[Guest]

Its a no wonder why todays kids and teens act & talk the way they do. Look at what they are exposed to on Television these days. Adult programming in the middle of the day, soaps, PPV, sexual comments on sitcoms. A Parent almost has to block half the channels on television because of what they broadcast. Since the 80's, tv has gone downhill fast. Whats next, full frontal nudity on network sitcoms?

 

[Guest]

Peter I have got to disagree with you.

While it may be a shock to many folks in the US what has popped up on TV over the last decade we must understand that, there are countries that have showed more sex and violance on TV then any channel and they dont have the problems we do.

Our problem is in the way we do our parenting we try to shelter our kids too much. Instead of a parent sitting with a child and explaining the good and bad in what they are seeing, the parents are telling kids they cant watch it which makes kids more curious of what they can't see. Kids then think that what they are missing must be good and they really want to see it and to try doing what they are not supposed to be seeing.

I feel if everything is out in the open then there are no taboos and then child has a chance to learn and from what. I have that if you are open with the child that the child actually gets bored of the bad things and takes his interests elsewhere instead of trying to sneak around to try finding the bad things.

I hope I am stating this clear as my thoughts on this are hard to type.

Scott

 

[Guest]

I do think our programming is starting to take a step into the darkside.....they are pushing their limits.....IMO.

But, I also agree with Scott. Its very easy to turn the parental locks on and walk away. What my child isn't allowed to watch at my house, he see's over at the neighbors house.

 

[Guest]

I was just stating that Television is pushing the limits to the extreme these days. It seems that regular over the air channels push the porn thing in your face more now than ever. You cant turn on a channel these days without seeing a couple jumping in bed or talk about things that 10 years ago, one didn't see.

 

[Guest]

Well Peter, I agree with you. TV in recent years has gotten pretty trashy. I have two teenagers and while they were growing up I've always been strict on what shows are watched in the house. All of the parental locks are set at PG-13 and no further. All DVD's with explicite sex, violence and language are out of their cases and stashed away somewhere else.

What has this resulted in? My 16 year old is now watching R rated movies that have been presented to him at MY pace, not someone elses. I don't trust the networks or movie channels to dicatate when my children should be watching their trashy movies and shows. As a result, my son has no desire to "sneak" over to someone elses house to watch something because he simply asks me and we sit and watch it together. Of course, he doesn't get to see everything but enough that I'm comfortable with and to keep him satisfied.

My 14 year old daughter has no desire to see R rated movies because she understands through my guidance that it's not necessary to watch them. Occasionally she does ask but if I say no, I've provided other forms of entertainment to keep her occupied. Eventually, I will do the same with her that I have with my son. That is, exposing her slowly and at what I think is a good pace.

I guess my point is that active parental involvment is the key. As Scott said, simply setting the locks and being done with it is not enough.

As far as TV overseas, Scott is right. It's worse over there but does that make it right? Just because they do it, doesn't mean we have to. What really concerns me is how far all of this go. At what point will it all stop?

 

[Guest]

I can't understand the misconception that seeing sex is what's wrong with kids these days.

How is it that when prime time has been littered with shoot 'em up dramas each trying to press the other's limits over the past couple of decades or more, that some people point to sex as the root of all that is evil in society??? Where's the logic in that???

Why don't these individuals for once suggest that pulling out an automatic weapon and shooting another human being in cold blood and in full sight of the camera is the reason that we as Americans are becoming more and more callious to the human condition???

Displaying total power and control over another individual or total lack of concern over a fellow human being by blowing their brains out is exactly why subsequent generations in America, in general, show less and less consideration over the well being of their neighbor.

NO, it has nothing to do with consenting adults (married or not) jumping in the sack together for some carnal pleasures. Nor does it have anything to do with the God-given beauty of the naked body. Those suggestions are purely asinine.

 

[Guest]

I have always watched what I wanted to, My first R movie was Cliffhanger back in '92 or 93'. And thats basically all Ive been watching and I dont think its affected me. Lets face reality, kids can see movies their not supposed to at friends houses or even buy them. Ive boughten over 40 R rated DVDs and VHS tapes and I was only asked my age once, but stupid me I told the truth, so once the guy in the electronics department left I took the DVD and paid for it at the normal registers. This was at Walmart and the DVD was Die Hard. Parental locks both on E* systems and the internet arnt that had to crack. With E* you have only a 4 digit password, if someone really wanted to they could crack that in a hour or 2 just by punching in numbers and trial and error. My personal preferance for movies and TV is something with a lot of action and suspence.

 

[Guest]

Where's logandraven been, this would be a great topic to read his unique, intense, perspective on this issue.

 

[Guest]

I agree programming is going downhill fast and losing moral value. As for you Steve, your comment about the porn lockout password on E* being easy to crack, there are 10000 possible combinations. To crack that in your two hour figure you'd have to try as many as 1.39 passwords a SECOND Assuming a more reasonable 15 seconds per password it would take upto 41.67 hours to crack. And I doubt you capable of entering one password every 15 seconds for that long without breaks, so lets assume you're just spending 8 hours a day working on it - you're up to 5.2 days. Not that easy to do in reality. And Steve, I'm glad you aren't effected by R movies and that's all you watch. As for me - my (relatively limited because I'm poor and I've only owned a DVD player since the end of September 2001) DVD collection:

Stuart Little (Widescreen) - PG
The Princess Diaries (Widescreen) - G
Toy Story - G
Toy Story 2 - G
A Bug's Life - G
The Tigger Movie - G
VeggieTales - Ultimate Silly Song Countdown - Not Rated
Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace - PG
Shrek - PG

-and coming soon-

Remember the Titans (Widescreen) - PG

 

[Guest]

You got a DVD player before I did, I got my fist, (not including my DVD rom drive) DVD player for this past Christmas. My DVD collection Isnt that big either I have 20. Most of them are in 2.35:1 only one is fullscreen 1.33:1, thank God. Its not that I watch R movies just because theyre rated R its becasue I like action (and most action/adventure/horror/thrillers are R rated) and anything that will give my rears and sub a good workout (Swordfish and The Patriot with Mel Gibson have to be the 2 best sounding DVD I have). Most of the time I dont pay attention to the ratings, the 3 PG13 DVDs I own, Gone In 60 Secs (the new one with Nick Cage), Frequency and U571, are awsome. Frequency is a very well thought out movie, emotional and really made me think about the past. Plus I like Garth Brooks song during the ending credits