I am inclined to think there is never an easy answer to any question. When asked what 2+2 means, I automatically get suspicious and throw 4 out as an answer. When faced with a political issue, I sigh heavily as I take in both sides of the problem and come to the conclusion that no answer could be entirely right. Yet when I first read the book “Everything Bad Is Good For You” by Steven Johnson, I allowed myself to get excited that my years of watching TV and playing video games could be construed as “good,” somehow akin to eating my vegetables and doing math homework. I clung to the phrase “cognitive workout,” and was convinced my problem solving skills were related to watching “The West Wing” with my mom when I was younger and the many hours I spent shooting the heads off zombies in “Left 4 Dead” with our living room TV. However, my true nature soon won out, and I became suspicious of Johnson’s argument.
I was in my C.S. Lewis class when we got on the topic of children’s toys and how the favorite ones are often the ones with the least features and technology (think a tattered teddy bear or cardboard box). We argued that this is because they can project anything they want onto them and give them the features they choose. A stick becomes a knight’s sword; a few scraps of old dinnerware become a tea party for elegant ladies; a well-worn doll becomes a best friend. This realization took my suspicions of Johnson’s praise for new media and gave them form: where is the imagination?
“Wait,” I cautioned myself. “Think this through; maybe the current media also allows for creative and imaginative expression. After all, people like to interact and participate with their media.” So, I thought about it. Yet it only took me about five minutes to realize I had punched a major hole in my appreciation for Johnson’s argument. Media that provides children with life-like stories and dazzling graphics isn’t expanding their imaginations. Professionals have already done the creativity part for them. The kids’ job is to view the story and information, not to participate in creating it. While I agree that my generation’s TV shows, movies and electronic media are making me smarter than my mother’s were making her (with mine’s increasing complexity making me better at cognitive processes), I don’t think my generation’s electronic media can compare with the childhood games of my mother and grandmother’s generations when it comes to developing imaginations.
I don’t think anyone can argue with me that imagination is important for people to have in just about all higher education jobs, from writing to applied science. How can children be expected to develop their imaginations if their toys are highly realistic and glaringly technological. Barbies come dressed up as fairies, princesses, or workwomen and often come with their own DVDs recounting their adventures. Thus, kids resort to playing out the same stories with their dolls. I’ve talked with some parents at my church who say when their kids are playing together, they assign each other a cartoon character and play out episodes of a show they’ve seen on TV. This is very different from my mom’s childhood where she and her brothers would venture to the neighboring cluster of trees and pretend it was a jungle where they would “go on safari” and dream of a life on a different continent. They were creating worlds in their heads while my generation regurgitates stories, scenes, and situations they’ve seen time after time in the media.
Now, I’m not saying this means Johnson’s argument for our media is entirely wrong. I’m not advocating getting rid of all technology and making our children play with rocks and sticks. I will admit both sides have virtues. Yes, Mr. Johnson, video games can make kids better problem solvers, TV can promote longer attention spans, movies have become more intelligent, and the Internet helps people participate in their media experiences. And yes, Mom and Grandma, you’re games expand imaginations and have other merits of their own. My point is when it comes to children’s entertainment, you have to take the good with the bad. There is no easy solution or completely right or wrong answer. Parents should realize all forms of entertainment are going to have their drawbacks. The best they can do is promote moderation in their children’s activities and eschew the temptation to give more praise to athletic pursuits, board games, TV, the Internet, movies, or video games. However, it is also worth heeding the advice of Horace Porter to “Be moderate in everything, including moderation.”
God forbid I ever be asked to give a straight answer.
Picture courtesy of Hansenhwong.
