Are Kids Getting Dumber?

[MrTMNT2012]

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?

[Wildcat]

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.

[Shred Head]

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.

[Redeemer]

Originally Posted by Shred Head

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.

[Powder]

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.

[Jester]

Not liking something you do ≠ stupid.

It just means they have different tastes.

[Redeemer]

Originally Posted by Powder

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.

Originally Posted by Jester

Not liking something you do ≠ stupid.

It just means they have different tastes.

These are both good points.

[MrTMNT2012]

Originally Posted by Jester

Not liking something you do ≠ stupid.

It just means they have different tastes.

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...

[Jester]

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.

[Powder]

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.

[Peanut]

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.

[Refractive Reflections]

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.

The rise in ADHD has coincided with the rise of mobile devices. According to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, children on average spend nearly seven and a half hours each day staring at screens. That’s up 20% from just five years ago. Is there a relationship between the two? Perhaps. It’s not so clear-cut.
...
Researchers are reluctant to say there is a direct correlation between gadgets and ADHD, but there are strong parallels between the upswing in diagnoses and an increase of screen time. One important finding: children and young adults who overdo TV and video games are nearly twice as likely to suffer from a variety of attention-span disorders, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics.

“ADHD is 10 times more common today than it was 20 years ago,” said Dimitri Christakis, the George Adkins professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington in Seattle. “Although it is clear that ADHD has a genetic basis, given that our genes have not changed appreciably in that time frame, it is likely that there are environmental factors that are contributing to this rise.”

Part of the problem is the fragmented, action-packed nature of electronic media. Christakis found that faster-paced shows increased the risk of attention issues. The brains of children adapt to that speed, so when they’re forced to work in the slower pace of life, they often struggle to pay attention because it’s less stimulating and rewarding.

When Josh puts down his iPad, his brain finds the real-world underwhelming compared with virtual ones.

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

Practicing anything repetitively physically changes the brain. With time and effort, you get better at the specific task you're practicing, whether it's shooting at the enemy in a video game or hitting a baseball. Those repetitive actions and thoughts stimulate connections between brain cells, creating neural pathways between different parts of your brain. The more you practice a certain activity, the stronger that neural pathway becomes. That's the structural basis of learning.
...
Such games also require players to think of an overall strategy, perform several tasks simultaneously, and make decisions that have both an immediate and long-term impact. “That's very much like the multi-tasking inherent in most jobs today,” says Dr. Willis. “These young people may be better equipped to switch between tasks easily, adapt to new information, and modify their strategy as new input comes in.”

Useful skills, to be sure, but exercised excessively they can also become problems. After all, when kids become so accustomed to multi-tasking and processing large amounts of information simultaneously, they may have trouble focusing on a lecture in a classroom setting.

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.

[psychturtle]

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.

[BubblyShell22]

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.

[Peanut]

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.

[snake]

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.

[Donatello19]

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.

[Refractive Reflections]

Originally Posted by Peanut

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.

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:

While the 2004 film adaptation of the series, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, was generally well received by fans of the show, it is also considered a turning point in the show's history, as many of said fans believe the television series has declined in quality since the film's release.[218] While episodes aired before the film were praised for their "uncanny brilliance",[219] ones aired after the film have been variously categorized as "kid-pandering attention-waster[s]",[220] "tedious",[221] "boring" and "dreck",[222] a "depressing plateau of mediocrity",[223] and "laugh-skimpy".[224] Following the film's release, fans "began to turn away from the show," causing online fansites to "[become] deserted".[218] Some believe the show's ratings decline as of 2012 correlates with the alleged decline in quality, and "whatever fan support [the show] enjoys is not enough" to save it from its ratings slide.[218]

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**

[CyberCubed]

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

[Refractive Reflections]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

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.