Did “Sesame Street” Create Twitter?
I’m old enough to remember when Sesame Street first appeared on public television in late 1969. After its wildly popular first season, some critics complained that the program’s appealing structure–fast-paced short segments–would eventually destroy children’s ability to remain focused; they would grow up accustomed to receiving new stimuli every minute or so and would eventually become unable to learn any other way. Any activity that required more than a few minutes of concentration would become beyond their reach, and their teachers would have to be, above all, entertainers.
As far as I know, that particular doomsday did not occur–not in the 70’s, 80’s, or 90’s, and not in the first 15 years of this century.
However, I fear that doomsday is upon us now, in the age of Twitter. Twitter co-founders Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, Evan Williams, and Noah Glass were born in the 1970’s, which means they were in the program’s target audience during its golden years and probably grew up watching Sesame Street. In creating Twitter, they have fulfilled the prophecies of the program’s fiercest critics. They invented the tool that has turned us into exactly what Sesame Street‘s critics predicted: a populace unable to concentrate on anything for more than a few minutes (unless we are in actual danger).
Exhibit A would be Donald Trump (known in another context as “Individual A”). Trump bounces from pillar to post, and Twitter is his favorite means of communication.
I’m afraid that I might be Exhibit B, because I have become addicted to Twitter. At least 10 or 20 times a day I check the posts of the 1,578 people I follow. I often CONTINUE READING: Did “Sesame Street” Create Twitter? | The Merrow Report