A cable channel for tots is bragging about creating a new You Tube for preschoolers.

Frankly, this doesn’t strike me as a great stride forward. While I enjoy viral You Tube videos as much as the next person, broadcast yourself site has reinforced the famous-at-any-cost ethos in pop culture. Remember the recent brutal attack on the Florida cheerleader? Her attackers wanted to post the video on You Tube and become instant celebrities.

Sprout, which bills itself as a 24-hour preschool television channel and the
fastest-growing cable network in recent history, sent a press release about it’s new approach to afternoons.

Here’s how they described their new afternoon programming:

With the huge surge in popularity of user-generated content and new
interactive technologies that continue to skew younger and younger, Sprout is launching a new interactive show for the 2-5 year old set (think “You Tube for preschoolers!”) on May 5 at 3:00 p.m. ET/noon PT called The Sprout Sharing Show, which will showcase viewer-submitted videos featuring preschoolers from all across the country showing off their talents and “Look what I can do!” moments. Also debuting in this original block will be PICME, a new interactive show that places children directly into the story alongside the main animated characters. Using special software, PICME enables parents to superimpose a digital image of their child onto an animated body to give them a chance at a “starring role” on national television. Sprout is choosing a new child’s photo every day to appear in PICME.

This instills the message in babies as young as two and three years old that broadcasting your life moments on television for the rest of the world is a great achievement. That “look-at-me!” value system is what creates future Paris Hiltons.

The whole idea of a “You Tube for preschoolers” makes this mom of preschoolers cringe.