Goodbye, Mr. Rogers

Yesterday I watched this TED talk on media and children. It's an issue that I've been thinking about a lot, as media is an inevitable part of our daily lives and household. We don't watch that much TV, but Elisa has of course been exposed to a little bit of media - some baseball and football games with her daddy, occasionally getting a glimpse of us using our computers (we do our best to hide them from her since she'll insist on playing with them and drooling all over the keyboard), and a DVD set that I received as a gift from a student while I was pregnant called Classical Baby. Call me overprotective if you want, but I am just alarmed at the way most kids I see out and about are addicted to screens in restaurants, in cars, anywhere or anytime when there is two minutes of waiting or silence. And after reading Bringing Up Bébé by Pamela Druckerman (which I realize has gotten a lot of criticism for not being a true representation of French parenting, but was a great read), I am much more aware of the way Americans lack patience. We are evermore a society of instant gratification.

This TED talk answered a lot of the questions I had about the ways that media can be harmful to growth for young children. I don't know if you've seen some of the cartoons that are on nowadays, but they are very, very different from what I remember as a kid. Maybe it's because the world of animation has gotten so much more advanced and producers can't help but use every single technique for creating a show with constant motion, high-energy music, and scene changes every single second. Even My Little Pony has gotten a facelift, complete with techno music and neon colored ponies. Very different than the pastoral, peace-loving creatures that live somewhere in my memory.

The TED talk references the oldschool children's program Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood as the type of program that is preferential for kids since its pacing is much more similar to real life and the energy level is way less intense. Paul and I got curious. It's been awhile since either of us had seen the show. We discovered that Mr. Rogers is available for streaming on Amazon Prime, so we watched a few snippets. I was totally sold when he visited a luthier who was making a double bass, followed by an interview with Yo-Yo Ma. Yo-Yo talked about how he started cello, how to choose an instrument, and played a few pieces different pieces to show emotion in music. I loved it! The show was overall a little dated based on Yo-Yo's wire-rimed glasses and Mr. Rogers' sweater set, but the luthier could have passed for any other hipster dude walking down Sunset (he was rocking a plaid flannel shirt and beard). Mr. Rogers proceeded to welcome his guitar playing friend into the interview with Yo-Yo. He asked if the two of them could play something together, and lo and behold the guitarist pulls out a classical, nylon-string guitar! I was ecstatic!

And then the guitarist did something very peculiar. He pulled out a PICK and started STRUMMING the poor classical guitar, alternating between a total of a whopping two chords. I wasn't listening at that point as the knife had already sunk to deeply into my heart and I was yelling obscenities at the screen. I mean, really? You're going to strum a classical guitar and waste a perfectly good opportunity to talk about this lovely nylon-stringed instrument in all of its glory? And Yo-Yo? Why aren't you saying anything?! Has the Silk Road project left you with no musical integrity?! I guess Mr. Rogers didn't know any better either, but as the host of your own show you've got to say something when a guest is butchering an art form (which happens to be the very one that I've devoted my career to!)

So that was the end of my very short love affair with Mr. Rogers. I guess we'll stick to cartoon animals playing orchestral instruments for now. In moderation, of course.

May you rest in peace, Fred.