This is the first Matt Walsh episode I have watched in my life, and I’m shocked by the nature of the children’s shows he describes:
I live in a different world, so I had no idea this existed.
As Walsh says, this kind of thing helps one lose the fear of death. But beyond Walsh’s comments and the incomprehension of people in the comments, the scenes from the actual shows – I can’t even believe this is real.
For those who don’t want to watch the show, it talks about a massively popular YouTube channel for toddlers (yes, I know) that features videos where adults behave in creepy and moronic ways. Not political, not sexual but gosh, I can imagine stuff that’s even woke that’s less soul-crushing that whatever this is.
Clarissa's Blog 
Toddlers. Should not be watching video entertainment.
Even before the content became all weird and creepy, it was very thoroughly established that toddlers don’t actually like sitting in front of a screen watching a show. The show format had to be tweaked all to hell and back to find a formula that would hold their attention for more than a minute: same recipe as keeping adults hooked, mostly. Fast cuts, squeaky noises, flash flash bang bang.
None of that is good for adults either, but we arguably have some choice in the matter, analytic capacity, self-discipline. Toddlers have none of those defenses. If you need them out of your hair for half an hour, might as well just give them valium and be done with it. Probably less damaging to their brains.
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Exactly. I have no idea how staring at a screen can be a good activity for a small child.
My analyst used to say, “if the choice is between giving a small kid a pack of cigarettes and a YouTube video, go with the cigarettes.” I see people put this crap on for infants who can’t even sit unpropped yet to shut them up. It’s scary.
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Totally. They shouldn’t be watching anytl screens. Period.
Also, social media should flat out be banned for children. It’s turning adults into idiots, imagine the damage it can do to a young mind.
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Already well established that using social media radically increases rates of depression and suicide for minors. Probably for young adults also, but… consent, legal adulthood, etc.
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And then they grow up thinking that a personality is about labels and outfits. These are kids who never developed an actual personality through active play.
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It was certainly possible to do that before social media– I remember, maybe around thirtyish after I got married, finally figuring out the difference between a self and a manufactured commercially-monetized identity– like, no matter what movies, shows, products, etc. you are really loyal to, that’s not who you are and if you’re too attached to those things it actually degrades your personhood. It was not a comfortable revelation. But they sell it to you that way, that’s what lifestyle and image marketing are all about. Don’t buy this thing because it’s useful to you, or because it’s the best tool for the job– buy it because this is the kind of person you aspire to be, and it’ll let you hang out with the cool kids you aspire to hang out with!
But actually, you– the person you are– are not the music you listen to, the TV shows you watch, the platforms you hang out on, the car you drive… those were all manufactured by other people. People with agendas that have nothing to do with tending the garden of your soul. A self is something you have to grow, nourish, and repair, not something you can purchase.
That stung.
And even though that’s a thing I avoid now, it’s still pretty cringey when I meet people and we’re in the getting-to-know-you phase of things, and they want to explain what sort of person they are by referencing The Mandalorian or their favorite band. And I still like them so I bite my tongue and pretend it’s like someone admitting they love to eat beets, which I detest.
Still, social media seems to have made it 100x worse. It’s the commercial identity factory on steroids. Follow this account, use this hashtag, share this link, and use this filter: it’s who you are.
Sigh.
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That could have been way shorter.
TL:DR: If you build your “identity” around the objects and entertainment you consume, you’re doing it wrong. It’s about what you do, learn, practice, and accomplish.
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Yes, it was always possible. But the aspect of constantly trying to engage with a screen wasn’t. There are now doors that lead nowhere on many beaches. It’s just a door stuck in the sand. People line up to it all day. The goal is to take a photo in front of the door for their social media accounts. They all make an identical facial expression as they stand in front of the door. They don’t notice the sea, the sand, or other people.
They also pretend to run on the beach for the camera.
All this crap goes in identical social media accounts. And some idiots throw away their lives on staring at it.
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I feel blessed to have missed out on this part of modern culture 😉
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Exactly. Children should be playing, running around, doing art.
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I had heard of Blippi (saw a children’s book about him), but I’m such an old fuddy duddy that it didn’t occur to me he could be a youtuber. It’s sad to me that many commenters couldn’t see any problem because “he’s not woke.”
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I only watched a short clip, it didn’t seem very different than Pee-wee Herman from the 90s and many other shows such as Teletubbies, Barney the dinosaur, etc.
More cringe than malicious. People are overanalyzing things too much.
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It’s the format, not the content, that is the main problem.
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It’s passively consuming content instead of actively creating it.
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I found my kids some gently-used fairly high-end digital cameras. They begged for them– used their Christmas money for the purchase. They have been making movies. Adventures of Turtle Man. So many hours of entertainment!
The movies are… about what you’d expect from movies made by kids their age. But they have learned a lot in the process, and are still refining things. Perhaps someday they’ll make something worth watching! In the meantime, they’re making costumes, thinking about camera angles, fussing over sound quality, lighting, and backgrounds, working on scripts and blocking, and all sorts of other things it would never have occurred to me to teach them.
1000% more fun than any show they could possibly just watch. For the price of a $60 camera.
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What a brilliant idea.
If you don’t constantly distract them with flashing screens, kids invent pretty amazing forms of entertainment. We just need to let them do it.
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I hate Teletubbies, too.
I don’t understand why some people insist on talking to children like they are brain-damaged. Why not just talk normally? These weird cooing voices are bizarre.
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It’s because with babies at least, the weird cooing noises cause them to look at you. People take that and run way, way too far with it.
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“Pee-wee Herman from the 90s”
More the 1980s and he was more oriented toward an adult audience.
“Teletubbies, Barney”
Those were actually aimed at very young audiences (which is why no one past the age of 7 or 8 or so could stand them….)
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