Why not give your child Cocomelon or such overstimulating shows/cartoons. Why you shouldn’t give your Child Overstimulating Shows or Cartoons. Have you ever seen a child leave a Cocomelon in front of them? You will see that they are laughing, even if a real horse stands next to them, they cannot take their eyes off the Cocomelon. It is not their fault that they cannot take their eyes off it; they become dizzy like a drug addict! Such content is made in such a way, such music is used as if it works like an “addiction”. Not only Cocomelon, any overstimulating show causes major damage to the child’s brain.
Why you shouldn’t give your Child Overstimulating Shows or Cartoons
We will discuss how and why here:
📌Hyperactivity and attention deficit
Frequent scene changes (once every 3 seconds), continuous hypnotic music, combination of bright colors— these three together make the child restless. Attention span is reduced. As interesting as the world of this cartoon is, the real world seems boring compared to it. Reading books, coloring, learning to count, or spending time with parents seems boring.☹️
📌Speech delay or lags behind in speaking skills and social skills
Any screen time (Miss Rachel too) is not good for a child’s speech development. If it is before language development (before 18 months) and excessive.
Screen time is passive interaction. Here one party speaks, the other party listens.
Since children cannot watch less time or become addicted and spend more time, these act as regulators of their social skills and speech delay.
📌Dopamine Addiction and Screen Dependence
These contents increase the release of “dopamine” (the feel-good hormone) in the child’s brain, which encourages them to want to watch more screens.
Turning off the screen can lead to mood swings or easily getting irritated, crying, and screaming.
📌Problems with emotion regulation
These cartoons do not teach children to be irritable, patient, or play alone. Rather, they teach their brains that they should seek pleasure through screens whenever they feel a little bored or lonely.
As a result, they cannot easily calm themselves or maintain their attention.
(This is very important) 🔺
💡 What could be the solution?
✔️ Choose slow-paced, interactive cartoons (like Bluey or Daniel Tiger)
✔️ Provide hands-on experiences outside of screen time (reading, outdoor play, hands-on learning opportunities)
✔️ Sit together, ask questions, and encourage your child to participate
✔️ Follow the “20-20-20 rule”: After every 20 minutes of screen time, take a 20-second break and look at something 20 feet away
📌It’s best to avoid any screen time before age 2
📌If you must, limit your child’s time to less exciting educational content.
Content: I show my child (if needed)
1. His own travel videos that I’ve made and uploaded to YouTube
2. Miss Rachel
3. Trash Truck
4. Daniel Tiger
5. Numberblocks
Another benefit of showing less exciting content is efficiently controlling the time. Kids don’t insist on watching these (compared to others).
A workshop on screen time will be held online soon. I hope this will serve as an excellent guideline for parents of children aged 18 months to 3 years who have not yet given their children screen time.