The Nightmare That Is Cocomelon 

Bluey seems like a really good show for kids. From what I've seen, it really seems to promote playing outside, and after watching the episode kids could use a similar scenario to what they watched while being outdoors

I don't understand why people are so fond of the "But it's for kids" argument as if toddlers and young children are hamsters or something, as if what they consume doesn't matter because they're not even human yet. It's precisely because they're children that they deserve to experience good, healthy entertainment. Our brains develop at a very rapid rate when we're kids. What these kids consume will reflect on their social life, school life, and by extension the development of their whole early personality. Why does this even need to be said?

If I hear the parents around say "My child can't stay still if he's not given a smartphone," then I consider them failures as parents

I'm surprised Bluey's Hide and Seek, an episode about bluey not being able to stay on task and having to learn to focus to accomplish the goal she set out to do, is way less hyperactive than anything cocomelon put out

For the past year, I've had to endure Cocomelon almost on a daily basis because of my baby sister. I can also confirm that "Cocomelon withdrawals" are a real issue.

I'm a nanny and when I look at ads put out by families, it's common to see parents request mininal screentime for the kids, but sometimes I specifically find "NO COCOMELON," and it is honestly such a relief to see. UPDATE: I now work at a daycare, and the no cocomelon days are over. All good things must come to an end.

I literally watched one clip of Cocomelon to see why it was so popular, and I shit you not the hypnotization stuff even worked on me. The flashy, colorful images that zoom by are literally digital weed

I found out I'm autistic/ADHD about two years ago which means I've gone my entire life not knowing what the hell was wrong/different about me. I really enjoyed kids' shows and cartoons growing up. But when I started checking out shows with my own kid, they gave me insane headaches and drove me nuts. This does a VERY good job at explaining why. I've since introduced my kid to the shows I watched as a child (especially something like Blue's Clues or something equally "calm" when she needs to chill out before bed). Thanks for helping me figure all that out and give a name to it.

honestly i just wish parents would get their kids to watch cartoons on TV instead of on youtube. youtube has no filtering, not even youtube kids. nothing is specifically filtered out like on TV, and just getting sick of your kid and making them watch bright colours and unboxing videos probably numbs their brain to an extent

There’s nothing wrong with letting kids watch tv because parents do need down time so there should be no shame for that. But as a babysitter the second I turned on coco melon the kids kept quiet and didn’t move. I limited it as much as I could and got them to dance to Disney songs instead and watch octonauts or Sophia the first. Luckily they didn’t throw tantrums for a very long time but they definitely did put up a fight.

Honestly, a horror series about a Cocomelon parody would work very well.

Luckily Bluey is now already in the process of taking the throne from CocoMelon, for good reasons too! It is actually really good and enjoyable for all ages. Also sometimes tackles heavy subjects.

I used to volunteer for a preschool and they had “song time” where the kids would listen to songs on a tablet and eat some snacks. A cocomelon video came on and all of the tots stopped what they were doing put down their cheese crackers and remained fixated on the screen for the duration of the video. It was honestly kind of terrifying.

I remember hearing about a toddler that thought "don't forget to subscribe" meant goodbye after watching hours of youtube. what a fucking world we live in

The original Phineas and Ferb series was my saving grace in my childhood. I'm grateful Cocomelon wasn't as popular in the past as it is today, because it's literaly too much. Someone send this to whatever organization controls the kids tv community, because they'll not like what Cocomelon is doing.

I'm studying psychology and if I had a guess as to what was happening with the children is that they are experiencing what we refer to as derealization or depersonalization. Because the show is so immersive and distracting your child from the outside world It's shutting off all of their senses for a very extended period of time. This can cause the child to become complete disconnected from the reality around them and only see cocomelon as their main reality. I've experienced the same thing as an adult in a lot of video games and especially in VR games. This phenomenon isn't completely understood but we can attribute it to shutting off our senses other than our vision for a long time.

As an early child development sciences major, I really appreciate you mentioning that even shows for toddlers should have substance. The majority of brain development occurs in the early years.

Cocomelon actually makes me greatful for all the "bad" preschool shows back in the day, at least those had creativity.

fun fact: as you age, something yellowing makes your eyes stop seeing color as brightly. so these babies are seeing these colors even more hard to look at than all of us

It absolutely blows my mind that millennial parents put so little care into moderating their kids media exposure

It's not just the visuals keeping kid's attention, it's also the songs. Constant music playing with saturated colors and quick changing shots. It's just a sensory overload and kids need to focus on it to try to figure out what is happening because there's too many things happening.

Cocomelon is almost always on top 10 for Netflix, and I’m scared shitless

So glad i grew up with Looney Toons and Garfield (the based cat)

Kids love Cocomelon, but it really does seem like an addiction. The tantrums when they want more and the glazed eyes when they are watching is terrifying.

I’ve only ever seen about 2 seconds of Cocomelon, and from those 2 seconds I can tell it’s the cartoon equivalent of jingling keys around in front of a child to keep them entertained.

_Cocomelon_ is basically becoming the children's equivalent of nicotine at this point, and it's very sad to think about.

I wish there was a legal way to cancel cocomelon. When even the real research explains its bad, it shall burn in hell.

Hearing "no one has heard of Bluey" nowadays is REALLY funny.

I imagine one of those cocomelon kids in the future having a Winter Soldier-like episode when they hear the cocomelon intro for the first time in 20 years

i convinced my mom before that cocomelon was really suspicious and she agreed cuz the way my baby brother was legit motionless when watching it scared us. he watches peppa pig now and is much more cheerful. this show is cursed, the animation, the trance it puts kids in, everything.

im glad my little brother watched it so much, he literally throws a fit when he hears the intro and changes it immediately. character development

My baby don’t even pay attention to cocomelon 😂, thank God she’s a Bluey girl 🙂🤍

cocomelon, truly an eldritch horror of unfathomable proportions

I watched about 10 minutes of bluey at a doctors office while it was on TV. that show was honestly mellow and seemed perfect for kids.

I really like how you broke it down by shots per second. I think Cocofelon actually uses this science in their shows

My little brother used to love Cocomelon, but, somehow, HE ACTUALLY GOT BORED OF IT! But now his watch history is 99% Ryan's World... corporate brainwash. But he also loves Bluey, so there's hope. HOPE!

I feel bad for those kids, they can't breathe with cocomelon. The fast pacing, the colours and movements sound like pain.

I’m not a child psychologist or anything like that, so this is just me talking out of my ass, but overstimulation is a real thing in young kids. I’ve worked with all age ranges in environmental education, and the way they process the things around them is incredibly complicated compared to how older individuals would. They’re too young to be able to process it logically, and a “positive” stimulant like that seems to be almost hardwiring them to want access to that content constantly because of how it makes them feel compared to their regular ordinary stimuli.

I watched lazytown as a kid, and that encouraged me to be more active :)

My biggest flex is that... I've never watched a single episode of Cocolemon

Because it's branded for toddlers, Cocomelon makes parents lower their guard, and let the pretty images drone their toddler into an addictive state, it would be best for parents to monitor what their children watches, no matter how innocent the content may appear.

I love how if you replace the word “Cocomelon” with any kind of drug, the sentence would still make sense.

I'm an elementary teacher. I strongly warn my school, parents, and friends that they should not let kids watch it. Thank you for spreading the news. Teachers back you up on this one.

I am so glad I grew up with the Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Superjail!, Squidbillies and Metalocalypse. I am an incredibly well adjusted individual and trusted by every human I meet.

This was actually super informative, as someone who has 2 young kids it's actually helpful to know what shows are like this, also bluey is an Australian show (I live in Australia) and hence why it's not super popular in America but it's literally the number 1 kids show in Australia on free to air TV it's also amazing because it's made for all ages

i think parents should prohibit their kids from watching cocomelon, and i think the best way to find an alternative is to watch some kids shows for a little bit. you can't stop the creators from making it but you can minimize their audience

Im so glad my siblings watch Bluey, My Little Pony and Dreamworks movies.

I just realized MrBeast is Cocomelon for an older demographic.

im not an artist, but the color palette aspect of the comparison is probably one of the most important factors that makes Cocomelon videos overstimulating for children. a brief summary of the three other movies used in the comparison: the color palette in Bluey is (in my opinion) very stylized, having matched saturation and other qualities which makes it easier for the eyes. Arcane is pretty similar, except it's a more mature show and the style might be more appealing in terms of artistry. Encanto is more diverse than the other two but the shading and other color-blending methods are so profesionally polished that it most likely mimics real-life vision most, of which our human eyes are most used to and comfortable with. Cocomelon animations however, don't adopt these artistic qualities that give colors their aesthetic purposes and only stick with assets in incredibly bright, contrast shades to captivate children into watching more and more of Cocomelon.

I honestly really don't like parents who let devices raise their children

Cocomelon is meant to overstimulate them with bright colors, visuals moving really fast and music that has way to much sound in the background of it. that is what keeps them glued to it because it excites them and influences them. i recomend, bluey, MLP, Seasame street, PBS kIDS, DANIEL LION, OR CARS.

I hope my mom restricts my baby sibling from cocomelon when they are born

As a autistic teen I couldn’t imagine how I would react to this much stimulation as a kid, it could actually be dangerous for kids on the spectrum to view things like this

Omg, thank you so much. Finally someone is talking about these brainless yet somehow famous 3D kids animation channels. The world is so screwed right now.

When I have kids I will make sure that they stay far away from the atrocity that is Cocomelon

Bluey is an awesome cartoon. It uses 2d animation unlike most shows on Disney Junior (no hate to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse as I grew up with that)

The fact that Cocomelon is more fast paced than a fight is mindboggling

Cocomelon basically makes your children the evil kids from "Children Of The Corn"

I love how there's Lego Starwars gameplay in the background lmao

cocomelon has more scenes per min than the averge action movie

The animation makes the NFT cartoon look like a quality show

The colors thing actually makes a lot of sense. Brighter, more intense colors usually click in a toddler’s mind as “cheerful”. So brighter colors tend to mean “happy” and duller, grayer colors feel boring or sad, and I feel like that’s kind of how film makers add emotion to scenes, using lighter, brighter color palettes for happy times and duller or darker colors for sad or stressful moments. Again could be my tired brain overthinking everything but who knows

Meanwhile my toddler vehemently refuses to watch this. She only wants Bluey.

Coco melon zombification nearly gave me whiplash

hearing those reviews, I'm honestly glad my childhood shows was Sesame street and the late 80s-90s kids education show you can only watch on TV, being airred strictly on certain periods/time schedules of time(public access TV and not those 24hour cable TV).

This makes me feel so bad for the younger generations. I would love to see a scientific study on the subject, and i can imagine of that happens and the results come out negative it might do something about the issue. But in the meantime I'm gonna send this vid to my mom, she is a Pre-K teacher and she complains about Cocomelon all the time and this could be the answer to her frustrations

Bluey against Cocomelon is like the chess bot Torch against Stockfish. At this point even TikTok is better for kids than Cocomelon. Bluey is the only kids show that adults can enjoy, so ITS GOOD. “Oh it’s just boomers being boomers!” I a m n o t a b o o m e r . Reject Cocomelon, accept bluey

Thank you so much for helping me put into words something I've been trying to describe for so long. Mainly the color part describing saturation. It's a thing infesting Roblox nowadays too, all these crap tier games are churned out with overestimating visuals that make me want to throw my eyes out the window. You reinforced my belief if making a visually readable game, thank you :D

I work in a daycare as a toddler teacher and we put cocomelon music on Spotify and all of my kids sort of stand still and stare at the speaker where the music is coming out of, not really interacting or dancing like they do with other music. It's actually pretty scary 😂

Let's not forget, the audio will haunt the nightmares of any sane adult alone. You don't need to look at it, hearing more than two seconds of any of those songs is soul crushing.

Cocomelon honestly seems like a toddler version of like tiktoks or RU-vid shorts

This video was the first time id ever heard of Bluey, and I had no idea how much this show would impact my life. The truth was I didn't have any idea what it was, but when it finally came around to me, I had no idea what it would put me through. It is genuinely the best show I have ever seen in my life

I hate how all these kids' properties try way too hard to emulate the Frozen/"new-era Disney" look/style instead of being unique and creative

Honestly it makes me sad to see parents shove cartoons in toddlers faces and just ignore them for the rest of the day it should be considered neglect but it's just so common in a lot of families - edit: im glad to see alot of people agree im a older sister and i see this in alot of households. im not trying to demonize tv or anything but kids should experience playing with other kids and toys rather then learning nothing from watching the same cocomelon episode over and over. thanks for the replies :)

I'm glad I grew up with high-quality cartoons which are entertaining for both children and adults alike. I still regularly watch them and find them entertaining

Parents, I’m a kid and if I was a parent I’d make them watch something normal like Tom and Jerry

It's been..YEARS..Y E A R S That I still can't understand who is truly behind all of this type of content, it feels SO auto generated, I cannot comprehend that someone actually does this type of shit or pays for this to be created.

weird way to add to the discussion, but when i was in a mental hospital last month, a mom talked about how she had her child watch cocomelon when she was busy with schoolwork. this bit her in ass when her kid would lose their shit when they didn't have cocomelon on. i honestly wouldn't be surprised if its some kind of literal visual drug

1:12 oh god, not the raid shadow legends sponsor

I feel like the quality of kids shows is going down at a rapid rate. We used to have Sailor Moon, which actually taught kids some lessons and helped them accept different identities with Sailor Uranus, Pokemon who taught us not to be cruel to animals with Charmander and more.

As someone who works in childcare, I absolutely despise Cocomelon. While there is not enough data out there yet to prove the lasting effects of screen time on toddlers, I’ve seen first hand what happens to children who are constantly subjected to it. This “show” is the equivalent of candy in terms of sustenance for the mind, and it takes precious time away from the skills that they need to be learning in these crucial stages of early childhood development.

It's crazy thinking this show unironically puts children in a trance and makes them practically addicted to it. It's somewhat terrifying really, like dangerous levels of hypnotism

You know, I hear Dreamworks, the same studio that made Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, is going to make a Cocomelon movie. I really hope it does get made because I want to see the chaos unravel.

Thank you for making this. This video is now a main source for one of my college papers simply due to how you presented the data and the comparison between the shows. ^^

I was in the hospital with a perforated stomach as the result of an ulcer. I had to listen to a kid blast Cocomelon videos for an hour. If I wasn't doped up from all the painkillers the doctors gave me I'd've lost it. I have mad respect for anyone who's had to put up with Cocomelon chronically.

I’ve seen “moms” walking around wearing shirts that glorify Cocomelon and act like it’s a cute fun personality trait to let technology raise their kids. Sick

Thank goodness for the automated chapter generation. I almost had to MANUALLY fast forward through an ad I've heard in the voices of a thousand other RU-vidrs.

As someone who has been taking care of children since I was 10 I can definitely say the way the parents are saying their kids react to coco melon is very accurate. I at some point during the previous summer was taking care (I was not paid) of someones 1 year old and she kept putting on Cocomelon for her daughter on her phone and every time her mom would take the phone she would start throwing a tantrum, but the moment her mom gave it back she was glues to the phone (to note, this was a shitty parent so it very apparent she was just doing to get her kid out of her hair and she would dissappear for weeks on end to do something stupid like car shows making me watch over her daughter) and if it was on the TV she would keep here eye glued to the TV THE. ENTIRE. TIME. I tested to see if she would still watch it even if I left the room and sure enough if I leave 9 times out of 10 she was glued to the TV. I already thought that program was 50 shades of fkn weird but I have never felt so many red flags coming up while caring for a child like that. My parents are having my nephew watch this shit and would get pissed at me if I put something else on. (they have no comprehension for childrens devolopment, as very evident for making me take care of someone else kids since I was 10 and spanking me and my siblings despite not really doing anything that bad to deserve it) If your a parent, don't rely on your child to be the parent to other kids and don't rely on a peice of technology to condition and parent your child for you.

As someone who grew up with a ton of younger siblings who recently got a Disney+ account (happy now?), I've seen every episode of Bluey at least twice. It's perfect for kids. Good morals, good animation and character design, great development, and realistic situations that always turn out wholesome in the end. It's like Ghibli, slow-paced with a bit of wonder. Edit: my favorite episode would have to be the one with the fairies. following that up is the one where the sisters teach their grandma to do the floss. only this show could make that unironically adorable.

The other thing to keep in mind about Arcane and Encanto is that the short lengths of the shots are used to make viewers feel emotion, such as fear, suspense, and anxiety. With Cocomelon, there is no story, it's just one mindless clip after the next, meant to steal attention that would otherwise be easily diverted, due to the lack of any creativity in its "stories". I haven't watched Arcane, so I can't speak for it, but having seen Encanto, their uses of short shots are used very effectively to enhance the rich, detailed story already being told, not to mention that one can rewatch songs from the movie and pick up on new details in the animation and lyrics. It's genius because it adds layers to the narrative.

Honestly I’m pretty sure Cocomelon effects the way toddlers talk too. My brother used to watch cocomelon and before that he could say a few words but when he first watched cocomelon he payed little attention to anything else going on but was still able to say something but it really just sounded like complete gibberish like words that were never said before…

If I ever have kids, I’m raising them on the shows I grew up with (Sesame Street, Barney, and Thomas the Tank Engine).

The fact that Baby Shark is quicker than a scene where two people are fighting to the death surprises me

I wish that mr. Rogers was still alive to teach kids good morals and give them something actually entertaining for them to watch

Clangers is my favorite children's show. it's stop motion and BEAUTIFULLY DONE. so calm and peaceful and sweet.

A coco-felony just sent me🤣

Once had a kid tear my hair out, bite me until I bled, and hurt themself to make it look like I had hit them. 4 y/o threatened to get me arrested because they couldn’t watch a melon show. Drug addicts have more remorse than that.

Hey! This is an interesting retrospective on Cocomelon and the state of children's media. I'm actually the one who storyboarded the Baby Shark sequence in Cocomelon a few years back while I was an intern there (words cannot express how sorry i am), and I can provide some insight on a lot of the decisions that were made back then regarding the show. I don't work there anymore, I haven't for years, but the videos discussed here are ones that I was there for the making of, so I can give a little info on the production side. Also I see y'all being very very angry at Cocomelon in the comments, please don't harass me over this I am not responsible for the company's decisions and I am very sensitive A lot of the time as I worked on the show, I was actually told to dumb down the content, not just in terms of the visuals but also the writing, as most of the design philosophy was, and I quote, "ages 5 and under," meaning a lot of the emphasis the small team of animators put on was on keeping kids occupied and as the video says "overstimulated," which at the time I thought was selling kids' intelligence a bit short. It's the reason why there were so many fast shots and dizzying camera motions. The original storyboard for Baby Shark didn't move around nearly as much as the final product did, as the original intent was to show the Baby Shark dance and not much else. It was also difficult to convey any sort of story thread or moral thanks to the "ages 5 and under" tenet. There were a few things we tried to push in terms of teaching lessons, but most of it got lost in the core philosophy of keeping the kids' eyes on the screen, entertained. This was actually a little bit easier to do back in the 2-D era when it was still ABCKidTV, with one particular example being the Crocodile/Alligator song that I wrote & built the assets for to illustrate the biological differences between crocodiles and alligators in a way kids could understand. The 2-D era was a lot easier to follow in my opinion since it didn't have all that constant flashy 3-D camera movement that merely held kids' attention through the sheer amount of stuff going on on-screen. Cocomelon back then was also animated with a small team of like, 3 or 4 animators who worked on one project each at a time, so regarding the animation, this was a small group of individuals who were trying their best, but I feel that the show could have used a bit more focus on quality than cranking out song after song like, every other day of the week. Looking back at my time interning there, I feel like the show's main shortcoming was its focus on maintaining children's attention with flashy visuals and music that plateaus at the toddlers' level, rather than focusing on advancing their education through moral teachings and engaging (while still obvious) storytelling. I feel like it's not so much some kind of nightmarish post-apoc forced indoctrination so much as an overstimulating lightshow that's the equivalent of feeding kids too much candy. Shows like Bluey, Tiny Planets, Blues Clues, Dora, etc. excel at early childhood development because while they use simple language young children can understand, they grapple with concepts that teach children about morality, language, relationships, generosity, you name it, all stuff that kids need to know to function well and get along with each other as they grow up. The core of good children's media is to not just be entertaining, but also fulfilling, and I wish that Cocomelon had more of that. I ain't saying you're not allowed to have opinions on Cocomelon at all, like tolerate it or hate it I don't care, but this is simply my experience working on the show. if you got this far thank you for reading my experiences in this company but i must stress again please please PLEASE do not witch hunt me over this I was a lowly intern back in the day I was fresh out of high school and I am now happily making video game songs with lyrics content that appeals to all ages

Cocomelon made me learn that, if I ever have kids, distance them from the internet until they are concious of what it has and it's horrors. This is simply a disgusting way of letting someone else (a company) care of your child.