ControverSunday: I Want My MTV
It’s ControverSunday time again! Thanks to Kathleen for hosting this week, Accidents for badging, and Perpetua for launching. Not clear on what this is? Head over to Our Lady of Perpetual Breadcrumbs for the rules.
This week we’re talking about vices and as I type this on my iPad, within reach of my iPhone, and MacBook, while Mr. Disgruntled sits on the floor with the Noodle watching the Little League World Series, our winning vice? Media! Or, more specifically, television.
We are a multimedia household. We listen to streaming NPR and Pandora, I have a Noodle playlist on YouTube (made up of Yo Gabba Gabba clips and cartoony music videos), we keep baby friendly games on our iPhones, and yes, we watch television. But here’s the thing, I think television is a vice because we’ve been taught it’s a vice. My husband and I both consider ourselves to be professional media critics, he’s a designer and I’m a media historian. Needless to say, we are definitely not “Kill Your Television” types. I say embrace your TV. And no, I don’t just watch Nova and IFC, last night Mr. Disgruntled and I watched a full hour of the top 20 Best Celebreality Fights on VH1. (Oh New York! Why you so trifling?!)
There are a lot of opinions and studies out there that tell us we’re causing irreversible damage to the kiddo by exposing her to any digital screen. And here’s the controversy, I cry foul. Many experts agree that television watching before age 2 causes ADD, obesity, and lowers their IQ. The problem with these studies, as with many studies on children, is the conclusions often demonstrate correlation not causation. The television studies I’ve read (or seen paraphrased on the AAP), for example, document households with constantly running television versus a households that don’t have televisions. But the conclusions drawn from these studies rarely take into account education and socioeconomic status. For example, a household where a baby watches 4 hours of television a day, might also have a host of other issues at home like poverty, poor diet, overworked parents, etc.
Why I’m a hypocrite …
We do limit the kinds of television the Noodle watches. I hate commercials and the longer I can prolong her impending infatuation with plastic branded crap (I know! I should have written for that week of ControverSunday!), the longer I can maintain my effete design tastes. Also, when she’s passively watching TV, she’s not doing anything but watching, and there’s a lot more interesting stuff she could be doing. Also, I totally feel guilty when I have to set her down while I do chores, but I think watching Biz Markie on YGG or tap-dancing on Sesame Street is a lot better for her than securing her in her crib and crying or just letting all the house-chores go to shit and living in filth.
also …
I don’t want her watching TV when she’s with the Nanny. We’re definitely practicing a “do as I say, not as I do” policy. TV is the last resort babysitter for us, and honestly, it does kinda suck. It’s not particularly interactive and it can’t hug her or change her diaper.
In conclusion …
We don’t have the TV constantly on in our house. But sometimes it’s on and sometimes the Noodle sees what’s on the screen, but we do curate the background noise in the house. It’s either music, or kid’s tv, or baseball with the commercials muted. I might be a bad mommy, but here’s hoping we can raise our own little media critic.
Update: Grammar.
