Blog #518: How Much Media is Too Much Media? (Part 2)

With all the recent upheaval going on in today's society being shown to all on mainstream media, I wanted to continue touching base on the age old question of "How Much Media is Too Much Media?"

It's a question that is frequently asked, whether it's among parents, educators or medical professionals. When it comes to watching media, there is always that fine line that is going to be crossed...where we all want to stay connected with the outside world, but how much of that outside world do we want to take in?

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For Part 2 of this blog, I wanted to share some programs that people can turn to instead of watching mainstream media entirely. Some of these programs can talk about current events and topics from a safe perspective, from programs that have our best interests at heart.

So, let's get started:

#1: Mister Rogers Neighborhood

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Now, there has been a reason as to why "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" ran for so long on public television. You are essentially going to visit Fred Rogers as his "neighbor" and during your time with him, you will learn about important parts of growing up such as accepting people for who they are, trying to help explain topical issues through methods like The Neighborhood of Make Believe and visits from Mr. McFeely (Speedy Delivery!) amongst others.

In fact, Fred Rogers explains constantly that during times of stress and anxiety, he always mentions to look out for the helpers and will always incorporate the day's lessons into the Neighborhood of Make Believe. A good example was in one of the first episodes of the show, which took place after the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert F. Kennedy. In it, Daniel Striped Tiger and one of the residents are playing with a balloon and as the air is being let out of the balloon, Daniel asks, "What does 'assassination' mean?"

This was a great way to teach children the importance of the word and this wasn't dragged on like today's news outlets and programs. It was all taught within the confines of a half hour. Remember that the key here is "less is more" and you only need to take advice from someone you can trust that includes "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."

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#2: Sesame Street

Debuting one year after "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," "Sesame Street," is a petri dish of important life lessons told through residents of this fictional street in New York City where everyone is accepted for who they are. I was watching the documentary "I Love You, You Hate Me" again and Steve Burns (the host of Blue's Clues) was talking about one of the reasons that Sesame Street stands out after so many years is because there are characters we connect with such as that there is always something broken about Grover, that there is always something broken about Bert and you can relate to those characters.

Some hard lessons that are taught on Sesame Street are also brought up, but in a very gentle manner such as the death of Mr. Hooper in 1983, the fire at Hooper's Store in 2001 that was meant to teach children and families about the events of September 11th or the 5 episode storyline about a Hurricane that hits Sesame Street, destroying Big Bird's Nest and how the community rallies around him that would be replayed following several destructive hurricanes like Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

In reality, Sesame Street is a long running show that can teach adults about what is going on in the world around them in just the same manner as children and all without the stress of global news outlets. You get everything you need to learn about a particular topic in one hour and how refreshing is that?

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#3: "The Lawrence Welk Show"

Before the days of mainstream media, families would devote an entire hour of evening programming that they can watch together. This is the case with "The Lawrence Welk Show" that aired from the 1960's to the 1980's. I mean, what else can be good for the soul besides music? Much like Fred Rogers, you are invited not to somebody's house, but a music venue and Lawrence Welk is your host. Here, you are treated to music and acts that can help you take your mind off what is going on in the world. In some numbers, you can even see the impact of Lawrence's show when you see audience members dancing and even Lawrence himself gets into the swing of things.

In Lawrence Welk's music hall, everyone is accepted regardless of their background because they all had the same mindset: that they want a distraction from the world around them.

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#4: "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color"

I'm pretty many of you reading this blog probably have grown up with Classic Disney more so than Today's Disney. I know I have and Walt Disney's Anthology Series is more than just Walt showcasing his studio to a television audience. You are essentially learning about important facts of life and history that you leave the show with. One of the things I like about "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" is that there episodes that make it seem like you are in the classroom and you are learning about things that they never teach you in school.

For example, I learned about the famed composer, Modest Mussorgsky, through Walt's television series or Sir Robert Walpole, one of England's first Prime Ministers who inspired the short story turned silly symphony, "Who Killed Cock Robin?" (1935). Now, when people talk about Disney today, they think about all the remakes and all the other stuff that Walt would have never approved of.

In fact, when I went to Disneyland and Disney World, there is always one rule I have: to leave the outside world where it is and step into a fantasy world for one day. Sadly, as a Disney fan, it disappoints me that Disney has failed to live up to that expectation these days.

To me, Disney means Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and the lessons it teaches families.

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#5: "The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross"

Now, I'm just going to straight off the record here and tell you all that I just starting learning about "The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross" only recently as it was frequently played in the waiting room of my doctor's office. But, from what I read about this show is that it is essentially Bob talking about the world and how we need to be better people while we, the audience, watch him create a painting.

Some of you reading this may think that painting is boring, but when it comes to Bob Ross, this is a man who is reminding us all that we don't make mistakes but have "happy little accidents." While what is going on in the world is no happy little accident, Bob does remind us all that we need to be better people around one another. Don't listen to any of those modern day "heroes" because they are vain and good for nothing.

There are far more better role models in the world today and as Zeus said in Disney's "Hercules" (1997) that being famous isn't the same as being a true hero. Here, Bob teaches this lesson through painting and we can strongly benefit from it in today's world.

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In conclusion, the world has gotten a lot more scarier in this day and age, but as Fred Rogers said that we all must look for the helpers and those helpers are not famous athletes, famous figures, but people who are down to Earth and whose lives aren't dictated by what is going on around them. These are the types of people we need to be looking towards in today's media and I think there is probably some of you out there that are saying that reruns aren't worth it and you have to focus on the present day notables.

That is not true and these 5 shows are very clear examples of why we need to have better self-control when it come to today's media.

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Catch you all later!!