Your image of sitting in the planetarium having an existential moment was enjoyable. Couldn't help but think of Pascal: "The silence of these infinite spaces terrifies me."
Among other things, there's no defense for an image in the same way that there's a defense for writing. Images have an immediacy to them. Postman's Disappearance of Childhood is all about how the image (and subsequent obsolescence of print/widespread literacy) will cause childhood to disappear. The content matters, but it matters less as a subject of conversation today than the form. When the average shot in your kids show lasts less than 2 seconds, why are you surprised when your child has no capacity for sustained attention?
I haven't read Haidt's book because I don't need empirical verification of how a media diet composed strictly of images will destroy my capacity for different, deeper patterns of thought (let alone my children's). Lots of people/parents/politicians fall into a sort of premature moralism over technology without really understanding its effects.
One last thing. Have you ever heard of Big Block Sing Song? It is pretty good/worth watching. The Cocomelon vid you posted here inspires surrealist visions of existential dread. I don't get those vibes when watching Big Block: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU405TfjCq4
Thanks for your post.
Your image of sitting in the planetarium having an existential moment was enjoyable. Couldn't help but think of Pascal: "The silence of these infinite spaces terrifies me."
Among other things, there's no defense for an image in the same way that there's a defense for writing. Images have an immediacy to them. Postman's Disappearance of Childhood is all about how the image (and subsequent obsolescence of print/widespread literacy) will cause childhood to disappear. The content matters, but it matters less as a subject of conversation today than the form. When the average shot in your kids show lasts less than 2 seconds, why are you surprised when your child has no capacity for sustained attention?
I haven't read Haidt's book because I don't need empirical verification of how a media diet composed strictly of images will destroy my capacity for different, deeper patterns of thought (let alone my children's). Lots of people/parents/politicians fall into a sort of premature moralism over technology without really understanding its effects.
One last thing. Have you ever heard of Big Block Sing Song? It is pretty good/worth watching. The Cocomelon vid you posted here inspires surrealist visions of existential dread. I don't get those vibes when watching Big Block: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU405TfjCq4