Fred Rogers met with a child psychologist every week for 22 years to build his show. She shaped everything: every script, prop, and song. The whole point was to give a child's nervous system time to slow down. In 1984, a single regulatory decision ended all of it.
The psychologist was Dr. Margaret McFarland, who co-founded the Arsenal Family and Children's Center alongside Benjamin Spock and Erik Erikson. She and Rogers understood that the prefrontal cortex in children, the part of the brain that controls impulse, emotion, and attention, takes decades to fully develop. At the start of every episode, Rogers tied his sneakers and changed his sweater while children settled in. Those pauses were intentional, designed to help a child's nervous system shift into a calmer, more focused state.
What ended it had nothing to do with child development science. In 1984, Reagan's FCC chairman Mark Fowler abolished the advertising limits that had protected children's programming from commercial pressure. Toy companies moved within months. Between 1984 and 1985, cartoons tied to toy lines increased by 300%, from a handful of shows to more than 40 animated series. In almost every case, the toy was designed first. The cartoon was built to sell it.
Researchers later put numbers to what parents were already noticing. A 2011 study in Pediatrics from the University of Virginia tested 60 four-year-olds across three groups: one watching SpongeBob, which cuts scene every 11 seconds; one watching a slow PBS show, which cuts scene every 34 seconds; and one drawing. Nine minutes later, all three took tests on attention, impulse control, short-term memory, and problem-solving. The SpongeBob group scored significantly worse across every measure.
In the 1970s, children began watching television around age 4. Research from pediatrician Dimitri Christakis found that by 2009, the average age of first screen exposure had dropped to 4 months, as the content got faster and the audience got younger. Researchers separately found that each additional hour of daily screen time at ages 1 or 3 raised the risk of attention problems at age 7 by 9%.
#SUGA in the new ARIH video
🐱: From the first tasting, I was all about Orange 🍊
🐱: SUGA's favorite is Orange
🐱: Once I'm into something, same with clothes
🐱: I stick to just one. One outfit, one flavor.
@Livheartt Honestly, their media is so shitty, that even the South Korean National Football Team competing at the World Cup has "severed ties" with them.
(For some reason, the algorithm showed me this piece of news.) https://t.co/GL0GXcSvTd
💔🇰🇷 ¡LA RELACIÓN ESTÁ COMPLETAMENTE QUEBRADA!
La selección de Corea del Sur decidió romper vínculos con la prensa de su país tras la filtración de un audio en el que varios periodistas se burlaban de su capitán, Heung-min Son.
La respuesta del plantel fue inmediata: silencio total. Tras la victoria ante República Checa 🇨🇿, Son ignoró todas las consultas en zona mixta y la federación canceló las entrevistas individuales que ya estaban programadas.
El conflicto escaló a tal punto que la Federación Coreana tuvo que reprender públicamente a los medios desplazados al Mundial.
Además, el jefe de prensa de la delegación presentó su RENUNCIA, asumiendo la responsabilidad por no haber podido controlar la conducta de los periodistas que acompañaban al equipo.
🚨 La fractura entre la selección y la prensa surcoreana parece estar en su punto más crítico.
🚨 S. Korea Squad Boycotts Domestic Media at World Cup
An unprecedented rift has erupted in Guadalajara, forcing the national team into a total media blackout.
• The Incident: Domestic reporters caught on a hot mic mocking Son Heung-min’s military service.
• The Boycott: In solidarity with Son, players are refusing all domestic interviews (including Son & Hwang In-beom).
• The Fallout: KFA issued a severe public warning to its own media, and the Korean press corps chief has resigned.
🔥 The Twist: The hostility has backfired, creating a fierce "siege mentality."
Team morale and unity are at an all-time high as they rally around their captain.
🔗 [https://t.co/WZxVa8j7dk]
Before he was Pope.
A short clip of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio talking about his family as immigrants as well as the lives of immigrants ❤️
#PopeFrancis#PapaFrancisco
safe and comfortable for them, ARMY and GP to have the kind of interactions Lea Salonga had with fellow Filipinos she met during the BTS concert in Busan and sightseeing tour around South Korea.
I hope that day comes soon.
There is something so heartwarming at seeing Lea Salonga interacting with ARMYs as they all tour places associated with BTS. Nevermind that she does look like a school teacher leading a pack of students on their field trip. 😂
to do extreme things like harming them just so they can "live in their idol's mind forever." Grabe, they're willing to be thought of negatively just as long as they know that they cross their idol's minds from time to time.
My wish is for BTS to reach the point where it is truly+
박술녀는 15일 자신의 SNS에 "20년 만에 할머니 버스 타러 뛰어가는 중. 부산에 BTS 콘서트 보러 갑니다"라는 글과 함께 여러 장의 사진과 영상을 공개했다.이어 그는 "방탄소년단 콘서트 대기 중에 너무도 친절하고 착하신 아미(ARMY) 분들이 선물을 주셨다"며...
https://t.co/d6fNSsBNwJ
I muted/blocked Koreans who were complaining endlessly & now I am seeing the most beautiful twts from other Koreans
The algos have really distorted our reality. And it’s becoming tempting to draw to premature conclusions based on insignificant sample sizes
@AianTweets@aflyingteapot17 this behavior seemed to even be encouraged by their agencies para maboost ang popularity ng talaga nila. So multi-stan siya. Hindi niya siguro inalam pa kung ano ang pinagkaiba ng ARMY etiquette. https://t.co/7mS6keWYRA
@AianTweets@aflyingteapot17 She's operating on a different scale and mindset kasi she's been a fan of Korean celebrities even before BTS came along. Pumupunta pa nga siya sa military discharge ceremonies ng favorite actors nya dati, and before you judge, for smaller actors, this things seemed to be +