TV is one of the most prevalent forms of media in today’s society giving young people incredible access to what is on the television. The access had been increasing in the last half decade since the standard of living has been going up. According to Eugene V. Beresin M.D. “In 1950, only 10% of American homes had a television. Today 99% of homes have televisions”. TVs are available in almost everyone home in the US and many children have a TV in their own bedroom. Despite the common idea that children should not have electronics during bedtime almost half of children are able to watch TV and movies in the comfort of their own bedroom. Media prevalence today is affecting everyone in society with problems such as obesity and attention problems.
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Despite the rating system that has been in place, many young people still have easy access to watch whatever they are interested in seeing. Susan Knapp summarized a study about children seeing R-rated material in movies stating “These movies, all R-rated and not meant to be seen by children, contained scenes depicting such things as sadistic rape, sodomy, brutal of ritualistic murder and cannibalism. On average, these especially violent movies were seen by 28 percent of the sample” The rating system set in place is supposed to prevent children from seeing violent depictions and inform their parents about questionable scenes in a movie they are showing to their children. Yet the rating system does not appear to have prevented many from watching violent acts and sometimes even attracts them to what they are not supposed to be seeing. Craig A Anderson and Saleem Muniba researched better ways to encourage kids to watch movies appropriate for their age group, “Implement content code ratings rather than age-based ratings. Content code ratings would specify questionable material. There is evidence that content ratings are more informative and less likely to attract young viewers” By changing the rating system and giving parents more information, young children would less likely see violence portrayed in movies. A new system may yield much more positive results and is evidenced to be beneficial. Rating movies in a new way would let parents decide whether they were ready for their children to watch violent acts and not just by the age the rating tells them. Young children are exposed to an extraordinary amount of cruelty through television and movies, yet there are no restrictions to help parents know the dangers of what their children are watching. Parents need to continue to make sure what their kids are watching is
Despite the rating system that has been in place, many young people still have easy access to watch whatever they are interested in seeing. Susan Knapp summarized a study about children seeing R-rated material in movies stating “These movies, all R-rated and not meant to be seen by children, contained scenes depicting such things as sadistic rape, sodomy, brutal of ritualistic murder and cannibalism. On average, these especially violent movies were seen by 28 percent of the sample” The rating system set in place is supposed to prevent children from seeing violent depictions and inform their parents about questionable scenes in a movie they are showing to their children. Yet the rating system does not appear to have prevented many from watching violent acts and sometimes even attracts them to what they are not supposed to be seeing. Craig A Anderson and Saleem Muniba researched better ways to encourage kids to watch movies appropriate for their age group, “Implement content code ratings rather than age-based ratings. Content code ratings would specify questionable material. There is evidence that content ratings are more informative and less likely to attract young viewers” By changing the rating system and giving parents more information, young children would less likely see violence portrayed in movies. A new system may yield much more positive results and is evidenced to be beneficial. Rating movies in a new way would let parents decide whether they were ready for their children to watch violent acts and not just by the age the rating tells them. Young children are exposed to an extraordinary amount of cruelty through television and movies, yet there are no restrictions to help parents know the dangers of what their children are watching. Parents need to continue to make sure what their kids are watching is