Sponge Bob Square Pants is my son's favorite cartoon and mine of late. We watch it nightly. Sponge Bob makes me hit the road early as I join the teleserye-driven evening traffic in a mad dash for the remote control.

My son requires me to sit through its quadruple, back-to-back nightly reruns on Nickelodeon. Soon I began to crave for a daily dose of nautical nonsense from Stephen Hillenburg whose humor and punchlines appeal to children, as well as adults drifting in and out of childhood.

Aside from loving this absorbent, yellow, porous, simpleton Sponge Bob, I am also fond of deuterantagonist, Squidward Tentacles who—in spite of his angst—is blending absurdly with blissfully ignorant Sponge Bob and his dimwitted best bud Patrick Star, a brainless Echinoderm whom my son says, reminds him of me (I itch to know why but too afraid to ask). Squidward's repartee is something to look forward to, as he gets dragged in the gang's many fantastic exploits.

I am also fascinated by support character Sandy Cheeks, a squirrel who speaks with a Texan twang. A karate expert and discoverer of whats and what-nots, Sandy bobbles in and out of Sponge Bob's water world in an oxygenated glass dome. There's Mr. Eugene Krabs, proprietor of burger dump, "Krusty Krab" and Sponge Bob's boss. He is a money worshiper whose business acumen is the envy of his covetous nemesis, Sheldon Plankton, a.k.a. the-loser-who-is-married-to-a-sarcastic-cyborg and owns Krusty Krab's sore competitor, Chum Bucket.

This mix of obnoxious and endearing characters and their fast-paced, outlandish predicaments have made for evenings of laughter and bonding.

But recently, the US Journal of Pediatrics raised disturbing concerns over fast-paced cartoons, such as Sponge Bob Square Pants. The study cautions against unrealistic, almost magical storylines where there are a lot of things happening in quick successions. These are believed to have some effect on learning abilities (or lack thereof?) among children.

Fast-paced cartoons are difficult to digest and assimilate and experts theorize that this disrupts a child's thinking process. The brain gets exhausted as it works very hard to absorb the flow while catching up with very fluid developments.

The study gathered 60, 4-year olds with similar levels of TV viewing and attention skills. Split into three groups, some watched nine minutes of Sponge Bob, another viewed nine minutes of Caillou (an educational program), while the remaining group spent time drawing.

Tests were then administered to assess the children's attention, working memory, problem-solving and delayed gratification. Tasks included, following instructions, reversing the order of numbers and resisting treats. The study found that those who watched fast-paced cartoons were operating at "half the capacity" compared to the other groups.

Dr. Rahil Briggs, a psychologist and director of the Healthy Steps Program in the Bronx commented that fast-paced, fantastical sequences might actually train the early childhood brain to pay less attention to things that are not so fantastic.

"You may be priming the brain to be almost A.D.H.D.-like impulsive," said Briggs.

Nickelodeon, the network that produces "SpongeBob," dismissed the study's findings as inconclusive. In its statement, it said preschool-age children are not the show's intended audience. The network added, "SpongeBob" is designed for 6 to 11-year-olds.

But even as Nickelodeon had specified its "target age group" for Sponge Bob, there are no clear and specific age restrictions in TV viewing. Survey data in the US show that Sponge Bob is watched by very young children. During the first 8 months of 2011, some 1.7 million watched the show. Survey group Nielsen said 39 percent of these were children aged 2 to 5.

The trend is no different in the Philippines where Sponge Bob is not just a cable TV feature. It is also a free TV staple, open for viewing by children of all ages. And parents are just as hapless victims as their toddlers for thinking all cartoons are created equal and harmless.

My personal viewer's discretion? Anything on TV these days is deemed parental guidance whether it's a serious, adult-themed movie, a certified, "kid-appropriate" cartoon and everything in between. Parents need to be on call for reality checking and perspective that's why it's important we watch these shows with our kids. We are the explainers.*