📘 Part 3: Children, Toys, and Advertising

This episode's vocabulary

Questions and Answers

Maria: What are the advantages and disadvantages of modern toys?

Rory: I honestly don't know. I'm not exactly au fait with the ins and outs of product design these days. But I'd guess they might be more interactive with all the technology integrated into them, which could make them more fun to play with. On the other hand, it might make them more expensive as a result.

Maria: What's the difference between the toys boys play with and girls play with?

Rory: Well, actually, I remember reading something somewhere that it's less about what they play with and more about how they play with them. So, for example, girls are generally more likely to play with dolls in a cooperative play, like playing house. While boys tend to engage in more competitive or mock aggressive play with their versions of dolls. You could probably best see that in the difference between things like Barbie and Action Man.

Maria: Do you think parents should buy more toys for their kids or spend more time with them?

Rory: Oh, I'm definitely of the firm belief that parents need to spend more time with their kids. It helps them to socialize and build secure bonds and reduces mental and physical issues. If you outsource that to inanimate objects, then I suppose it's less effective or even completely ineffectual. Not only that, but it could also even be harmful to the development of children.

Maria: What's the difference between the toys kids play with now and those they played with in the past?

Rory: Well, broadly speaking, they seem to be more complex. Not only in terms of the tech incorporated into them, but also when it comes to the materials they're made from. And they'd have to be with all the electronics embedded in them and all the developments in materials, at least in material science in the last century. All the plastic we have alone is a massive change.

Maria: Should advertising aimed at children be prohibited?

Rory: I'm tempted to say it should be banned all together, given how irritating it is. Though I'm not sure how feasible that is. How would you even enforce such a prohibition? It's probably more reasonable to encourage people to be more independently minded and reduce the exposure of kids to stuff like that in general. But that's something you have to decide personally. I don't think you could convince the authorities to enforce that.

Maria: How do adverts influence children?

Rory: I don't know a great deal about the psychological mechanism behind it, but I suppose the simple version is that the same way it affects adults, it creates some sort of excitement or fear around having or not having something and how it could make things better or at least appear to make things better. With kids, that could be making the product part of a story, or through the use of bright colors or opportunities to interact, like with a digital pet or something.

Maria: Thank you very much for your answers, Rory.