Are Kids Getting Dumber?
 

So the recent pulling of The Legend of Korra lead me to asking this question.

With beautiful and sophisticated cartoon shows like Young Justice and Korra getting pulled off TV due to low ratings, why do shows like Breadwinners and Spongebob that continue to devour whatever intelligence kids have while watching them continue to thrive in ratings?

Most of these ratings are due to the kids. Do they just not want to be challenged anymore?

I hate to sound like a hipster but back in my day, I remember every kid watching series like Batman: The Animated Series or Gargoyles instead of shows like Doug!

Are Kids getting dumber in terms of their entertainment in TV?

I don't think so. Nick just got worse. Ever since the 2000s it started going down hill.

Only thing I watch there is TmnT and Power Rangers and they're not Nick franchises...Nick just bought the turtles.

About a year ago the was test done some sort of study that kids today prefer more lighthearted material then action cartoons. I don't think that makes them stupid just more less aggressive. That can be seen as a positive or a negative there no black and white on that frankly I'll let the scholars of Harvard debate that. My friend though who was in the military thinks we are raising goddamn pussies and I'll admit he makes some good arguments.

The bitter old me inside desperate wants to scream yeas o dear god yes. But the calm rational side just wants to say different generations have different tastes. Like I said before the scholars at Harvard still don't have an answers for that and I sure as hell don't either I'm just sad that there's so little good tv.

I agree to a fault.

The previous generation summed up best by Kennedy
"Ask not what your country can do for you...Ask what you can do for your country!"

I feel like people are relying to much on the government and other, grooming the current generation for failure.
Creating a sense of entitlement for things we have not deserved.

So Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, these things weren't a hit?

I don't think their choice in toons has much to do with it. There's always been mindless entertainment. The point of entertainment. For a lot of people, the point is to escape, be it from real life or the need to think.

Not liking something you do ≠ stupid.

It just means they have different tastes.

These are both good points.

Of course but there is a difference between mindless entertainment and the more sophisticated ones. For example I know the new TMNT movie is gonna be mindless entertainment and that's fine but nowadays that form of entertainment is being celebrated by kids much more than other introspective and thoughtful films!

Once again this is evident by Transformers Age of Extinction's box office results...

And kids of the past were more apt to watch more thoughtful fair over mindless fun stuff? It's all about growing up and into it.

Kids have never been one to seek out thought provoking material. Not on a grand scale, anyway. Dunno where you're coming from on that front.

If they are getting dumber it has far less to do with the quality of TV they watch and far more to do with the Internet and heinous social media/mobile culture.

Is Technology Causing Kids to Have A Shorter Attention Span?
 

There's a slow amount of research that's beginning to investigate on whether today's technology (especially with the prevalence of handheld technology, gaming, and high-speed internet) may be conditioning the developing brains of children and adolescents. There's not a direct "cause and effect" relationship, but there are emerging correlations between high-tech gadgets and ADHD/ADD.

http://techland.time.com/2013/07/08/...gets-and-adhd/


http://journals.lww.com/neurologynow...ct_the.17.aspx

So how does this all relate to today's children selecting particular television programs? It's all just speculation on my part, but with technology encouraging such immediate gratification, it could explain why some children are preferring more fast-paced and louder cartoons like Spongebob rather than the calmer and subtle cartoons that require longer and increased attention, in focusing on the developments of the characters and plot which they would consider "boring".

I'm not saying this is the sole reason, but it's always interesting to consider as a small possible part of the reason. **shrug**

Plus we have to consider parental influence and upbringing, and parenting has changed significantly from when we were children since technology has developed a larger "babysitting" role for children.

I wouldn't say dumber but definitely more impulsive and unable to regulate emotions. They generally have little emotional range and limited affect. They're either aggravated, indifferent and experience lower levels of joy.

I wouldn't call kids stupid for liking shows like "Breadwinners" and "Spongebob" even if I classify those shows as dumb myself. It's just that kids enjoy things like toilet humor and funny situations and can laugh at them because they think they're funny. It's like how I used to be obsessed with The Smurfs when I was a kid, but now when I look at it, I think to myself, "Why the hell did I ever like this show?" I'm sure kids of today will look back at the shows they used to watch as kids and think the same thing. But that doesn't mean they're dumb or stupid for not watching an in depth show like Legend of Korra. They probably just don't understand the reasoning behind it and can't follow the story like we can.

Why the hell are you guys even mentioning SpongeBob? You know that show is like 15 years old, right? The kids who "developed" during its heyday are already fully functioning human beings. The kids being talked about here were born or were babies/toddlers when SpongeBob was mega popular.

It's not kids, it's the networks. Tron: Uprising was pulled for who knows what, Korra was pulled for low ratings, and Young Justice was pulled due to Girls watching the show.

The only reason TMNT survives as an action cartoon is that it has a Toyline that's marketed and sells very well due to Nicks promotion of the show.

Just because kids like shows that we as adults see as stupid or mindless doesn't mean that they're getting dumber...I'm sure we've all enjoyed some stupid sh*t at some point in our lives.

I think it's because the show has had a dramatic decline in quality, from what I've read **shrug**, compared to its much earlier beginnings:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpongeB..._ratings_slide

Which is making some of us question the "depth" of this new generation's taste with these current, more criticized episodes of the series with it still remaining as the top kids show for Nickelodeon. Now if the viewership numbers followed the "lower quality" material in having far lower numbers (or at least being out of the Nickelodeon top spot), then it wouldn't be fair to use it as an example of today's kids accepting "lower quality" material. **shrug**

Nick's TMNT is a hit so what does that say?

Citation please.

Don't be fan-delusional Cubed, in Nick TMNT's current state (by the numbers and position alone), using the word "hit" is a stretch as I've mentioned to you this once on the Season 2 thread and again on the "...getting tired of the show?" thread.

The show is in lukewarm territory. As for the exact cause, well... you can decide on that.

The Nick show is their highest rated cartoon after Spongebob. I expect 7 seasons and 150 episodes at the minimum before it ends. The fact that we've already renewed through Season 4 when Season 2 hasn't ended yet says a lot.

So you are going to make a hasty generalization by using that one piece of information from May 2014 alone? When there are other pieces of information contradicting that notion? Okay... **sigh**

Maybe if you actually tried to bring up citations of your own to support your own conclusions, maybe others (like myself) in this forum would be more accepting of them.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...uts-475-649396

Viewership has nothing to do it. It's a merchandise juggernaut. Face it, CyberCubed is right this time.

honestly, Korra just isn't good.

Have you seen Season 3?

Speaking of Korra, the Season 2 Finale was the most streamed/viewed digital Nickelodeon Event of all time!

Hmmm... possibly... :ohwell:
I think I addressed it earlier:

And once more:

If there was another article or two about the success, then I would lean more toward CyberCubed's position, but with that particular article a certain amount of skepticism arises from it.

First such as, "Okay it's made $475 million in a year in revenue, but what's the actual profit?" If we subtract the $60 million for acquiring TMNT, then the manufacturing costs, the labor, the transportation of the merchandise, and the advertising, what's truly left over? Plus it says "consumer products", so how much of that is from the Nick's line and not from nostalgia sales (anything OT or 4Kids related) in relation to DVDs, T-shirts/clothes, and other more nostalgia-related products boosted from advertising TMNT back in the mainstream?

Second, this success has to be framed correctly. To us "common folk", it looks like a huge amount of money, but if we put it in a big business perspective it may not be as successful as we think. For example, if this was the revenue for a film generating $475 million worldwide, wouldn't it be a moderate hit? I know that merchandising and the film-making industry are two separate things, but if we have nothing to really concretely compare this figure to anything of the past or current, it's hard to rate this merchandising's degree of success.

Third, have you noticed that most to all of these quotes in that article were from Nickelodeon or Viacom? (The company that owns the Turtles.) Such as:
--Pam Kaufman, chief marketing officer and president, consumer products at Nickelodeon.
--Ron Johnson, who earlier this year was promoted to the role of executive vp of Nickelodeon and Viacom consumer products at Viacom International Media Networks.
Now isn't that a bit suspicious? I mean would a company actually admit publicly, that sales/merchandise was not a big hit? Just something to think about.

Fourth, some pieces of information actually opened up more questions than I thought:
Naturally with comparing the first-year of TMNT merchandise with the Nick series ariring, to the merchandise the year before it aired, will yield "reinvigorated" sales.

Perhaps "nothing bigger", but only 15 percent (according to Kaufman now)? :-? What's making up the other 85 percent anyways? It may be beating Iron Man, Batman, and WWE, but what are the other franchises that have a much bigger slice of the pie?


With all that being said :P, if there were one or two articles which are not mostly quoted from the Nick executives about TMNT's success, and had concrete, comparative figures on a much wider perspective, then I would shift more toward CyberCubed's position. But until then...:ohwell: Typically, I would assume that there's a direct relationship between viewership and merchandise sales as we've seen with other big franchise hits with Turtlemania, Pokemon, etc. But it would be a little odd to declare a franchise a pop cultural "hit" with lukewarm viewership, but having huge merchandise sales. ...Right? :-?

I was actually just thinking today how that shows from my generation that have held up well like Ducktales were shows that had a sort of historical perspective or something like that. I really loved that about Ducktales and it is still my all time favorite show and it still rocks. But I was literally just thinking today that I wonder if it doesn't hold up so well for me because it had more "adult" themes since it was based a lot on lore, mythology, history, etc. The Real Ghostbusters is my second favorite show and it still rocks as well. I loved it then too but never really knew how much it drew from mythology until later in life. So I can't say I "sought it out" for that reason as a kid. As a kid, I thought they were awesome characters and had cool gadgets and drove a cool car and were adventurous. That is really what drew me to it. I think kids now and even my 80s generation just seek out what seems "cool" and not what is "artsy" or "deep". That is what we "grown ups" do.

Armchair analyst at work, folks! Everybody look out, he's got it a figured out.

I was just telling someone today how well The Smurfs still hold up! LOL! The animation was great and I still love Gargamel and Clumsy and Brainy and Hefty.

:lol::lol:
What can I say **shrug**, I can't always take claims at face value sometimes. ;):P:lol:

Well, I don't know about dumber, or if it actually has anything to do with tv shows, but I do think kids these days are more naive. I don't mean teens, but more the 7,8,9, year olds. I know some who have no clue of some of the things I knew when I was their age.

Although, I these kids I know are shelterd and I wasn't so my point may be moot.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...pse0be2788.gif

Uh-huh. I know your type; you wanna spin and over analyze everything until it fits whatever you want, even when you already have the answers right in front of you. Whatevs, man, continue your crusade. I'm sure you'll convince someone.

I think Batman: Brave and the Bold was a perfect example of doing a light-hearted and fun superhero show that was also well written and enjoyable for adults.

There's a reason Brave and the Bold was the most popular Batman cartoon since B:TAS...whereas The Batman was kind of forgettable and Beware the Batman completely bombed.

http://38.media.tumblr.com/8dbc2eb17...z5a3o8_250.gif

Well back in the Season 2 info thread, I did point out, that the series did reach the number two spot in May 2014 (which CyberCubed used I'm assuming) where it wouldn't appear that post was so negative and could hint at potentially changing things, but it's too early to say. **shrug** It's just checking on websites like By the Numbers and The Futon Critic, they are telling me a mainstream contradiction to the devoted fan reception of Nick TMNT. At least I try to use different sources for my arguments rather than just focusing on one article alone. **shrug** I would love for others to present just as many articles and detailed arguments against my position so I can refine my accuracy with this topic. (That's why I welcome Leo656's arguments, even if I disagree with him, because he thoroughly explains his position and viewpoint.) ...And who knows maybe it is too early to declare it lukewarm successful, since it still surely has time to gain a lot of momentum, but it's just at this moment of time, that's how I'm seeing things.

But it's cool if you don't want to read it, it's just with competition and money involved, I'm just skeptical of claims (that particular Hollywood Reporter article gets its information from the company itself, from a marketing executive no less, and not an independent source; how can I not be skeptical?), especially when some claim we are revisiting Turtlemania currently when the success trajectories of both series/periods are not lining up. **shrug** As for my analytical tendencies :lol:, well I'm sure you've seen that throughout my history of posts and not just with Nick TMNT.

Pointless rambling without any facts or sources is a good argument to you. Right.

That's assuming I've ever noticed you before now.

Think of some of the ridiculous cartoons from the 80s. I think every generation looks at the children of the next and wonders this.

No.
It's just you have acquired oldfart snobby attitude towards young generation, which is fairly typical thing for the most people.

It was one of my favorite toons back when I was a kid.
I have watched couple of episodes a year ago...and it was horrible. Well, maybe it were praticularly bad episodes, but still.

It's not that, just the quality dropped a lot regarding TV.

Plus all the Networks aren't helping by advertising all those top rated shows that have went down hill after a number of seasons and not giving new shows with better quality a chance unless it hits those numbers.

So, due to that kids these days have no other choice but to watch that kind of crap. Look at what happened to Legend of Korra for gosh sakes :roll:

I don't care what kids today watch; I just can't understand their obsession with mobile phones! :P