Educated, not Scared
Nice use of Oompa Loompas to make a point! (As it turns out, my son and I were just listening to audio version of this the other day and that ode to Mike Teevee does rise to the surface but I saw it more as a way to encourage books, but maybe that is just one way of looking at it.).
While you take a fair stab at Common Sense Media for its theme of the dangers of media on children, I guess I see it a bit differently. As a parent and teacher, I actually appreciate some of the messages that come my way via Common Sense, although I filter out a lot (and I suppose I do that filtering because some if it is a bit too weighted and biased, so maybe your point is made).
What I want as a parent is information. What I want as a teacher is my students to be informed. Finding that balance at both home and school is a challenge. The more information I can have on hand to make educated decisions for myself, my sons, and my students, the better off I am.
For example, the proliferation of advertising (free apps! Yeah, I don't think so. Nothing is free) worries me considerably, and I find myself being as vigilant as I can be when it comes to the sites and apps that my children/students do use. I'm a gatekeeper of a sort, and I need to know what I don't know.
I do agree that the alarm bells that resonate can become too shrill, and the idea of "addiction" and "danger" reminds me of the movement to ban comics. Wasn't successful. That kind of overarching authority almost never works. What kids need is help understanding when they are the target of advertising, or why playing outside is as valuable as playing that video game, why words spoken in person can take on new meaning when written from afar, and more.
Thanks for sharing the piece. You give us a lot to think about.
Kevin
Comments
David Low
on May 24 2012
at 12:50
No, not scared
Thanks for your response, Kevin!
What really upsets me about Common Sense Media is that, well, it acts as its claims are simple common sense! (CSM sure picked the right name for itself!) Citing 'common sense' has often been a tactic of regressive ideologues throughout the ages; common sense-as-argument has been used to enforce miscegenation laws, to keep women out of the work place, to deficitize huge populations of people, etc... Common sense tends to kowtow to -- rather than to disrupt -- status quos. That's why it's common sense!!!
So really, what I want is discussion and argumentation, counter-narratives, and youth voices. I want pushing back against business-as-usual. What I do not want is "expert"-cited common sense, because relegating something to the category of common sense implies that there's no point in discussing it. That's a dangerous position!
Like you say, balance is key. Have you found that CSM offers a balanced, multi-perspectival look into youth media practices? I've found it to be very one-sided, and skewed toward an argument in which kids are vulnerable and must be saved from themselves.
I agree with you that having lots of information is necessary for decision making, as long as the information is coming from a variety of sources and perspectives. I am immediately suspicious of anything that strikes me as immediately alarmist; I feel like it misses quite a bit of nuance and complexity. At the same time, I'm also suspicious of things that are uniformly accepted with eagerness. Finding balances is why we need good argumentation -- not common sense -- as we all struggle with constructing our realities.
Kevin Hodgson
on May 24 2012
at 13:56
Audience
I think we need to consider audience, which is primarily parents, who want as simple a site as possible, and information right away. The secondary audience is teachers, who we hope would want more debate but in reality, want simple information, too. That's just a fact. But I agree -- there is a slant, and the site uses marketing to its advantage. I agree, too, that its slant is that kids are in danger and they need to be protected. I'm not on that side of the fence.
Kevin