jehk:

The quote from the Nickelodeon people, in reference to this damning study, is hilarious: <SNIP> But this does correspond with reality. Like it or not, preschoolers watch shows like Spongebob. Their parents do plunk them down in front of the TV. The “diversity” thing is totally irrelevant — the actual audience, as opposed to the “target” audience, is surely mostly young white kids. I’m sure the researchers chose Spongebob for exactly these reasons.

While true, I take issue with the selectivity of the study, rather than it’s results. Sure, Spongebob makes kids a bit dumber, but it’s not the only thing affecting their brains, and it’s not like they would have been a generation of geniuses but for Spongebob’s epilepsy-inducing antics. There will be plenty of parents, as a result of this study, that will say “Ok, no more Spongebob. There, now everything in my kid’s life will be perfect, and I didn’t even have to lift a finger except to lock out Nickelodeon from the cable box.”
Spongebob is not the problem, and is actually one of the better shows on Nick imho, and certainly preferable to reality TV or courtroom dramas (idea for a new study??). As you pointed out, it’s a lazy way for parents to make sure their toddlers and kindergarteners stay out of trouble, and this laziness is certainly a bigger problem itself. The researchers would have done better to show subsets of a randomized group of kids random shows from Nickelodeon’s lineup and show that any of them make you stupider. Maybe that’s what they have planned next or something.

(Source: wutev4r)