Watching the players celebrate and seeing Arteta right in front of me gave me a feeling I canโt explain. I was so fucking proud to be an Arsenal fan. These guys made it happen after 22yrs, that alone has made my first year since moving to London an unforgettable one. ๐๐
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%.
๐จ๐น๐ณ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ | After the 5-1 loss to Sweden, Sabri Lamouchi has been SACKED by Tunisia, reports @Romain_Molina! ๐โ
It's the FIRST managerial sacking of the 2026 World Cup. ๐ณ
This guy fit Dey go church every Sunday and weekdays but look at him being so wicked and vile. The situation will be worse if she dies from malnutrition
BREAKING: The FCT Police Command has rescued a 36-year-old woman, Ms. Grace Aniekuoku, who was allegedly held in chains and confined in a room by her brother for more than one year and four months.
โTo see South Africa turn to xenophobia is a tragic betrayal of the country's struggle for independence and freedom. African nations stood united to dismantle apartheid.โ
~ Director General WHO, speaks on xenophobia in South Africa
JUST IN: Responding to the abduction and dโฌath of retired Major General Rabe Abubakar, the Defence Headquarters Joint Task Force North West has commenced a fresh major offensive named Operation Clean Sweep III across Matazu Local Government Area and neighbouring communities in Katsina State.