Vaccination against informational infection

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Only parents can protect children from the harmful influences of the entertainment industry

Our children are exposed to powerful informational influences every day. A primitive and sometimes dangerous pseudo-culture for the child's psyche pursues them everywhere: in films, cartoons and advertisements, in shops, cafes and shopping centers, in books and toys. Even in schools and kindergartens, teachers sometimes include American cartoons of far from the best quality for children. The state's cultural policy is still being developed, and the problem must be solved now.

No order

The level of a cultural product aimed at children has steadily declined since perestroika. At the turn of the 80s and 90s, many were glad that with the fall of "damned totalitarianism" diversity will reign in everything. However, practice has shown that the dictate of the market is no better than the dictate of the state. When money and advertising decide everything, children essentially have no choice. Of course, no one canceled good books and films, but over the past 20-odd years, they are not at all widely advertised. The ascetic and judicious Soviet style against the background of the flashy "packaging" of modern mass culture (both imported and made on its model) does not look so attractive. Therefore, today not all parents can persuade their child to watch a Soviet cartoon instead of some "SpongeBob". A particularly difficult situation has developed with toys, which in recent years have almost completely gone out of government control. Until 2007, such control could be carried out in accordance with the "Temporary procedure for the examination of board, computer games, toys and playgrounds for children." The examination was carried out according to social, psychological and other criteria. But by order of the Ministry of Education and Science of October 5, 2007, the temporary order was declared invalid, and the new one has not yet been determined. Therefore, now no examination is carried out, which is a gross violation of children's rights. In response to any complaints from parents, the supervisory authorities can answer: there is no order, the criteria are not defined, we cannot do anything. So no one is going to withdraw the Monster High dead dolls and other toy evil spirits from the stores.

However, recently at the state level they realized that the situation with children's products needs to be changed. The first step towards change was the adoption at the end of 2014 of the "Fundamentals of State Cultural Policy", approved by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 808 of December 24, 2014. With this document, the state for the first time officially elevated culture to the rank of national priorities and recognized it as "the most important factor in the growth of the quality of life", "the guarantee of dynamic socio-economic development", "the guarantor of the preservation of a single cultural space and territorial integrity of Russia." In the context of the “Fundamentals”, a draft law No. 617570-5 “On Culture in the Russian Federation” was developed. Specialists from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, experts from the State Institute of Art Studies, VGIK, the Union of Theater Workers, the Institute of Economics of the Academy of Sciences and other organizations worked on it. The need for such a law has long been ripe: today, culture in Russia is regulated by the 1992 law "Fundamentals of Legislation on Culture", which is clearly outdated. The Ministry of Culture hopes that the law will be adopted before the end of the powers of the State Duma deputies of the current convocation, that is, within the next year. At the same time, specialists from the Institute of Heritage named after D. S. Likhachev are now developing a strategy for state cultural policy.

Money in exchange for values

The strategy is based on a fundamentally new approach: the state should encourage and stimulate only those types of cultural activities and those of its products that reproduce the values of Russian civilization. “Artists and associations promoting these values will receive financial support from the federal budget, tax incentives will be provided to philanthropists,” says Yuri Zakunov, scientific secretary of the Heritage Institute. - Public councils, interdisciplinary bodies, which will include representatives of different branches of government, science, education, religious and other public associations, creative unions, experts in the field of culture and art, will determine which cultural product corresponds to the traditions of Russian civilization. The councils will work in coordination with the federal interdepartmental body. For an objective assessment of a cultural project, the institute has already developed a whole system of criteria. “For this, systematic research should be carried out based on the methods of sociology, statistics, scientific expertise. They will help to identify how a particular cultural product or project influenced the worldview and behavior of people. Let's say whether they have become more proud of the culture of Russia or not; whether their assessment of the role of the Russian people in history has changed, and if so, how; whether they have become more serious about family and marriage issues, lead a healthier lifestyle, etc. etc. - Yuri Zakunov continues. - Of course, we perfectly understand that it is impossible to solve all the problems of the state of culture in the country in a short time. Now in the strategy the deadline for assessing the effectiveness of the state cultural policy is 2030”.

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Nikolai Burlyaev, a member of the Presidium of the Public Council under the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, President of the Slavic Creative Union "Golden Knight", People's Artist of Russia, expresses a similar point of view on the cultural policy of the state.

“The law on culture should state that it is based on the traditional spiritual and moral values of the Russian people and other peoples of the Russian Federation. I suggested introducing into the first paragraph of the law a provision stating that officials responsible for the distribution of funding should be guided by these values. There must be public control in the field of culture. And we have decent people who are able to make a fair assessment of any cultural phenomenon, so ask the question "Who are the judges?" there is no need, - the expert notes. - The mechanism of public control was tested on the example of the sensational opera "Tannhäuser". The public council, which included cultural figures, critics and clergy, came to a unanimous opinion: this is a provocative opera, due to its creative helplessness, based on modern surroundings. The director of the theater did not want to remove the opera from the repertoire, and then the Minister of Culture decided to dismiss him. " By the same methods, according to Nikolai Burlyaev, television should be “reformatted”: “Of course, there is no need to wait for instant changes on the air. But they are necessary, because we ourselves see what the inaction and connivance in this area have led to over the last quarter of a century.

Television has become the kingdom of permissiveness and advertising, and this is the second reality in which our children also live. Therefore, the mechanism that worked with the "Tannhäuser" can be applied here: simply dismiss those who allowed the corruption of the people, and there are quite a few of them. There is an anecdote: "The head of a major TV channel is dying, he approaches the gates of Paradise and asks the Apostle Peter:" May I go there, to you? "According to Nikolai Burlyaev, "Fundamentals of State Cultural Policy" became the first stage of changes, the second is the preparation of a strategy, the third is the adoption of the law "On Culture", and the fourth should be the removal of culture from the power of the market. Make more allocations for culture, but it must prepare mentally for this. This will pay dividends very soon: by changing the situation in the media, we can get a healthy new generation. Let the whole world live according to the laws of the market, and we must live differently,”the People's Artist of Russia is sure.

Advertising is for fools

The fact that the state has paid serious attention to culture is undoubtedly a gratifying fact. But, as we can see, no one promises quick changes. And if you descend from heaven to earth, then you need to save children from information attacks now. All around are the same endless dead dolls, spider-men, transforming robots, and then Halloween is on the nose. Somehow at the end of October, in one cafe, waiters unexpectedly changed into costumes of monsters, zombies and killer maniacs. The time was not late, so the friendly heart-rending roar of the frightened children could be heard even on the street … While the statesmen and pundits are working on the documents, the parents themselves will have to fight for the information security of the children. For the fight to be successful, moms and dads need to arm themselves with certain knowledge.

On October 15, this topic was discussed by the participants of the Interregional Scientific and Practical Conference "Protecting Children from Harmful Information", which took place in Tula

It is no secret that children are not immune against advertising technologies, and advertising meets them everywhere. According to some parents, it is she, and not cartoons or films, that leads children to "add" to imported toys. Practice shows that a child first learns about many of them from advertising, it is she who explains to him what he should want. And the saddest thing is that children see such advertisements not only on commercial channels, but also on the only state children's channel, Karusel. This channel inspires more confidence in parents than commercial TV resources, but as a result, many of us should thank him for the fact that our kids are begging for imported toys (among other things, the prices for them bite a lot). Therefore, parents believe that advertising on children's channels should be prohibited, but this will be possible, apparently, only when Nikolai Burlyaev's dream of withdrawing culture from the sphere of commerce comes true …

How to help your child not to become a victim of advertising, the audience was told by Svetlana Filippova, Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Pedagogy and Psychology, TSPU named after L. N. Tolstoy. First of all, adults should discuss advertising with a child - what exactly is being advertised, what other word can you call it, why he likes it, what he will actually get if this product is bought for him. And it is imperative to express your attitude to advertising, to let the child understand that they often tell lies about the quality of the product and about the social effects allegedly associated with it. For example, someone who constantly eats yogurt will not get stronger because of this, drinking soda is not enough to make friends or to please a girl. Soda is just soda, and you will get nothing from it except a sore stomach and early obesity. In other words, it is important to try to develop the criticality of the perception of information in the child. And, of course, you yourself shouldn't be omnivores.

And the well-known child psychologist Irina Medvedeva believes that “parents should tell the child directly: advertising is for fools. Children are primarily guided by the tastes and opinions of their parents, and this opinion must be expressed."

Teach good

The Internet project "Teach Good" is trying to help parents understand what modern mass culture is and learn how to analyze information. There is even a list of signs of a harmful cartoon. According to the authors, a cartoon is harmful if its characters behave aggressively and cruelly and the details of this are savored; bad behavior of the characters in the plot goes unpunished or even leads them to success; male characters behave like a woman, and female characters behave like a man; an idle lifestyle is promoted; family values are ridiculed; children conflict with their parents, who are shown to be stupid and ridiculous, etc. However, according to the editor of the project Yelizaveta Kvasnyuk, it is not enough to protect the child from harmful information - it is only passive protection. The main thing is to provide active protection, that is, gradually to form in children the ability to independently distinguish between good and bad. This is not so easy to do.

Let's say cruelty and aggressiveness in a movie or cartoon are striking at once. But there are many products that look completely harmless and even touching. Recently, experts from the Parent All-Russian Resistance (RVS) in St. Petersburg analyzed eight Hollywood feature-length cartoons that were released this year and are the safest in terms of rating. According to Zhanna Tachmamedova, an expert psychologist and a member of the central council of the RVS, only one of them showed healthy relationships between spouses. Often in films for the smallest, there is a blurring of the gender identity of the characters: female characters are decisive and even aggressive, male characters are so cozy, homey, they love and know how to equip the interior. In one cartoon there was even a lion in hair curlers …

“And somewhere there are a lot of sexless characters. Minions - who are they, boys or girls? Infantile, spineless, looking for someone to serve. This is how our children and our society are invited to be”, - Zhanna Tachmamedova is indignant. However, no matter how much we talk about the dangers posed by the media and the entertainment industry, the biggest impact on young children is not movies and toys, but parents. Therefore, it is important that mothers and fathers closely monitor the state of the psyche of children, try to talk with them as much as possible, live in their interests. This will make relationships with children more intimate, and help keep their hobbies under control. And, of course, you need to offer them real culture - watch good films with them and be sure to read good books. As Irina Medvedeva says, if you instill good taste in a person from childhood, then no mass culture is afraid of him.