When I look at today’s youth, I am
appalled at what I see. Granted, I’m not old in any sense, but I am still in
awe at the world we have created for our youngsters. The shift from innocence
to experience is starting at a younger age year after year. A child is hardly
able to say their name when they are bombarded with all the negative images
that media has created in this era. I find that maturity is also becoming a rare
thing. You hardly find young people, particularly in high school, with maturity
that overrides that of their peers. And of course, I must mention
self-consciousness. I just recently heard a girl in grade three saying she will
kill herself because she couldn’t complete her goal. After I talked to her
about it, I wondered where she picked up that notion. Tying that to
self-consciousness, I wonder how young kids are able to look at themselves and
hate what they see before they get a chance to discover who they are, and what
gifts besides looks they have to offer the world.
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| Arthur is a show that took up my childhood. [source] |
I was inspired on the shift from
innocence to experience from a lecture my English prof was doing on William
Blake’s Songs of Experience and Songs of Innocence (beautiful
poetry if you ever get a chance to read it). Back in old time London England,
children had to grow up fast based on the economic circumstances. Nowadays,
children in first world countries have it easy. Things are practically handed
to them. They hardly need to work, and they have more time to do children’s
things. But they are not. These children are plopped down in front of a TV
whenever they get a chance. They waste their days on the computer and playing
video games. As much as we all roll our eyes at the parental “when I was a kid,
we used to play outside until the streetlights came on” speeches, our parents
do have a point. What are children really getting out of watching hours and
hours of television? Sure, there are some fantastic educational things on
there, but I don’t think children really understand it all. There are more and
more mindless shows where comedy is young teens dealing with not so real life
problems, and they make dumb seem cool. No wonder girls think being dumb is the
way to get guys.
We can’t talk about TV without
talking about the breaks in the show. Yes, the commercials. I have been
analyzing ads for quite some time now, and it has become apparent to me just
how preposterous those things can be. It affects women and men alike, but what about
the children? If their eyes and brains are taking in these images at a young
age, then that means that self-consciousness comes into play at an early stage.
That is so sad. I have heard stories of little girls truly believing that they
are fat. Not to mention the girl I mentioned above. Where are they coming up
with this stuff? It hurts me to think about the corruption of the minds of our
little ones. And I believe that comes from the things they are viewing on TV or
the internet.
As for the maturity issue, I
believe this stems from the young age at which they are experiencing
corruption. If children are not able to have fun and be youthful when they can,
then how can they develop maturity? Maturity comes from living life and
learning from all of your experiences. The media has a way of shooting them
down before they get up, so to speak. How can they figure out a sense of self
if the media is trying to tell them who to be? Children don’t know how to fight
against them. Are we really a source of safety and comfort for our youth, or are
we creating generations of lost little ones?
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| A classic quote from a classic book. [source] |
Do I have a solution for this? Not
really. I’ll have to wait until I have kids to determine the best way to
instill their sense of self-importance before the media gets to them. This is
simply an issue I am heavy hearted about. I don’t want kids to develop eating
disorders, or feel embarrassed about the way they look, or even the have the
No-No commercial memorized (true story). I want kids to accept and love
themselves as well as others. I want them to smile and have fun and PLAY their
days away. I want kids to enjoy their golden years, before these years turn
black.
-Daniella
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