When I think of my childhood and media, I think of Blues Clues, Snow White, and Zoombinies. This might sound strange but these television and computer programs were what sparked my imagination, taught me my first words in Spanish, inspired me, and exercised my brain. As I was growing up, I actually did not have as much technology as my friends had. I never had video games or Gameboys, and we never had a computer or a “family cellphone” until years past a lot of my friends. What does worry me is the amount of time that I spent in front of the screens after we got them but it was in fact enjoyable time spent with my family and friends.
On Tuesday afternoons after kinder garden, my uncle David and I would watch the cartoon Blue’s Clues. It was a weekly tradition where my uncle and I would talk through the activities that that Blue and Steve were doing that week and sing along to their songs. Sesame Street, The Rug Rats, Barney and a couple other goofy shows on Nickelodeon were what I would watch religiously. The adventures that the Rug Rats went on inspired me and my friends to write and perform short but intricate plays for our parents. When I would ask my parents how long the car rides would be, they would measure it in Rug Rats episodes. Another show I watched was called Sesame Street. Sesame Street taught me my colors, how to count to ten in Spanish and morals such as to treating others the way you would want to be treated and to accept people no matter what their skin color is. All of these shows taught me basic and valuable morals, school lessons and sparked my creativity.
When my family finally invested in a white cube shaped computer, I remember the only thing I was interested in was playing games. In school, we were allowed to play a game called Zoombinies and The Organ Trail. When we finally had our family computer, my sister and I were so excited and we were given a computer time limit for how long we were allowed to play these games. The Logical Journey of the Zoombinies game taught me about numbers, combinations and strategies for how to get the Zoombinies to their destination. The Organ trail taught me about maps and the journeys that families would take across plains as we created our own families and our own trips across a country. I would play these games with my friends and we would have a blast.
Disney movies were definitely a huge part of my childhood being the average young girl who believed in fairytales. The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Arista Cats, Hercules, Hunchback of Notre dame and especially Snow White inspired my imagination and interest in stories. I was Snow White for Halloween more than twice (I'm the one on the right)and I would have modeled my life after hers if I could have. I imagine that all of these Disney movies influenced my music interest because I still know of the words to all of the songs in numerous Disney movies. Even today I am still singing as a hobby in vocal groups and on my own.
These various programs on television and on computers taught me lessons and stretched my imagination. They were privilege activities that my parents would reward us with when we deserved to use them. It was interesting and concerning to think back about how different screens were able to be such a large part of my actions as a kid. Although my main activities did not include only the television and computer, these technologies did help to shape the way that I used to think in a creative and educational manner.
The picture at the top was taken by my mother, Deborah Hendricks.
The picture of the computer was found on Google.com/images
