Issues With the Study

So how accurate is this study of SpongeBob Square Pants? The people at Nickelodeon, of course, do not necessarily agree with what the original study was trying to prove in stating that after viewing SpongeBob Square Pants children scored significantly lower on tests demonstrating executive functions compared to those who watched a different cartoon or drew. In this article, we see the parts of the study that there are issues with. SpongeBob Square Pants is not intended for four -year old children, yet they are the ones that were tested in the study. It seems as if the study would have been more accurate had they tested the executive functions of children in the intended age range for the cartoon. Now that the children scored lower, after viewing SpongeBob, we might say it is not because of the exposure to the fast paced cartoon but rather the fact that the subjects were just too young. That being said, I have seen babies watching SpongeBob. I was at a birthday party for a two year old that had a SpongeBob theme. Is this two-year old watching SpongeBob? Yes she is and she can name all the characters in it as well. I didn’t mention to the mother some of what we I have read. I don’t think all parents want to hear that they may be exposing their children to something that can be potentially harmful, especially when they know just how much TV their children watch.  I’m sure it would not have been appreciated to bring this up at a party but I do think this is something that I will share. Whether or not they do something with the information is up to them but they won’t do anything if they are simply not informed.

Attached is an article that has a quote from Nickelodeon about the fast- paced cartoon study and a YouTube clip discussing how our bodies use executive functions and what they are.

http://www.significancemagazine.org/details/webexclusive/1345775/SpongeBob-Significantly-Stupid.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cCNhKqQXOM

SpongeBob Square Pants-Just For Fun?

I have been spending quite a bit of time studying fast paced cartoons and the one that I keep coming back to is SpongeBob Square Pants. I have read a few articles that have mentioned other cartoons but SpongeBob is the one that keeps popping up. It is quite obvious that SpongeBob is not intended as an educational program for children, but rather simply entertainment. I understand entertainment. When I was young I watched cartoons that contained content that was very different than what is in cartoons now. I watched cartoon characters have guns, smoke, drink alcohol, be deceptive, be sexually seductive and often depict both racial and gender stereotypes.  I don’t remember thinking that what was in the cartoons was weird or bad or simply not for kids. While I was growing up, although I did love Sesame Street, I was more interested in seeing whether or not the coyote caught the roadrunner. To me, Tom and Jerry or Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner were characters I found more interesting than Big Bird or Oscar the Grouch. The interaction between the characters in Looney Tunes was far more appealing than the Sesame Street characters. I feel that this is very similar to why children are drawn to SpongeBob. SpongeBob is fast, dumb, and silly. His friends are the same way and they laugh and have fun. Although the issues with the fast paced television do not revolve around the content of the shows, I think kids just simply want to be entertained sometimes.

Attached is a clip from YouTube interviewing some people that voice the characters on SpongeBob and their thoughts on the show. The article attached gives a more in depth description of some of the tests that were issued to children after they were shown the SpongeBob cartoons and then tested in different areas. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR1hjjUQ3DQ

http://www.livescience.com/15995-fast-moving-cloud-kids-brains.html

The study

Pediatrics Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics published a study on the effects of fast paced cartoons on four-year old children. The children in the study were broken down into three groups. Two groups were shown different cartoons, a fast paced one and a regular paced “educational one”. The third group did not watch a cartoon but were asked to draw instead. The fast paced cartoon that the children were shown was SpongeBob Square Pants and the regular paced cartoon was Caillou, a show that airs on PBS.  SpongeBob Square Pants is about a sponge that lives in a pineapple house under the sea in a city called Bikini Bottom. There is an entire underwater world filled with different sea life friends, villains, work, and recreation. After each group were exposed to their groups assigned cartoon and drawing for nine minutes the children were given tests on the impairment of executive functions (EF). These tests were on concentration, learning and problem solving. According to the study, the children who watched SpongeBob did significantly worse than the other two groups.

This article is really what this blog is based on. There are so many factors in this study that were not considered. Take a few minutes and read the whole study. You may agree with its conclusions and you may not. Many of us have read studies about the influence TV has on children. This study makes one think about how some cartoons are set up now and how cartoons of the past were different. In some cartoons the content remains the same as cartoons of the past in that they are still funny, violent or educational. One major change in cartoons is the pacing. Cartoons now change scenes more frequently and in turn our cognitive ability to keep up has to change. Makes me wonder, is this is why so many adults hate SpongeBob? Do we not have the ability to keep up? Do we not like something based on the fact that without even knowing it, our children are able to follow a cartoon better than us?

The link in this page is the study and the other is a clip giving you a glimpse into the life of SpongeBob Square Pants.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/09/08/peds.2010-1919.full.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IIpex3t9pg

Finding My Topic- Fast Paced Cartoons

I thought that it would be interesting to look into cartoons and examine the influential aspect of them on our children's lives. I wasn't sure exactly what type of cartoon I was going to really look at. When we were kids many of us watched cartoons. For me, cartoons meant a Saturday morning, sitting on the couch with a bowl of cereal. I'm sure for my parents, it meant a couple of hours of freedom to not have to entertain the kids. This was once a week and I never really heard anything negative said about the cartoons that I watched. As I was thinking about this blog, I thought that it would be easy to find a topic to research about cartoons.However, because we live in a digital age, there are so many cartoons available, for all age ranges and they are available to be watched on any day at any time.

I began by just searching for articles having to do with children and the influence that cartoons play in their lives. I kept coming across the genre of fast paced cartoons. These cartoons are cartoons that the scene changes approximately ever 11 seconds. It is geared toward school aged children but are viewed by all ages. SpongeBob Square Pants is a popular fast paced cartoon. Most of us have heard of SpongeBob and many of us already have an opinion about whether or not we like him.

In my blog I want to delve deeper into the idea of fast paced cartoons and present information about them. I would like to take a look at  few clips of these cartoons as well as read articles about them. I want to form an opinion about these cartoons based on how I think they influence my child not just on how annoying or cute they can be.