Is Cocomelon Educational or a Modern-Day Babysitter?
Gone are the days of patiently waiting for Saturday morning cartoons, today’s kids have endless content at their fingertips. But is this shift helping or harming them? From dopamine-fueled nursery rhymes to AI-driven recommendations, here’s how modern media is shaping the next generation for better or worse.
It was 1st January 2025, and I was on my way to work. As sleepy as I had been on 31st December 2024 (so much for New Year resolutions), doing my mandatory morning routine of scrolling through Instagram.
When something caught my attention. It was a post which said that the kids born from this day onwards would be a part of Gen Beta. My immediate thought was: the saddest aspect of this generation wouldn’t be the brain-rotting broken humour. But the fact that they’ll never sit in the living room in front of the television at 8 am on Saturday. Waiting for Dragon Tales on Cartoon Network. What has the world come to?
The past decade has completely redefined not only children’s content but also their consumption habits. What once was an hour-a-day experience now knows no bounds. What was once considered a luxury now has unprecedented access to most children.
A case study from 2023 revealed that an average child spends almost five hours daily consuming media. Most of the time is spent on digital streaming platforms.
The most popular among these streaming platforms are YouTube and Netflix, with heavily viewed children’s content, especially preschool cartoons. What type of content should a 2-year-old even be watching, if any, for that matter?
Parents encourage their toddlers to watch these shows. In fact, succumb to their tantrums to see one or more of their favourite content because they are under the impression that it would help the little ones learn things quicker.
And why shouldn’t they be? All that content is marketed as educational, because without that label, there’s little justification for letting kids watch it in the first place. And honestly, the educational content from the early 2000s on television did its job pretty well.
The kids’ shows from earlier times, like Sesame Street, were slow-paced and had more meaningful interactions. They encouraged cognitive learning through thoughtful storytelling, character interactions, and, most importantly, lessons that helped with the children’s social skills.
So, what changed? The rise of preschool kids’ shows like Cocomelon. A name unfamiliar to none has recently sparked countless debates regarding the potential risks these shows pose to children’s development.
Cocomelon, in particular, triggers a dopamine rush in children through its rapid pacing, vibrant colours, and nonstop music, creating effects that closely mirror those seen in addictive behaviour. As a result, children may experience boredom or restlessness when not watching the show, which can lead to poor emotional regulation and behavioural difficulties. A lot of other issues are worth mentioning as well.
But if we’re being honest, these issues relate to screen time in general. Children spend a crucial stage of development—when they should be playing, interacting with peers, and building language skills—glued to screens, processing overly complex information instead. That becomes overstimulating, especially when it comes to fast-paced sequences.
The most recent trend in content curated for children is short-form content. Bite-sized content provides instant gratification, which aligns perfectly with the fast-paced consumption habits of kids of the modern age.
Research shows that it can actually enhance learning if designed the right way. Since children now prefer video content over reading. However, the heavy price of decreasing attention spans must be paid.
Another significant change in the past decade has been the advancements in AI, which have also played a crucial role in the development of new content for kids. Streaming platforms, like other apps, leverage AI to study and track the preferences of their users.
All of these platforms have different algorithmic formulas. But the goal is the same i.e. to maximise the time a user spends on that application. The more interaction a child has with a certain type of content, the more similar content that particular platform is going to recommend.
That interaction could be liking or sharing that video or even spending a few extra seconds on it, which creates a feedback loop that could become difficult to escape. The not-so-subtle ‘recommendations’ on streaming platforms aren’t merely recommendations.
They silently shape the preferences of their youngest audience. For instance, if a child watches just a few makeup videos. Algorithms quickly flood their entire feed with similar content. These platforms have become increasingly associated with triggering issues such as distress, body dysmorphia, and heightened anxiety, especially among younger users.
And while technological advancements come with their fair share of risks, the key lies in learning to adapt, finding ways to minimise the threats while still moving forward.
When it comes to the consumption habits of kids, the sole responsibility lies on the parents.
The first step to decreasing risks is understanding them before exposing kids to these platforms. Parents must actively manage parental controls and privacy settings to consistently monitor and restrict the content their child can access.
In addition, fast-paced content should be introduced gradually. Only when the child has developed enough media literacy and emotional intelligence to navigate the digital world in a healthy, balanced way.