Letter to the Editor: Parents need to control their TV Content
Author: Alice Hall
Parents need to control their TV Content
Alice Hall
I am 83 years old and never did well with technology, but my family has me using streaming sticks for television entertainment because I do not like things that show blood, guts and gore. That seems to be all that we can find on television anymore these days with the exception of a few channels. I am using a Roku streaming stick. My family told me that they are not part of Networks (television) as I am accustomed to, but I felt it was necessary to voice how I feel about my latest discovery.
Everyone has a choice about what they want to see on TV, but I am very concerned about the violence and sex that children are being exposed to on TV (and the internet/streaming). If enough parents are made aware and take action, maybe we can find change. Make these things less accessible to the audience that they are not intended for. I am set to parental security settings for my Roku (like any other child) to limit my exposure to these things and I was watching the Live TV streaming option on Roku and a show that consisted of explicit sexual content came on at 8:00 pm.
Parents work. Kids are not always watched. Some parents cannot afford babysitters. These things should only be available during hours when children are already asleep.
Streaming or not: websites like YouTube direct children's programming to these things if they are on the site long enough. The kids don't have to change the video or the channel and the explicit content automatically shows up. Even the thumbnails made visible for the commercial coming up or the next episode are sometimes displaying some kind of explicit image that a child should not have to see. Oftentimes, the image isn't even what comes next, but is still displayed for more than 30 seconds, which would allow a child enough time to take notice.
What happened to the wholesome family programs that we could all watch together on a frosty night with popcorn and smoothies or a root beer float or coco... Things like animated films with morals behind them or 'The Bowery Boys,' Charlie Chaplain', 'Abbott and Costello and the Ghost House'... there is so much out there. So much content has been created in my lifetime. When I was young, program entertainment was on the radio, and I watched it evolve from black and white, tube television, and these 4D TVs everyone has now. The more our senses are touched by the "entertainment," the less the industry leaves to the mystery and the creative process we all used to have in our own imaginations.
I just want people to know so that they can keep making conscious choices about what their loved ones are being exposed to. We have got to try to keep positive action to do something to save our children from brainwashing. Parents should be the ones to say how much their child should know and be aware of at what age.
