Cocomelon is the favorite YouTube channel of kids and it is one of the most subscribed and liked channels too. The views on Cocomelon videos often exceed millions and billions but now parents are observing something about Cocomelon and similar channels that is affecting their children. One of the parents compared Cocomelon to “nicotine” as it is becoming extremely addictive for children. One of the parents said that they had to get their child to do speech therapy to help him talk. It is causing major developmental issues among children.
Children’s TV Expert, Jerrica Sannes, named Cocomelon the most addictive channel for children and explained why it is causing such problems to children. The first cause is colors that are at extremely high saturation that you cannot make them any brighter. The three main colors that are frequently used for Cocomelon videos are red, yellow and green and these colors at high saturation give exciting dynamics and attract attention.
Most of the Cocomelon videos are highly repetitive too which is why they have 38 videos over one billion views. This repetition of words keeps children hooked and keeps them in a trance. Cocomelon says that they aim to give education to children in a fun and exciting way but Cocomelon is teaching children exactly what they shouldn’t teach. Jerrica Sannes says that Cocomelon doesn’t care about our children, they just care about money.
Recently a journalist visited Cocomelon Studio and found out that their main aim is to keep children hooked. Cocomelon brings children there every month and makes them watch different content to find out which parts children find engaging and at which parts they tune out. Children are placed in front of two tv screens. One is a larger one where the Cocomelon content is playing and the other is a smaller screen which shows a continuous loop of real-world scenes, each lasting 20 seconds. Whenever a child looks away and glances at the smaller screen, the researcher writes it down in the note. This way they can see what moments are keeping children hooked and which ones aren’t.
Cocomelon also rapidly changes the scene and doesn’t make their videos be on the same cut for a longer time. This is the same as TikTok where users can watch different videos in a short time and this way they find each clip interesting. Similarly, 96% of the cuts in Cocomelon’s Baby Shark were shorter than two seconds. The longest shot on Cocomelon was just 6 seconds which shows how much they are cutting scenes to keep children hooked.
Jerrica Sannes say that when we combine all of the elements that are attention grabbers, children become completely engaged in that. She says that when we show an infant any normal video content, they focus on the screen just 11% of the time. But when we show them a Cocomelon video, their screen engagement increases to 74%. It was proven too when the New York Times journalist said that a child came to the studio while having a tantrum but as soon as the Cocomelon song played, he stopped everything to watch the video. Many parents have also said similar things about how the mood of their children changes as soon as they hear the Cocomelon intro.
@thecircusbrain #cocomelon #cocomelonchallenge vs #sesamestreet ♬ Oh No – Kreepa
Cocomelon is so hyper-stimulating for children that it has become like a drug to them. When children are being deprived of their addiction, ie. Cocomelon, they show signs of withdrawal which leaves them completely disregulated. They become violent because their brain wants that intense feeling of stimulation back. Everything other than that seems slow and boring to them. This is causing speech delays in children. Experts say that 4-5 hours of screen time a day can make a toddler completely non-verbal. Children who watch Cocomelon videos continuously tend to have low attention span and the symptoms of ADHD increase 7.7 times in those children too. Children who switched from Cocomelon to other channels showed notable changes and started talking too.
Cocomelon has replied to this criticism saying that their show isn’t meant to replace any outdoor activities for children because they know that they are as important for children as food and entertainment. They said that parents should set appropriate balance for their children. Cocomelon is also helping children with some things but they cannot speak in full sentences. Parents are also taking the easy way out by blaming Cocomelon and not their parenting styles. It isn’t Cocomelon’s responsibility to ensure that children talk. It is the responsibility of parents.
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