I was prompted to think about Cocomelon by a recent interview on the Ezra Klein show with the writer Jia Tolentino. It's a fascinating topic. It's very common these days to see toddlers with their screens glued to an iPad. Having met some of these toddlers myself, I think there's a good chance they're watching Cocomelon. Cocomelon, and shows like it, are part of a new wave of media that specifically targets toddlers. It's ridiculously popular -- increasingly so. But what should we make of its popularity?

On one level, Cocomelon is like any other new product, meeting a consumer need. Parents want to keep their children's attention occupied, and the Cocomelon + iPad combo achieves this nicely. On the other hand, it speaks volumes to the way screen time and attentional capture have affected our lives. What happens when an entire generation devotes its formative years to the toddler equivalent of TikTok? Are we destined to entrench ourselves further? Or is this yet another change we will learn to adapt to? It's likely that the current version of Cocomelon is but a stepping stone on our journey towards the future of children's media. But only by understanding what we have currently can we figure out where to go next.