After reading Is Creativity Endangered? the debater that interested me the most was Susan Linn. She writes about how nowadays every kid who watches television encounters commercials that keep their eyes glued to the screen because the commercials amuse them. This is not an opinion of Linn because if the commercials were not targeted to children and they did not captivate their attention then they would stop making them. Since they keep on making them, the obvious reason they do so is because it grabs their attention. She argues that in order for kids to develop creativity, they need to have “time, space and silence.” However, with television distracting them from having these things, they are losing their creativity and in some cases not developing any of it.
Some may say that watching television enables kids to more creativity because kid shows are supposed to do that but like Linn says “Children...are so busy reacting that they never learn how to generate.” In other words, the use of television especially consisting of commercials causes kids to just react by sitting, looking and listening to the television rather than generating or doing what they are learning from it outside of the screen. Another key thing she talks about is that parents tend to give their kids “access to an endless array of videos, television, apps and games” that keeps them from being bored but in reality they are preventing them from being creative because being bored is “exactly what foster[s] the creative intersection of children.” Creativity is being endangered because of commercials and television but by parents being cautious about these things, they will allow their kids to grow up with a creative mind.
-Javier Esparza
I agree with you because kids are losing the ability to do something productive when they watch junk such as television commercials. The children, even in our generation, prefer to watch television for two hours rather than go play with their toys or whatever. They prefer to play games on their tablets, and while some apps are aimed at being able to think and make decisions, their "creative" decisions are limited to what the app has to offer. Not only is their attention glued to the screen, but they are not reacting to what they should be: the real world. In fact, there are articles that link autism to the amount of time kids spend watching TV because they are not engaging in real-world activity.
ReplyDeleteWell it depends on what you mean by a "real-world activity" and what you watch on the television. I don't really see how you could connect autism to Television especially because it's a genetic thing. And you have to wonder if this product of us watching television is just a byproduct of our poor environmental status. Because there isn't much to do in a city such as Bellflower, so the need to be innovative isn't encouraged. I walk home from school almost every day and the only thing along my path while I walk home are homes, fast food chains, a gas station, an abandoned lot, many automobile services, and the recycling plant. Now tell me good sir how I could be creative with that lot? The issue is that children aren't reacting to the real world it's that there's nothing to react too, and if we don't change it nothing may ever change again.
DeleteI'm sorry, every time I look across an empty lot I think of what I could replace it with. Say... A soccer or football field? Oh there's so many big lots in Bellflower! Maybe a small park for children to play in? Why not just start imagining the house you want to have when you grow up? I'm sorry if you disagree, but I'm one who thinks there's a lot to see in the world by just using pure imagination. Oh and thank you, I thought autism was in part by the amount of attention parents don't give their kids.
DeleteWell I agree with both of you guys, but I also think that there are plenty of things to do in the city. I agree with Nick that people's creativity is being limited due to the numerous of hours spent on T.V. But, I walk and take the bus every single day from school, and I always see people interacting with one another and being productive. I see people spending time with one another and playing sports on the streets. There is always another activity to do instead of just watching T.V., or spending time on your phone. Creativity is everywhere, you just have to use it. Like Nick said your imagination can takeover and inspiration holds a great place in that. That abandoned lot that you are talking about, can be created into something else that will benefit the people and maybe it will give people something to do such as yourself.
Delete