called Mathnet that was still loads better than network TV's attempt at a…

> It literally couldn't get any better for a kid than PBS in the 70s or 80s. Don't forget such gems as "The Electric Company", "3-2-1 Contact", "Reading Rainbow", "Mr. Wizard", "Bill Nye" and others. It seemed for a while that TV producers really wanted to pursue the mission of Television as an educational medium. I honestly don't know anything about the quality of today's material, but the material I grew up with wa…

TV was the only dynamic medium back then. We have Youtube, apps now to get the job done. The investment in public tv for education is gone.

Fortunately, PBS Newshour is still tops.

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#174

Post by gefh »

dang wrote: post #50
gefh wrote: post #8

I love the internet. I love that someone wrote a whole article on something so arbitrary. I'm not sure why it's on HN though.

Fascinating stories with no particular rationale are not just on topic for HN, they're primo material. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Fair enough - it was a good read.

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#175

Post by Splines »

gknoy wrote: post #120
Splines wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For logistical reasons, not really. It's easier to maintain puppets vs trying to keep the same human actors tied to the show.

The point is, Maria and Gordon __have__ been with the show for decades, and now their characters have kids. Similarly, some of the kids in earlier years still are involved as older kids. It's one thing I have really liked about the show, as it lets them show nuanced relationships (both in terms of jobs and family).

Ah, I see. I'll admit to not seeing the show for the past few years. Good to see that they're still there!

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#176

Post by bijection »

KirinDave wrote: post #137
Amezarak wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Children under two aren't even supposed to watch television. > Television and other entertainment media should be avoided for infants and children under age 2. A child's brain develops rapidly during these first years, and young children learn best by interacting with people, not screens. https://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/aap-health-ini...

These rules are considered to be outdated and very few pediatricians suggest "0 screen time" anymore. Please see various MODERN materials and their sources at: http://www.zerotothree.org/parenting-resources/screen-sense/...

> The research is clear: Children learn better and more efficiently from play and interaction in the “real,” three-dimensional (3-D) world with parents, caregivers, and peers.

> This resource provides guidelines for parents and caregivers of children younger than 3 years on how to use screens in ways that minimize the potential negative effects and maximize learning.

> Although the body of research on the effect of screen media (beyond TV viewing) is still relatively limited, it clearly points to the following implications for parents and other caregivers: • Be thoughtful about how you use media with young children. Set limits on screen time to be sure that children have plenty of time exploring the real, 3-D world with family and friends. ( ... )

Though the guide doesn't explicitly say it, 0 screen time still seems like the optimal satisfaction of the presented guidelines.

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#177

Post by rangibaby »

KirinDave wrote: post #171
ArtDev wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My kids had virtually zero screentime before the age of 6. I really think all parents need to try to do this. Limited media is fine for older kids though.

I could program pascal and play basic Sierra adventure games by 6, on my own. I expect my daughter can surpass me if she gets interested.

Hey, me too (the game part, anyway). I memorized all the correct answers to the questions in LSL through trial and error, lol. Good times!

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#178

Post by namlem »

mfoy_ wrote: post #90
hitekker wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Mister Rogers For those who didn't grow up with Mister Rogers, I encourage you to watch this, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKy7ljRr0AA , to get a sense of how effective he was as a speaker.

He must be rolling in his grave with the way violence has waxed and mentionable, manageable feelings have waned. I haven't watched any cartoons recently but it seems the trend is toward rejection and denial of feelings rather than acceptance and understanding. He even brought up mental health (this being the late 60s) which is remarkable as there hasn't been much focus on mental health until very recently (and still…

Actually cartoons have definitely moved towards acceptance and understanding of feelings in the past few years. Shows like Adventure Time, Steven Universe, and Gravity Falls come to mind.

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#179

Post by MichaelMoser123 »

MichaelMoser123 wrote: post #169
guelo wrote: post #95

Republicans killed funding for public TV so now the shows have to earn their own money which means the primary concern is no longer teaching but how to make money via toys and DVDs, etc. which leads to finding the most addictive character and making him a star. Because capitalism ruins everything.

Because capitalism you get to play with nice computers - socialism was never good at that. You also get to buy things that customers want, not stuff that some detached bureaucrat thinks that you should buy. However you do have a point - they do have to sell toys and a ten year old will probably not buy a big bird doll. This requirement causes them to invent more addictive characters, so as to spin off dolls that youn…

http://www.sesameworkshop.org/about-us/financials/

here it says that 31% of the funding comes from government/corporate support;

Also they don't seem to be making that much money; them bloody capitalists are rather poor themselves. I guess Dora is doing better in terms of finances - they must have more limited expenses.

http://www.sesameworkshop.org/wp_install/wp-content/uploads/...

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#180

Post by yitchelle »

Jtsummers wrote: post #86
na85 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Muppet Show needs to make a comeback. It was like SNL for kids.

There's a new one, though I haven't watched it. I've heard very mixed reviews from other fans of the original and the 90s version.

As an adult, it is really tough appreciate shows that I have enjoyed as a child when a remake of it appears. Just don't seem to get the same sense of excitement when watching it.
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