You know, it figures. I don't recall having heard any of my children tell me that they've had dreams of being underwater or living in a pineapple. My wife doesn't remember any of her dreams so I have no way of knowing whether her television affects her sleep. In fact, despite my worries to the contrary I've never seen any real indication that the Television affects the kids sleep at all.
Of course, having written a commentary on the possible effects of these shows on the subconscious of my families minds, I managed to affect a detriment to my own sleep. I spent nearly the entire night having my typical dreams (we won't delve into them for fear that I may be committed.) The difference being that last night there was an incessant narrative voice running over the top of my dreams. This voice insisted on analyzing the imagery, speculating as to why I chose each aspect to dream about and wondering as to what external stimuli were causing unintentional alterations to my dream scape. *sigh* I suppose I should just grin and nod and accept that ignorance is bliss so that I can, perhaps, "dream easy" tonight.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Do Children Dream Electric Spongebobs?
It's simply mind boggling to me. I am sitting here at some late hour (deciding whether it's time for bed or not) and I'm listening to the world around me. It's something that most people don't really take the time to do often enough. I hear a light splashing sound that is the cat drinking from the dogs watter dish, the sound of the dogs getting comfortable in their crate, the sound of the oscillating fan running (because nobody believes me that the fan actually RAISES the ambient temperature of a room and does no good unless it's moving air that's actually touching you), dogs baring from a block away and then there are the other sounds.
You see, my family insists on having the Television on in order to go to bed. We've given them night lights and radios but they must have the TV running. My wife has this habit as well. We have a three bedroom house and we have four television sets. The children have the televisions running almost 24 hours a day on the weekends and all of their "home" hours during the week. The television in the room of our youngest is actually wearing out due to constant use and when we provided them with a DVD player it was dead within two months from running almost constantly.
As I listen I can hear the Flintstones movie coming through from my bedroom where my Wife has fallen asleep to some other movie and has transitioned to the Flintstones. From the bedroom housing my 13 year old and 7 year old I can hear Spongebob blaring it's mundane, repetitive humor and from the six year old's room I hear something that might be The Emperor's New School though I can't make it out amidst the others.
I wonder what this is doing to their subconscious minds. It has been proven that during sleep is when we process information that has been taken in throughout the day. Those who are not allowed to sleep do not retain the level of knowledge as those who do. But how much of it's own agenda can their minds be attending to in the din of all these sounds? I know that if I'm hearing them all blended together from this end of the house that those in the bedrooms must be able to hear them all as well. What are their minds making of all these stimuli?
I also fear, sometimes, for their safety. They have become so conditioned by the constant influx of sound that often the only thing that can rouse them is silence. I wondered for a long time why our six year old would come into our bedroom at exactly the same time every night telling us she had "had a dream." I finally found the culprit. Our cable service feels it must update our program guide daily. Our converter boxes were set to do this at 3:00 in the morning. This update caused the program to shut off and the box to display a silent screen saver image until the "select" button was pressed. This was the exact time that our little one came in every morning. I set the update time to 6 AM and all was well from that point on.
On the other hand the children have slept through dogs barking, smoke alarms going off, alarm clocks and even the sound of the front door being opened and slammed shut (It must have been the wind as there was nobody near when I searched inside and out). They don't wake when the neighbor's Peacocks go into a frenzy, they don't wake when the phone rings, they don't wake when the dogs are whining to get outside for a bladder release. In the mornings calling their names doesn't even work. It requires physical contact to wake them because they have become so desensitized to sound.
You see, my family insists on having the Television on in order to go to bed. We've given them night lights and radios but they must have the TV running. My wife has this habit as well. We have a three bedroom house and we have four television sets. The children have the televisions running almost 24 hours a day on the weekends and all of their "home" hours during the week. The television in the room of our youngest is actually wearing out due to constant use and when we provided them with a DVD player it was dead within two months from running almost constantly.
As I listen I can hear the Flintstones movie coming through from my bedroom where my Wife has fallen asleep to some other movie and has transitioned to the Flintstones. From the bedroom housing my 13 year old and 7 year old I can hear Spongebob blaring it's mundane, repetitive humor and from the six year old's room I hear something that might be The Emperor's New School though I can't make it out amidst the others.
I wonder what this is doing to their subconscious minds. It has been proven that during sleep is when we process information that has been taken in throughout the day. Those who are not allowed to sleep do not retain the level of knowledge as those who do. But how much of it's own agenda can their minds be attending to in the din of all these sounds? I know that if I'm hearing them all blended together from this end of the house that those in the bedrooms must be able to hear them all as well. What are their minds making of all these stimuli?
I also fear, sometimes, for their safety. They have become so conditioned by the constant influx of sound that often the only thing that can rouse them is silence. I wondered for a long time why our six year old would come into our bedroom at exactly the same time every night telling us she had "had a dream." I finally found the culprit. Our cable service feels it must update our program guide daily. Our converter boxes were set to do this at 3:00 in the morning. This update caused the program to shut off and the box to display a silent screen saver image until the "select" button was pressed. This was the exact time that our little one came in every morning. I set the update time to 6 AM and all was well from that point on.
On the other hand the children have slept through dogs barking, smoke alarms going off, alarm clocks and even the sound of the front door being opened and slammed shut (It must have been the wind as there was nobody near when I searched inside and out). They don't wake when the neighbor's Peacocks go into a frenzy, they don't wake when the phone rings, they don't wake when the dogs are whining to get outside for a bladder release. In the mornings calling their names doesn't even work. It requires physical contact to wake them because they have become so desensitized to sound.
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