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Too Much Stimuli?
Have you ever taken the time to notice the difference in today's movies and TV shows as opposed to say, 30 years ago? I'm
in my 40's and I have two children in Jr. High. When I first watched The Wizard of Oz with them it was several years ago and
I kept waiting for them to be afraid of the monkeys as I was as a child. Well, as you may have already guessed, not only weren't
they afraid, they were rather bored. Not enough action. Shoot, what they were watching on the Disney Channel, (which at the
time, was the only channel they were allowed to watch), was scarier than any part of the Wizard of Oz.
That's when it really hit me that we weren't in Kansas anymore. Today's TV and movies are non-stop action, full of noise and
movement, colors, action, and lots of talking, yelling, or worse. What our children are exposed to on TV everyday, even on
children's shows is nothing we could have imagined when we were their age. Now, I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you
don't already know, however; what I notice besides that is the constant movement, the stimulus that comes at us non-stop from
everywhere, at all times. It's never-ending. It's why today's kids can watch TV while playing on the computer and still be
able to text message three friends all at the same time. They are used to it. Multi-tasking is something they do every day,
all the time. When it's time for them to apply for a job, there will be no mention of multi-tasking as a requirement - it
will just be a given of someone their age.
Watch a movie made in the 60's and a remake of that same movie now. Basically the same plot, but the difference between the
two are night and day. Special effects have come so far that we expect to see constant action. It is used in our video games,
TV shows, movies, even on the internet. Everything is fast, colorful, and loud, coming at us from all directions.
We have gotten used to being entertained. We expect it. And we don't have to go far to find it. From home we can watch movies
and see live concerts on TV. We can shop for groceries, clothing, and cars. We can buy airline tickets and do our banking
online.
Yes, we can be thoroughly entertained by the internet. It allows us to play interactive games with people who live in other
parts of the world. We can download music to listen to or music videos to watch. We can play card games, gamble online, have
our horoscopes read, test our IQ; we can download books to read, and find people we haven't seen in years. We can talk to
people for free and send photos of our families to loved ones across the country. We have instant gratification as we can
do these things anytime night or day.
So if you have access to the internet, and today, most of us do, you have access to a wide variety of entertainment. Home
computers and internet access are now affordable to almost everyone. So let's see what we can find to entertain us.
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