It comes as no surprise to most that movies and TV seem to be showing more and more: more violence, more sex, and more inappropriate language. It may feel like every show available contains something inappropriate, especially for young children. But is this really the case? Are shows getting more or less lax when it comes to what’s shown?
The “Good Old Days”
For most adults, you think fondly of the old movies and TV shows of your past. Whether you grew up with them or saw them in your adulthood, they shaped who you are. You may remember sneaking into R rated movies or watching something that was late on TV because it was not for children. But in thinking back, most movies and programs were not very strict on ratings. For a lot of older 80s and 90s movies, for instance, the rating may have been PG or even less, while showing potentially violent or scary images. For the movies that we liked, how many of those scared the living daylights out of us as well? But if you look into the actual rating for that particular movie, it may not be that bad. Looking at movies now, the ratings are much stricter than in years past. If there are any violent scenes it is most likely rated at least PG-13. If there are certain swear words, it’s for sure rated R. Programs may be showing more violent images, but there are certainly more restrictions involved in those programs as well.
Technology Doesn’t Help
In the long run, though, with advancing tech comes easy access to literally everything. Even if movies are stricter on ratings, simply going online can give you a plethora of violent images or videos that aren’t behind closed doors. Having such easy access can be dangerous for young children, so it’s important to know what your child is up to when they’re spending time online. No matter what content is available, it’s up to each individual parent to ensure their children’s safety when it comes to violent or inappropriate images. The amount of violence in television or online may be increasing, but it can always be debated. Violence in older movies and TV didn’t have the CGI and highly realistic effects that media has today, which can also affect the efficacy of the images. Setting boundaries with your children on what’s allowed to watch and isn’t is a good start, but also teaching them the different between real and fake violence goes even further.
Ever-Changing World
For some, the world may be feeling more violent and out of control. For others, it may be more of an accessibility issue than anything increasing. Teaching your children right from wrong and what’s real world as opposed to what’s fictitious will make the biggest impact on your children’s psyche than what they actually watch on TV or online.
HomeschoolFacts.com has a complete list of support groups to help support you in your homeschooling endeavors and connect with homeschoolers near you. You can search the list of support groups here: https://www.homeschoolfacts.com/homeschool-support-groups.html
Katie Kyzivat