Spongebob Squarepants - A Menace In Disguise?

SpongeBob SquarePants.  We all know him, unless you've been living under a rock for the past 13 years.  He is the lovable, pants-wearing, fry-cook, yellow sponge that entertains us with his nonsense and brings joy to children and adults all over the world.  This show provides dumbed-down humor for children, but still slips in the occasional adult joke to keep the parents interested, like SpongeBob warning Gary to not drop the soap in the shower.

He also makes you gay.

But, is SpongeBob actually a menace to children? A study proved that the fast-paced cartoon actually hurts a child's attention and problem-solving skills.  Hurts may be a soft word, the results show that SpongeBob kills the child's skills.  Children watching SpongeBob performed 55% worse than the ones coloring and 20% worse than the children watching Cailou.  I guess it makes sense when SpongeBob is compared to Cailou and coloring pictures that it may negatively impact cognitive abilities, but SpongeBob isn't made to be educational.

Let's be educational and teach racial stereotypes.

If only he was a bad driver and knew karate...

A big problem I have with this experiment is that they used 4-year-old children paired with this show.  SpongeBob is rated TV-Y7, which means the content of the show is intended for children above 7.  The experimenters should have shown a cartoon that is age appropriate.  Their results would have been even better if they showed Family Guy.

A martini a day keeps the pediatrician away.

I know this was an experiment to test the effect of fast-paced cartoons on cognitive functions, but the experimenters should have taken a cartoon that fit the age group they were testing.  This would be like testing a fast-paced action movie on 10-year-olds, but they can either pick Spy Kids or Planet Terror.  These movies both fit the criteria of being fast-paced action films, yet they will produce wildly different reactions from children.

In case you don't know what Spy Kids and Planet Terror are...

This must be Planet Terror.

Oh, never mind, THIS one is Planet Terror.

Yes, I can see what this study is trying to prove and it does make sense, but I would have conducted the experiment in a different way.  I think mine with children watching age appropriate shows would have ended with similar results, just not as drastic.  No matter what studies say, SpongeBob is a great show that I still enjoy today and think that most people will agree.