Television
Pornography on the Internet is a blight. In this post I asked for feedback on what people are doing in their homes to educate and protect. The comments are worth a read.
I believe, however, that in many homes the Internet isn’t the worst portal for inappropriate content.
For some, the TV is even worse–and many don’t know it.
Movie channels like HBO have content you’d be horrified to see your kids watching. Nudity, inappropriate language, violence. It’s all there in abundance. Even stations that come with the basic packages (like MTV) have content I’m not comfortable with my kids watching. Pay-per-view channels are awful. If you’re not careful, your kids can order movies which not only ring up your monthly bill but, much worse, bring content into your home that you don’t want there. Commercials can be the worst. I’m embarrassed at some of the commercials I see in prime time.
What can you do? First, be careful ordering movie channels like HBO and Showtime. We don’t order them at all. Second, block channels you don’t want the kids to see. You can use the parental controls on most cable and satellite services to completely remove certain channels from the list of channels that your family can even see in the channel guide. We do this with MTV and others which have content that we don’t like and we also do it with the channels that allow pay-per-view movies. If you want to allow pay-per-view movies then make sure they’re password-protected. Most importantly, P-A-Y A-T-T-E-N-T-I-O-N. My kids have friends whose parents don’t have any idea when the kids watch TV. I don’t allow my kids to go their houses. And we always try to pay attention when the kids are watching TV. It may sound severe, but if the kids (even the teenagers) want to watch TV, they have to ask permission first. And if they don’t, they lose TV priveleges. This helps us gauge how much TV they’re watching. Many have chosen the solution to disallow TV in their homes altogether. If your family has a problem, it’s a thought. We’re not big TV watchers in our family, and when we do watch it’s typically as a family. But occasionally we just pull the plug altogether for a few months and we notice a difference.
It’s easy to think that your kids “don’t have a problem.” But ask the Bishop in your ward how many kids are able to see inappropriate content on TVs in their homes. He’ll tell you that most of them can. Most couples I talk to feel like their kids don’t have a problem. Most of them are wrong.
Take the time to protect your kids!
Comments
We do much like what you suggested. We do not subscribe to movie channels. To get BYU-TV we must use DISH, which provides many filtering options, including passwords.
On the Internet, we subscribe to a service through QWEST that allows us to customize our filters for each computer in the family. Our college student has access to much of the Net except pornography. Our 14-year old has much less access, for example some computer games are blocked. We also block all film clips.
This issue of access is something that requires us parents to be on continual alert.
In our home, we took the radical step of cutting off our cable/dish connection altogether. There were only a few channels we were interested in to begin with (BYU-TV and Turner Classic Movies), and we solved that by getting an $8.99/month Netflix subscription and a fast DSL connection (which we need anyway) so we can watch BYU-TV for free at http://www.byu.tv. It’s a remarkably simple thing to connect my laptop to the coiled A/V cables tucked behind our entertainment center, so for General Conferences and CES firesides we just plug-and-play and set the browser to full screen mode. You’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference between our setup and the real thing.
Enough TV shows are being streamed on the Internet these days that we can get the one or two we’re interested in without a problem. And (in our opinion) you can get better news coverage on the Internet than on any of the cable/broadcast stations.
This leaves us with only movies to patrol - which is getting easier and easier these days with content reporting sites like Kids-In-Mind or ScreenIt. Because a movie is fixed in time, you always know what’s in it from one viewing to another. No nasty surprises there.
Best of all, we’re not tossing away upwards of $60 a month for a subscription service we rarely have time for anyway. Maybe we’ll reconsider it if/when the cable/dish companies consider a true a la carte pricing package as a viable business model.
We only watch TV shows online. They have fewer commercials, we can pick which ones we want to watch, and we watch them when it’s convenient to us.
We just have normal TV. To solve the sleaze, we bought a used TIVO box (50 bucks) and subscribed for three years at 8 bucks a month to tivo. It’s been lovely and I highly recommend it. You have all the control of what it filters. For example, you can say block any content over TV14 rating, or just say block any shows with nudity or whatever you customly want. It’s easy to block channels on your tv package as well.
Plus you can fast forward the worst part of tv, the commercials. But DVR does that as well.
My wife was against TIVO at first because of the cost, but now she likes it more than I do.
For more info go to tivo.com.
I appreciate the fact that you are not advocating censorship. I am the program director of a couple of TV stations, and I always recommend to viewers that if they have a problem with a program, simply choose not to watch it. Do not try to deny others their choices, but the viewer is the ultimate arbiter on what programs come into their house. Free agency is for everybody, even those who make questionable choices in media.
We canceled our satellite television subscription two years ago and it wasn’t missed. When we want to watch a movie at home we rent a DVD and use the Clearplay service to view it. This is popular with my daughter and her husband who will often bring the movie and we will provide the popcorn and soda.
We use clearplay to watch our DVDs.
We have a TV guardian to filter out bad language.
We use K9 Web Protection as our filter for internet and the Router has OpenDNS setup.
I don’t have Cable or Satellite. We watch over the air stations - mostly Qubo and PBS.
We only rent movies about once a month and watch the movies that we have.
The grandparents have Dish so the kids get their fill of Disney Channel when they go over there.
I’ve come to the conclusion lately that if I wouldn’t want my children watching it, I probably shouldn’t be watching it either.
Dish Family package is what we have. It gives us BYUTV and a minimum of other stations. It doesn’t have premium movie stations, no MTV, TNT, USA, TBS etc. Thankfully, we find ourselves watching less and less TV as a whole. This is probably because there isn’t anything good to watch!
I will never get cable or dish until they start offering a la carte channel plans. All I want is Discover, History, and maybe TLC. I hate the Disney channel because all the plots have incomplete families and the kids and parents are very snarky to each other. I get enough of that at home from my kids already, thanks.
There’s the parental password option, but why should I pay for channels I never watch and for content I morally object to? That’s like paying for a magazine and ripping out all of the content except one article that you’re interested in.
Every time Comcast calls me to tempt me with their Basic Cable plan to reduce the cost of my overall bill (I have Internet through them), I tell them no thanks. They can’t imagine why I wouldn’t go for it since it would save me about $18 a month, but when I explain that the only way they’ll get me is if they let me pick and choose the channels, they don’t have any well-prepared answers.
It’s kind of funny to hear them sputtering to try to “convert” me to the Basic Cable plan, and frustrating at the same time. It further confirms to me that they are out to get the almighty dollar, and not to serve the customer.
One thing I would add is to not allow TV’s in kids bedrooms. When they have free reign, you never know what they might see.
Nearly all of my kids’ friends have a TV in their bedroom at young ages - some as young a five years old. Just like your computer should be in a public area of your home, the TV should be easily monitored as well. One unintended consequence of TV in bedrooms: one boy couldn’t sleep over at our house because there wasn’t a TV to fall asleep to in the bedroom.
In addition to TV in bedrooms, don’t put the TV in a room that doesn’t have a lot of traffic. Our family room and our kitchen are connected and it helps us keep tabs on what’s being watched. If we had a separate home theater in the basement, it would be harder to monitor what was being watched.
In our home we do not allow our children to use the internet, watch TV, play video games or watch DVDs without one of the parents there and involved. We simply do not trust the providers of this content. You can’t. We like to do things as a family. If our kids want to do something, we try and go outside and do it. We substitute raw TV time for bike riding or hiking time. Instead of plopping on the coach and watching some mindless entertainment, we throw the football or catch bugs in the garden. We keep our family computer in the kitchen out in the open. My wife knows all of the passwords to my laptop and regularly looks at all of the content in the index.dat file. Anything I browse to is seen by her. Her job is to make me better. One way she does this is by overseeing my web usage. We pray for the well being and safety of our kids in the world and take every precaution we can to be involved with them.
A while ago, a lady at church asked me (because my job involves the ‘net and social networking), “My daughter has a MySpace page. Should I let her?”
After chatting with her for a minute and finding out about her fears, I asked her, “Have you ever seen your child’s MySpace page?”
“Oh, no… no…”
“Well, that would be a great first step, wouldn’t it?”
MRKH
We are now it the REMEMBER WHEN stage because the television of today mostly revolves around SEX and filthy expressions.
It has not been long since the Cosby’s disappeared. There used to be so many family shoes that were geared for my mind and the minds of my children. Do you remember the Beaver and other such programming? Chances are that many of you have never seen Father Knows Best but most likely, you remember the Brady Bunch and Family Affair.
It is certainly not only the LDS people who are complaining about the lowering of the media standards. I have heard it said that most of our filthy sitcoms stared with RoseAnn Barr and I am inclined to believe that this is correct. Sin normally just kind of sneaks under the door and fills our homes with things that MANY of the LDS parents would never intentionally teach our children. NOTE: I have also heard language that has been shocking to me come out of the mouths of our LDS people who claim to be working towards perfection.
Rosanne’s first shows only hinted at what was yet to come as television changed and Satan took control of it.
It is easier to control what our young children are watching both on television and DVD’s . We removed our television set from our home a six years ago and now our teenagers are going to the neighbors homes who have parents who do not care what their kids are watching.
The moral values of the television land are have declined almost every where that television is available. If it is not the television than it is a book which may not have the parents stamp of apprWe had to give up watching television at our home. The only good family viewing is now a thing of the past. We are now it the REMEMBER WHEN stage because the television of today now mostly revolves around SEX and filthy world.
It has not been long since the Cosby’s disappeared. There used to be so many family shoes that were geared for my mind and the minds of my children. Anyone here remember the high standard learning lessons of the Beaver? Chances are that many of you have never seen Father Knows Best and My Three sons even though they occasionally AIR along with the Brady Bunch. I am glad that I did not know that Daddy Brandy was Gay when the show aired.
It is certainly not only the LDS people who are complaining about the lowering of the media standards. I have heard it said that most of our filthy sitcoms stared with Rose Ann Barr and I am inclined to believe that this is correct. Sin normally just kind of sneaks under the door and fills our homes with things that MANY of the LDS parents would never intentionally teach their children. I have also heard language that has been shocking to me because I used to think that LDS people were some where near perfection. Rosanne’s first shows only hinted at what was yet to come as television changed and Satan took control of it. It was the precursor of things to come for all of the television programming.
It is easier to control what our young children are watching on both television and DVD’s. We removed our television set from our family room about six years ago and now our teenagers are going to the neighbor’s homes who have parents who do not care what their kids are watching. I personally would love to plant my foot in the middle of my husband’s television if it meant the stopping of watching the ballgames. I personally mostly only watch the news with my husband. He does not want anything to do with computers.
The moral values of the television land are having declined almost everywhere that television is allowed. If it is not television than it can could be a book that does not have many of our parents’ stamp of approval. I have seen many of our LDS women who read filthy romance novels and think nothing of it. I picked one of them up and read a few pages and my eyes about popped out of my head in total disbelief.
Porn is certainly a huge issue. Those who are in the Porn Industry are encouraging very bad thoughts and behavior into the heads of sick men in the world. This person might be now be even more capable of sexually molesting or murdering one of our children.
Are you at work while your kids and watching Dr. Phil talk to people who are having affairs? Are you at work when they are now watching a filthy sitcom that airs in the afternoon? Family channel ? This sexual garbage is certainly not for the minds of our young children or our teenage children. Most of the teens are involved in either having sex or thinking about having sex.
If you want to see what is on television during the afternoon hours you can check your listing on the internet.
Our kids are now being taught that premarital sex is a normal behavior. Some of the girls in my ward have already given birth by the age of 15. We have two of these young teenagers in our ward that had their first child at age 15 and their second child by the time they are 17. Adoption is now not always part of the equation.
I have seen many of our LDS women who read filthy romance novels and they think nothing of it. I picked one of them up and read a chapter or two and my eyes about popped out of my head in total disbelief. I found this book at my cousin’s home while tending her young children. Your children ARE watching what you read. I remember being a young child while I watched my mother read Jesus the Christ. If you do not have a copy of this great book, you can find it on LDS.ORG
Porn is certain a huge issue. Those who are in the Porn Industry are encouraging very bad thoughts into the heads of sick men. This guy might be now capable of sexually molesting or murdering one of our children. There are now more than ever before who have sick minds (both men and women) are now having sex with others to whom they are not married.
Are you at work while your kids and watching Dr. Phil? Are you at work when they are now watching a filthy sitcom that airs in the afternoon. Family channel ?
If you want to see what is on television during the afternoon hours you can check your listing on the internet.
Our LDS kids are now being taught that premarital sex is a normal behavior. Some of the girls in my ward have already given birth by the age of 15. We have two of these young teenagers in the ward who had their first child at age 15 and their second child by the time they are 17. Adoption is now not always part of the equation.
I watched a news report saying that other Christian parents are also concerned about what can be seen on Television. I wonder if perhaps writing to our Senators would help.
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