As technology has developed over the past century, it has become a central part of childhood and an influential tool in children’s development. Having been born in 2006, I have never know a world without technology. Growing up in the late 2000s to mid 2010’s, I watched shows like Barney and Dinosaur Train on PBS kids, while I stayed with my grandparents, I would watch spanish language programs like El Chavo Animido. These experiences shaped my understanding of languag, culture, and identity. My own childhood experience reflects the broader influence televison has had on generations of children and demonstrates how media can shape ways children view the world around them.
Whether some parents like it or not, technology-especially television-has become a fundemental part of a modern childhood. Some people think of children’s television as simple entertainment with colorful characters. However, children’s television has not always been designed for solely that purpose. It serves more than just enetrtainment; it acts as a tool that helps children learn, form opinions, and interpret their surroundings.
Over the past several decades, it has gone undergone major transformations shaped by political decisions, economic priorities, and shifting cultural values. My webpage will explore how children’s television has changed across three key time periods; 70’s before deregulation, 80’s during deregulation, and 90’s to present after deregulation.
By examining these shifts, it highlights how television eveolved from an educational service into a commericalized industry, and what that transformation meant to children and American society.