The Sesame Street Generation

Ever wonder why we hear so much about Ritalin or Adderall or ADD or ADHD? Have you noticed how hard teachers work to make education entertaining? or how often kids expect to be entertained at school?

Sesame Street made its debut in 1969 -- 35 years ago. Before Sesame Street, children may have watched Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, Captain Kangaroo, the Mickey Mouse Club, the Little Rascals, or the Howdy Doody Show. Consider the differences in these early shows and shows since Sesame Street. Think: bright colors, catchy phrases & songs, flashing objects, constant visual & audible stimulation, fast-paced subject changes.

*In 1954, RCA began production of the first color television sets manufactured in significant quantities; however it was not until 1961, when Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color premiered, that sales of color television sets actually took off. Up to then, most households had only black and white TV sets, so color stimulation wasn't yet a consideration. The Flintstones and the Jetsons debuted in 1962, but specific educational TV for children had yet to be developed. (*ref: http://www.novia.net/~ereitan/) That would take place in only seven more years.

Two of the nice things about shows like Mr. Rogers and Captain Kangaroo were their leisurely pace and low-key approach. It was okay to stop and examine an object that caught your eye. It was okay to think about this object and how it might relate to different things. Thinking and questioning were encouraged. Taking time to just watch and wonder was entertaining enough without the need for toys or games or additional stimulation.

Sesame Street presented a successful, entertaining approach to learning. Children were exposed to different cultures, languages, and words. They were learning to sign, to spell, to count, to do math. Learning was fun! Parents were overjoyed! Not only did they have a babysitter, but it was providing enrichment for their kids as well. In addition to the television show, educational toys began showing up on shelves of toy stores. A whole generation was beginning. Hence, the Sesame Street Generation.

Alas, despite its success and achievements, something else grew out of this Sesame Street explosion. Call it over-stimulation. Call it less parental involvement. Kids began to believe that learning had to be fun, and it had to happen fast. Sitting still for long periods of time while someone demonstrated a science experiment was boring. Ditto for sitting still and reading a long book. Sitting still became torture for some.

Then in 1980 we were introduced to PacMan and Intellivision. Soon after it was Atari, then Sega, then Nintendo, and computer games. In 1985, our 2 year old was better at computer games than we were! Now think: immediate gratification, multi-sensory stimulation, increasingly challenging levels to keep them tuned in. And these techno innovations brought with them the portable devices and more advanced educational toys. Were sitting, observing, thinking, wondering, and musing becoming obsolete? Maybe.

Were children being over stimulated? They were spending hours watching TV or playing video or computer games. Parents, in their quest to develop smart kids, showered their babies with an array of stimulating toys. Why not? They were available and affordable, and perhaps all too often, they conveniently replaced parental involvement.

Ultimately, school became boring. The classroom teacher was hard pressed to compete with the TV show or video game stimulation. Necessary concepts that took longer than a few seconds to assimilate were dismissed, albeit mistakenly, by the student. "Boring." "Takes too long." " Why do I have to know this anyway?" They could sit still for hours while pecking away at the keyboard or rotating the joystick. But ask them to sit still and listen to a description of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock? Not unless you can dress up the characters and have them perform the actual event, complete with flashing lights and catchy songs.

My intention is not to berate Sesame Street or educational television programs. Contrarily, I think they offer wonderful opportunities for children to learn things often unavailable to them in their environments. The creators of these shows were right on target with what it takes to get children's attention. My beef is with the loss of "down time," and its effect on other types of learning.

We had an interesting discussion in the kitchen on Super Bowl Sunday while our better halves sat glued to whatever it was on TV. "We" were an elementary school teacher, an early childhood development specialist, a student in a school of chiropractic medicine, and a former educator who has reared 2 kids. (That would be me). The elementary school teacher commented on the very real dilemma of ADHD (attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity), and how some parents don't believe their kids suffer from it. This led to an interesting theory put forth by the future chiropractor that kids are affected by the preservatives contained in so many foods these days. I put forth this idea about kids growing up with fast paced television shows and constant stimulation and entertainment. The developmental specialist suggested that kids were over stimulated with too many toys intending to develop too many skills at once. We concluded that it was probably a little bit of all of the above.

Bottom line? All this incredible technology is contributing to a generation of over simulated children who watch too much TV, play too many video games, and who have too little encouragement to just "sit, watch, wonder, and think."

So what do we do? We medicate them, which can certainly make a difference in their being able to focus on schoolwork when it isn't flashy and fast-paced. Therein is another discussion for another day: one that should also include the effect that all this technology has on the lack of excercise and social skills.

And that's how I see it.