LAST week children’s television legend Baroness Floella Benjamin kicked off the new year by lamenting the demise of children’s TV saying that it was now “in crisis” because “children are migrating to online, unregulated platforms and watching mainly adult material which, for some, could be detrimental to their wellbeing”.
Many would agree with her, and viewing data confirms this rapid decline. BARB (Broadcasters Audience Research Board) states that “the average amount of broadcast TV minutes of children’s TV channels watched by four-year-olds per week has declined by 62% since 2019″.
As a child I watched all the popular children’s shows of the time because, other than visiting the local Xtra-vision to hire a DVD or perhaps being treated to a DVD from Belfast’s Disney Store, there was little other choice.
I did have some old Barney video cassettes which belonged to my older cousin. Barney remained a particular favourite of mine for quite some time – I adored the upbeat, bouncy songs. There was something about those All-American kids marching around the colourful sets singing about pumpernickel bread and raindrops which really appealed to me. However, my Mum was forced to restrict my exposure to Barney when I asked her if she needed to stop at the ‘gas’ station or put the ‘trash’ out…
The majority of TV content made for children then was cheerful, colourful, clearly scripted and involved catchy, singalong tunes. Some of it was animated but programmes such as Balamory involved real characters in everyday situations. In fact, I had the pleasure of interviewing actor and comedian Miles Jupp last year and all I could think about was him bumbling about making strange contraptions in his pink castle dressed as his Balamory character Archie the inventor. He did make my day though when he said some of the Balamory actors had recently met up for a brief reunion and a glass of wine.
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A brilliant night seeing our pal. Go see Miles Jupp 'On I Bang', you won't be disappointed.A superb piece of theatre cunningly disguised as stand up.Extremely funny but also poignant at points. The intelligence in his comedy is inspired. With friends forever #Balamory @CBeebiesHQ pic.twitter.com/Xy9Vd8uLip
— Andrew Agnew (@agnew_andrew) May 9, 2024
Other favourites of mine included The Fimbles, The Tweenies, Bear in the Big Blue House and 64 Zoo Lane (shown at the end of the CBeebies Bedtime hour). The key point is that these programmes were entertaining and non-threatening but also educational. These were programmes made specifically for children which were age appropriate and focused on real issues such as friendship, fun, family and learning.
Aside from this, these programmes and characters promoted a sense of shared identity with peers. Children watched the same things so there was a common thread and interest which bonded them before they started school or nursery.
The sad thing is that while there is still quality content available, children are opting instead to trawl through mindless (and often wildly unsuitable) videos on TikTok or YouTube with minimal advertising restrictions.
The children’s television made for my generation 20 years ago is no longer interesting or appealing. This type of short-form video media is causing a phenomenon called ‘TikTok brain’ because children watching these rapid, short videos find it challenging to engage or concentrate for longer periods as they just don’t have the attention span.
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I am, of course, not advocating that children should be subjected to endless hours of television. It is already evident that online gaming has had a significant part in reducing the time many children spend doing other activities such as playing football or cycling. Excessive gaming is also impacting on the development of social skills due to the lack of face-to-face interaction.
I feel that this obvious decline in children’s television is just another example of the sad state of affairs facing today’s children - children who may never know or understand the simple pleasure of watching a cartoon pig (who admittedly does resemble a hairdryer) jumping in a muddy puddle or why their grandparents might get teary-eyed over the mention of a “saggy old cloth cat”. There’s nothing quite like a bit of nostalgia and as Dr Seuss says, “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory”.
