"The new promise
of the global economy, the Information Age, unimagined new
work, life-enhancing technology - all these are ours to
seize. That is our honor and our challenge."
These are the words of President Clinton almost a decade
ago in his 1997 State of the Union Address. Regardless of
our politics, most of us agreed with the president on this
point: the mind-bendingly fast technological innovations
of the day - from Internet connections in schools to video
conferences in the office - seemed to offer almost limitless
possibilities.
Bus Radio, a new service for school buses, is probably not
exactly the promise President Clinton, or anyone else, had
in mind. The service is just what it sounds like: a radio
show, complete with ads, targeted at kids who ride the bus.
The service has been promoted to schools as a more age appropriate
alternative to the commercial radio that plays on many school
buses.
The reason so many people are unhappy about the idea of
kid-targeted programming on the bus is that, well, it's
kid-targeted. Lately, it seems like kids are always the
target for new products and services. And, from where I'm
standing, it looks like our kids are starting to feel the
hits. A growing body of research shows an important link
between commercial messages and a host of problems affecting
kids from obesity to aggressive behavior.
Bus Radio does offer an alternative to beer ads and
sexually suggestive songs. Even better, it provides cash-strapped
schools a new revenue stream. I'm all for a healthy economy
and school funding, but not when it comes at the cost of
our kids' health. What kids need on the bus is simple: peace
and quiet.
At first it might seem ironic that Bus Radio is the product
of the Information Age. After all, radios and buses were
around a long time before the digital revolution. That's
the thing about our Information Age - when we focus on possibilities
sometimes we figure out things we could have been doing
all along. Sometimes, as in the case of Bus Radio, those
possibilities are better left unrealized. At the same time,
though, the promise of technology can help us out of a new
jam. When I read an article about Bus Radio on a newspaper's
Web site, the reader comments, included at the bottom, took
up almost ten times as much room as the article itself.
And almost all of them said exactly what I'm saying: keep
the ads off the school bus no matter their target.
In his 1997 State of the Union, the former president went
on to describe the "honor and the challenge" of
the era: "We must be shapers of events, not observers.
For if we do not act, the moment will pass, and we will
lose the best possibilities of our future." Today,
that sounds to me a lot like what I always say: watch what
your kids watch. That's the only way to make sure we take
responsibility for the possibilities we've been given.
David Walsh, Ph.D. is the founder of the
MediaWise Movement, a program of the National Institute
on Media and the Family (www.mediawise.org). His latest
book, Why Do They Act That Way? A Survival Guide to the
Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen, is a national
bestseller.
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