Wasteland America

America=Freedom=Happiness=Want=Suffering

Maybe it’s that philosophy class that’s growing on me. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve had to read Brave New World in another class. Maybe it’s because of a thoughtful post at a fellow blogger put up. And maybe it’s my own frustrations of living with A.D.D. that are starting to pile on high enough for me to notice that led me to post this today. But I don’t think I can believe in the whole “self-interested pleasure” idea anymore. You know which one I’m talking about. It’s the idea that happiness means doing whatever you want, and anything else that gets in the way like a conscience is just killing the fun. It’s the idea we’re talking about when we say we had a bad day because nothing we wanted happened. And isn’t that what freedom means in America? To do whatever you want, ever so dragged around and bound to your desires you can’t even stop yourself? And if you’ve thought you were exempt from most of the bad habits on this blog because your parents taught you better, don’t worry. You don’t need to buy $80 pairs of jeans on a regular basis to live a life that’s measured by the appeasement of your desires.

It gets worse. If you look a little deeper you see that the ways we look at freedom, morality, family, religion and law have been molded to accompany this view of happiness. Morality and religion, once standards for how people should live their lives, are slowly bending the knee to this definition of happiness. Morality is now a concept you look into if you feel like being good to people every once in a while, not a guiding standard of life, and the same goes for religion. The role of the family has diminished to make room for things like gameboys and facebook. The distinction that family is somehow different from any other distraction is gone. And finally the law is just something you get in trouble with every once in a while when you were just trying to have your fun, not a common set of coded behavior that we willingly abide by. You can see how, like a flood, our views on happiness are simply so strong that anything that stands in the way is swept away, and all that is left standing does not interfere with the river’s course. Happiness is getting what you want, and nothing pales in comparison.
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TV makes you stupid (What else is new?)

There’s a fantastic article over at Clean Cut Media about how TV makes you stupid, specifically children. Childrens’ minds are more malleable compared to adult minds, and what they see on TV dramatically shapes them. Children in between the ages of 8 and 18 spend an average of 6 hours 21 minutes interacting with TV’s and other media. More time than they spend with their parents. For the average American family with a busy life and not enough time to see the kids, television starts to fill the role of caretaker and teacher of morals and values. A couple highlights from the article.

“If children watch ‘edutainment’—shows that teach through song and dance—they begin to associate learning with an entertainment format and expect that format when they go to school,” he says. “But teachers aren’t going to sing and dance for them. So then children complain that school is boring. Compared to the fast-paced, exciting shows they’re used to on television, it is boring. Nothing will meet that standard. Television constantly ups the ante.

“Kids who watch the most television don’t do as well in school,” says Poussaint. “Television is not the best way to learn; it’s too passive and noninteractive.” A 2003 study found that toddlers and older children with screen media in their bedrooms learned to read later and read less than those with no screen media in their rooms

…many parents don’t know that the American Academy of Pediatrics has established guidelines that recommend no televisions, video games, or Internet access in children’s bedrooms; no screen media for children under two; and no more than two hours of educational television a day for children older than two.

“In the first 18 to 24 months of life, the brain is developing rapidly, primarily in response to environmental stimuli,” Strasburger says. “Stimuli that optimize the development of brain architecture include personal interactions, motor skills practice, and problem-solving activities. And the best way to teach these skills is not through screen media.”

Basically, by putting children in front of a TV not only are we harming their ability to live life outside of TV, but we’re actually hurting their brain development. And keep in mind the damage done to their minds is partially the result of individuals at television networks and video game companies looking to maximize a return on their investments by using the most explosive and horrific imagery. (I don’t don’t know what I think about the idea that video games make you more violent. I do think that unnecessary violence in media is just unnecessary).

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