There’s no comparison at all between Yo Yo and Sesame Street. Lately my little girl keeps saying “yo yo, yo yo,” because she watches the show at nanny’s house, so I’ve started checking it out lately to see what she’s watching. From what I have seen Yo Yo consists solely of singing and dancing and acting cutesy, interspersed with cartoons. I don’t believe they have any educational content at all, whereas Sesame Street is mostly educational.
So what is the purpose of the show and what do people get out of it? I don’t believe the producers have any interest in educating children. Their purpose seems to be solely to create an addictive product that children will get hooked on so they can make money. And it’s successful at that. Our girl is wacky for the show. But it’s got music and flashing lights and colors, so that’s no surprise.
Is it good for her or bad? She craves it, it makes her happy and gets her dancing. Is that good? I like her to be happy and I like her dancing, but still it bothers me. I guess it bothers me because the show appears to be solely crass, stupid, commercial crap and I hate to see my girl fall for that. I play good music for her too and she enjoys that and dances to it. And she loves reading books, which seems like a much better activity.
Obviously one reason many parents like it is because it’s such an easy babysitter. Turn on the crap and the kids will hover around it like flies, leaving the parent free for other activities. Reading books or playing games with a child takes a lot more effort.
But is it actually harmful? I don’t know. Would regular prolonged exposure to Yo Yo shorten ones attention span, create an addiction and adverse effects if the child can’t get a Yo Yo fix, cause one to act insufferably cutesy and stupid, or other ill effects. I don’t know, but it’s definitely not educational TV.