From plural infancies to a single infancy: medias, consumption relationships and the knowledge building

Abstract

In the contemporary scenario, the relationship which children build in their everyday lives became mediated by experiences obtained via television communication. It means that media exceeds the limits of entertainment, being an important educational element due to its role in the educational process. With this purpose the television media, based on a homogenizing format of programs for the infant, leading children from different parts of the world to watch the same cartoons and publicity campaigns. Therefore it constitutes manners of being children, interfering in the way of thinking, feeling and desires, in the relationship styles and in the concept and the value building process. Considering television media as a learning environment, this article presents a research carried out with a group of children, aiming at the investigation of the interactions that infant viewers establish with the television productions. In identifying plays, drawings, oral and written narratives privileged by children, it was observed that children build conception of nature, gender, violence and consumption under the influence of cartoons and sitcoms to which they have access. In this text, we highlight the generated reflections about consumption and specific knowledge building among children, which are mediated by the access to propaganda and to personages of television productions. Finally, we consider that thinking of infancies in the contemporary context requires consideration of the predominance of visual language and the role of media corporations in the extra-school experiences.