The inappropriateness of television
There are parental controls and a number of settings that allow parents to monitor and/or prevent certain programs on TV from being accessible by their children, but does that really do the job?
Being a mom myself, and knowing the effect that society has on people in general, I am extra careful with what I allow my son to watch on TV. I actually just buy him DVDs now but even then, some of these cartoons are saying the craziest things.
Cartoon Network for instance; when I was growing up, staying up late watching Cartoon Network consisted of reruns of Scooby Doo or when it got too late, boring infomercials were on. Now they have Adult Swim, which totally takes away from the “cartoon kid friendly” network that this channel used to represent.
And then … The new millennium of “kid stars”. It almost seems as if one year this new very adorable kid is a new, hot character on your child’s favorite television show, and then the next year, they are in the tabloids for doing not so kiddy things. These shows are so popular however, that they still run on air which then gives children yet another wonderful role model to look up to.
Now, Family Guy is hilarious I get it, but it is obviously an adult cartoon but yet they sell the Family Guy merchandise in children’s clothes, toys, etc. Why would a child need to be affiliated with a cartoon like Family Guy?
As adults, we sit back and wonder why all the violence, why do we have so many kids disrespecting themselves, elders, property, life … The list goes on and on.
The moral is, look at what the new generation(s) are exposed to, have been exposed to, and will continue to be exposed to. We no longer have to worry about Internet, or friends of our kids, or what they will be exposed to outside of the home, because sometimes right on television in all of these cartoons, children learn everything that most parents would not want them to learn.
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Comments
While I have no problem with your argument that young children should not be exposed to adult programming – that’s why there is adult AND child appropriate television shows – I do have a problem with your assertion that children today are more violent and disrespectful and that the cause of this is the child being exposed to violence in media and society. Every generation seems to purport this; however, it is simply not true.
Below is a link from the department of justice that shows the rate of victims per population of 1,000. See how it is decreasing?
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/glance/tables/viortrdtab.cfm
Now, I’ll admit that violent crime rates are up in 2012 to 22.5 victims per 1000 people; however, that is still less than half of what it was in the seventies.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/17/us/violent-crime/index.html
Do you think perhaps that the more logical explanation is that your perception of the rate of violence is skewed because of the bombardment of a 24 hrs news cycle and this violent media, i.e. movies and cartoons?
How do you reconcile these facts with your presuppositions? Maybe our children are perhaps more peaceful than the preceding generation? The evidence seems to indicate this.
Thank you for your response.
I apologize for not being more clear. I am not suggesting that today’s children are more violent due to media and society BUT there is a slight possibility among others. I do appreciate the facts that you have, however every generation purports this, or something similar because it does hold some truth. While crime and violence may increase or decrease, the fact is, there is still crime and violence. This is just a possible reason as to why. A lot of the things that our children are exposed to are IN FACT inappropriate. A lot of these inappropriate acts are right in the home on our television and YES there are child and adult appropriate television shows, I wonder what their ratings are though compared to reality TV, or a lot of the other shows that are popular now.
The “knowit” blog strives to positively impact the lives of Oklahoman’s. Being a good parent is hard work and we could all use a little insight or help. What may be common sense to one may not be common sense to another. There may be parents out there that may not be aware of how much of an affect TV is on their children. I just wanted to put this out there, we have to be more careful because truth is, they are allowing a lot more on TV now vs what used to be allowed.
I can reconcile your facts with my presuppositions because yes crime and violence may be decreasing, but that is not the only issue that we see in this generation or in previous generations. We still have pregnancy, depression, and high drug usage among teens and children which also can be viewed right on TV.
I am confident that we both agree on one thing, and that is, children should not be exposed to adult programming so as parents, aunts, uncles, big brothers and sisters, etc. We have to be more careful.
Wow! This is so true. Our childrens fate is right under our noses, right in our own house. They don’t even have to leave the house to be influence to become the next murderer,cheater, bank robber etc. The truth is the enemy is very subtle in how he works. We have to start paying attention and being more active and proactive in this day; especially when it comes to our kids.
Thanks for this Timeka.