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submitted 1 month ago by Wawe@lemmy.world to c/parenting@lemmy.world

I though that Cocomelon videos are just dumb videos to keep children distracted, but I didn't know that they are purposefully designed to keep children hooked. What's your stance on their videos?

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[-] howrar@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 month ago

They're banned in this household.

[-] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Children's entertainment has been doing that for a century. But the tactics are getting more elaborate, planned, strategic.

It's been a constant development, and it's getting worse.

Pretty horrifying, that video you linked. 4.5 billion views? 7 Billion?

You always, always limit how much they watch. Never ever let YT autoplay take over.

[-] virku@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

My twins were hooked on it for a while. Made us parents absolutely insane. The kids learned a lot of simple English words though, so it wasn't completely for nothing.

[-] Leolam84@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Agreed. The toddlers I taught loved to watch cocomelon, but not addicted too much. They just followed the characters to act and play. They learned some words and also learned to get along with others nicely.

[-] MrTolkinghoen@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago

Yeah fuck cocomelon. This is apparent immediately

[-] TachyonTele@piefed.social 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

This is nightmare fuel. Is this a real thing?

Edit. I thought that was mr beast in the thumbnail and expected the worst. Glad it's that guy Rybread. Good video!

[-] RickyRigatoni@retrolemmy.com 3 points 1 month ago

You can tell it's not mr beast because he's not making that stupid false smile.

[-] TachyonTele@piefed.social 2 points 1 month ago

I think it was the mustache that made me think it was him. You're absolutely right.

[-] Maestro@fedia.io 2 points 1 month ago

A while back there was an interesting article comparing Bluey and Cocomelon: https://www.readtrung.com/p/why-i-love-bluey-and-hate-cocomelon

[-] SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Once a month, children are brought to [a London studio], one at a time, and shown a handful of episodes to figure out exactly which parts of the shows are engaging and which are tuned out.

For anyone older than 2 years old, the team deploys a whimsically named tool: the Distractatron.

It’s a small TV screen, placed a few feet from the larger one, that plays a continuous loop of banal, real-world scenes — a guy pouring a cup of coffee, someone getting a haircut — each lasting about 20 seconds. Whenever a youngster looks away from the Moonbug show to glimpse the Distractatron, a note is jotted down.

“It’s not super interesting, what’s on the Distractatron,” said Maurice Wheeler, who runs the research group. “But if they aren’t fully focused, they might go, ‘Oh, what’s that?’ and kind of drift over. We can see what they’re looking at and the exact moment when they got distracted.”

What a waste of all lives involved.

[-] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 4 points 1 month ago

comparing Bluey and Cocomelon

ugh, that's not even a comparison.

Fun fact btw: Bluey started off as an Australian public broadcasting production. Bought by Disney now, but I suspect they made a deal that gives them artistic freedom. Still sad that money wins.

[-] jacksilver@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Good news for you today, Disney does not own Bluey. They're just paying for the rights to stream it on Disney+ - https://www.themarysue.com/bluey-is-on-disney-but-is-it-a-disney-show/

[-] exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago

Disney licenses the distribution/streaming rights to Bluey, and just signed the theater and streaming rights to the upcoming Bluey movie (scheduled for 2027) but doesn't own merchandising rights. They did, however, just recently sign a deal for rights to use the characters in theme parks and cruises.

[-] Wawe@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Thanks for sharing! It was interesting (and horrifying) read!

[-] expr@programming.dev 2 points 1 month ago

My son doesn't watch it and we have no intention of starting.

[-] kemsat@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Did people not know that?

[-] vonbaronhans@midwest.social 1 points 2 weeks ago

Blocked on all streaming services we have. We thought it was harmless but annoying, but we got kinda spooked by how much that show in particular grabbed our kid's attention and didn't let go. For hours.

She'll get tired of other shows and ask to play, etc. But not with Cocomelon and its knockoffs. We just figured that couldn't be right. Then we read about how it was designed to hook baby brains... and that was the tipping point for us to banish it forever.

Of course, it also saved our sanity from those FUCKING SONGS. Plus I'm a big fan of animation in general, and that show BLOWS in that regard, to the point where I get kind of offended. So yeah. Good riddance.

this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2025
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