Consumerism and kids' violence

This is a difficult topic for me to touch.  That’s why it has taken me so long to finally attempt to talk about it openly. I am very sensitive toward kids abuse and violence and have hardly talked about it before.  But I think it’s time we open up about such dilemmas and start the conversation.  Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in December was a true tragic event in the history of the US.  I personally couldn’t think of anything worse that could happen as a result of a shooting crime.  Sure,  free access to automatic and semi-automatic guns capable of wiping out hundreds of innocent lives in seconds facilitates such horrid massacres  but we must investigate underlying factors contributing to such inhuman, heartless acts.  I was talking to an old friend of mine about it and we thought about whether such people had any religious affiliations or belief system.  How strong their family bonds were and how much support and intervention they had received from the society regarding their schycological issues and ordeals.  How much faith and spirituality could have helped overcome their fears and shortcomings?  

The truth is that there is an overwhelming shift in the way kids view “value” and “virtue” in todays world.  My focus here is the way kids are raised in the US with respect to consumerism and its relationship to violence.  The idea that what you buy is who you are.  And corollary to that which is if you don’t have you are less.  Our kids are constantly bombarded with ads and the fact that brands make us happy.  Business strategists are now more and more focused on commercialization of children even to the level of scientific investigation.  I saw in a documentary that commercial researchers even study the number of times children blink during an TV ad and if the child blinks they change the ad to make it more mesmerizing.  They are in a way pedophiles dissecting kids under microscope.  I saw a clip  a few days ago about interviewing kids in the 70's about what they wanted to be when they grew up and they said things like policeman, teacher, nurse, astronaut, postman.  In the 80's in the same interview with the same age group  kids would say I want to be rich, make a lot of money etc.  The focus seems to have had a negative turn toward “It's all about me”!

As a result, such egocentric and self-absorbed mindset, navigates violence with perverted thinking to seek a path of least resistance to end problems and find approval.  Girls are drawn towards teen idles and boys are attracted to being a man with aggression, toughness, with images of violence, power, and domination through even more violent wii, videogames which evolved from a 16 bit to 32 to 128 bit technology in 5 years.  This means viewing violence as entertainment and getting closer to a dangerous virtual reality.  They also learn that they have to fight to resolve issues and watching violence such as WWF wrestling, is fun and considered as entertainment.  All of the above overwhelms sound judgment from a child or adolescent who can't really distinguish reality from fiction. 

Also our movie industry is contributing to this dilemma.  What was an R rated movie is now PG 13.  a girl as early as  the age of 4-5 can learn that if she kisses a frog it can turn into a prince!  a 6 year old is now considered between childhood and adolescence  not a child.  kids are stuck in an "age compression" era in which marketers shape the child and tell him what he needs to sustain the life.  Research has confirmed that rapidly changing colors of cartoons, games on computer, TV contribute to making it tough for kids to focus on a teacher with no such abrupt visual effects and changes.  As a result creativity of children has declined by 94% in past decade.  Children have learned that they do not have to amuse themselves, calm themselves down and are always going to need a screen!   Their imagination is  significantly compromised. 

16% of our children are over-weight, many children use anti-depressant, and children as young as 6-7 years have predisposition to or type II diabetes.  This is a healthcare and mental care crisis.  We need to make some changes.  In this particular case for the sake and safety of our children I believe some government effort is also needed.  We have seat belt laws, helmet law, why not kids ad laws without  manipulating children?  some say it is parents’ responsibility to choose what we buy for our kids.  Sure, I've told and made it a point for my daughter that 'we don't buy[too much] stuff, we do stuff' and she constantly reminds me that" mommy  we don't buy stuff we do stuff, right?". But if a child is not with his/her parents 24/7 and with a public school full of ads, slumber parties, and marketing research, parents can't take all of the responsibility. 

Europe doesn't permit kids advertisements.  US is the last industrial country in the world that doesn't have a rule for this kind of marketing.  People here may argue their first amendment right.  Sure they are entitled to that opinion but they're also entitled to shame in my opinion! 

It is never too late to do something or is it in this case?