Do We Need Ratings for What We Watch on TV Essay Example

Do We Need Ratings for What We Watch on TV Essay Example Do We Need Ratings for What We Watch on TV Essay Do We Need Ratings for What We Watch on TV Essay Do We Need Ratings for What We Watch on TV? Name: Institution: Do We Need Ratings for What We Watch on TV? Introduction Every time one turns on the television to watch, there are countless programs to watch as there are many television stations. Most of these programs or almost all of them have some rating depicted with some letters such as TV-Y, TV-7, TV-G, TV-PG, TV-14 and TV-MA. All these letters represent the appropriateness of the program’s content to the different age groups. For instance, TV-Y programs are designed for young children while TV-MA programs are designed for adult only. The rating is determined by content such as explicit sexual nudity, suggestive dialogue and violence amongst other ratings. The main question is whether we need these ratings for every program that we view on television. These TV ratings have been around for almost two decades now. It is a television content rating system that was first introduced in December 1996 but became effective in January 1, 1997 in the United States. Before it was introduced, other ratings existed, established in 1968 by the Motion Picture Association of America film rating system, MPAA which had set the standards (Linder Gentile, 2009). However, the newer TV ratings were aimed at establishing standards that would allow voluntary rating for the broadcast and cable networks. It was adopted by most of the major United States broadcast as well as cable networks, which was in response to public concern about the increasing level of explicit sexual material, graphic violence as well as strong profanity within the television programs. There are several reasons why it is important to have these ratings for television (Linder, 2011). The main reason is because of children who are sensitive and vulnerable to content such as violence that would affect them at an early age. This research paper seeks to answer the question of whether we need ratings for what we watch on television. Literature Review A lot of research has shown that watching of television is related to hosting negative outcomes in children. Several studies have found that television watching especially with violent content is associated with increasing aggression amongst children as well as increased fear due to such violence (Linder Gentile, 2009). Currently, it is inevitable that children will watch television everywhere they go considering that almost every household in the United States have a television set. Therefore, the ratings come in to indicate what programs are suitable for them in order to avoid exposure to content that does not suit their age. This is especially important for parents in order to protect their young ones from content that could affect them negatively (Linder Gentile, 2009). The Rating System Before going even further towards answering our question, it is important to look at the ratings and what they represent in order to understand why they are needed. The TV-Y means it can be watched even by young children. This is a program designed for young children, with the theme being specifically designed for the young children aged between 2 and 6 years. The content is not likely to frighten them. TV- means the content is designed for seven of ages 7 and older. The content can contain some comic violence that would not be suitable for children below these years who are yet to understand between reality and make-believe content. TV-G is designed for general audience, meaning anybody at any age can watch including children even without parental guidance. However, this does not mean the program is specifically designed for children. The content contains hardly any violence or sexually oriented scenes (ParentsTV.org, 2010). TV-PG on the other hand means that children can view the c ontent under parental guidance since it may contain some scenes of mild violence, suggestive dialog and sexual context. TV-14 on the other hand means that the program is not suitable for children under the age of 14 years. Such programs may contain scenes with violence, sexual activity, drug use and profanity. Children under the age of 14 should be cautiously monitored if they have to watch such content. The final rating is TV-MA, which means it is designed for adults only. Therefore, children under the age of 17 should not be allowed to view such content. Such programs contain more scenes of violence, sexual nudity, profanity and drug use (ParentsTV.org, 2010). Exposing children to such content at an early age could have negative impact on children. Effects of Adult Content on Children Research shows that exposure to explicit material for children have a negative effect that could affect their future life. Such content has the tendency to sexualize children at an early age (ParentsTV.org, 2010). In the recent years, sexual content has been on the on the increase with many television programs showing a good amount of it even during primetime when children are most likely to b watching television. According to ParentsTV.org (2010), it was found that children are exposed to more than 10.8 incidents of explicit adult content every hour, which meant exposure every five and a half minutes of watching television (ParentsTV.org, 2010). The study carried out showed that children viewing PG rated content were likely to be exposed to sexual content at an early stage since the ratings have continue to under rate some of the programs. With such exposure to sexual content at an early age, the children become sexualized at an age they should not. The findings further show that a child watching a PG rated program in a period of two weeks would be exposed to 181 instance of sexual content, 239 instances of exposure to offensive language and 217 instances with violence. The finding further suggest that not only were the children exposed to the explicit adult content after every five and a half minutes while watching PG rated content, but also that the rating lacked the sub-ratings that indicate what content is contained in the program (ParentsTV.org, 2010). There were no descriptors to indicate the specific type of content. The descriptors include ‘S’ indicating sexual content, ‘D’ indicating suggestive dialogue, ‘L’ indicating coarse language and ‘V’ indicating violence. Without the descriptors, parents would not know the content that makes the program TV-PG. Thus; they have no clue about what the children are watching. This makes it hard to protect the children from inappropr iate content. The findings shows very minimal use of these descriptors, where 92% of explicit sexual content was aired without the ‘S’ descriptor, 36% of offensive language was aired without its descriptor, while 24% of this language included very harsh language (ParentsTV.org, 2010). Much of the content that children were exposed to from such content include words about sexual body parts, partial nudity, implied sexual intercourse, dialogue, curses, offensive epithets such as ‘Bitch’ and ‘Jackass,’ amongst others (ParentsTV.org, 2010). Violence included beatings, weapon violence such as shooting and stabbing, dismemberment amongst others including mutilation that is quite harmful to the children (ParentsTV.org, 2010). All these content is not appropriate for young children that are vulnerable to such language and scenes of violence and other behaviors including sexual disorientation. In particular, violence and coarse language has a far more effect on children since it can develop negative behaviors. According to KUNKEL (2006), violence on television affects children in three ways. The first one is through enhancing learning of aggressive behavior and attitude, the second one is desensitization where children’s callousness to victims of violence increases and finally, increasing fear of becoming a victim of violence. Of the three effects, it is the first one that has more adverse effects where violence in television is known to increase the propensity for violent behavior. â€Å"The statistical relationship between children’s exposure to violent portrayals and their subsequent aggressive behavior has been shown to be stronger than the relationship between asbestos exposure and the risk of laryngeal cancer†¦,† (Kunkel, 2006). Further, this study shows that violence in the television landscape is widespread, meaning that every child is lik ely to see some at some point as aforementioned. Additionally, the violence is presented in a manner that is sanitized as well as glamorized, which has the potential to affect children more. Finally, presentation of violence has remained quite stable and continues to increase daily with more and more entertainment releases all the time (Linder Gentile, 2009). After watching much of such content, the children are usually eager to know more and seek an explanation if they do not already know. Further, young children are known to try some of the things they see on television. It is not surprising to find children at a young age imitating what they see on television. With such behavior resulting from watching inappropriate content, it is worth having ratings that clearly indicate the content in the programs in order to protect the younger generation. Much of the behavior that is imitated is the violent ones and sexual acts they see on television. More literature indicates that children are aware of the ratings and some of their meaning. In a study conducted to find out what the children know about the ratings, it was found that some children had negative comments about programs rated G and PG. some said that these programs are â€Å"looser ones,† (Hamilton, 2000). Some made comments that programs rated as PG-13 would be scary. Clearly, the children understood that the ratings have to do with the content of the program of film, where higher rated ones meant more restrictive content that in fact got their curiosity. This Hamilton (2000) called the ‘forbidden fruit’ effect where one wants to have what is restricted especially for older children. However, the positive comments from children concerning the advisory given by parents concerning what to watch said it was good, meaning that parents did take the rating issue seriously. Therefore, TV ratings are important for helping the parents in selecting the best programs for their. Additionally, Hamilton (2000) cites that, â€Å"Children’s positive comments about the parental advisory and the PG-13 rating demonstrate how restrictive labels not only can enhance the attractiveness of the labeled material, but may reduce the appeal of less restricted fare,† (p. 202). Findings From this literature review, several things were evident that indicate the need for not only having ratings on what we watch on television, but also the need to tighten up the ratings or enforce them to protect the young children. The first finding is that some of the content that is viewed by children that is not appropriate for their age affects them in various ways including behavior where children can increase their aggressiveness while in other areas such as objectifying of the woman body through sexual material, a young girl would feel victimized if she does not look sexy as the programs suggest a woman should be (Linder, 2011). The other finding is that there is increased level of explicit and adult material on PG rated programs than it should be, which means children are watching a lot of adult content even on programs that they are not restricted(Linder Gentile, 2009). Finally, children as well have some understanding that the ratings mean some restrictive material, which m any have different opinions such as being scary. This further brings in the forbidden fruit effect where children want to watch what is not for their age. Further, parents are aware of the ratings and help it helps them in selecting the appropriate films. However, the rating is not sufficient considering majority of the programs are aired without the descriptor labels. Conclusion It is clear that we should have ratings on what we watch on television in order to protect the children. With the increasing programs aired on televisions during prime time that contain adult material, it is important that parents know what content is in this programs to know whether it is appropriate for their young ones. With repeated exposure to such content, it might become a norm to children who may not distinguish between the reality and make-believe images they see on television. However, despite the ratings, they have not been effective. In other regions such as the UAE, there are ratings similar to those established in unites states but whose effectiveness is not commendable. Haine (2013) provides a perfect example of how violence can affect children who are yet to distinguish reality and make-believe situations. In a cinema hall, three children playing at the front charges up the stairs screaming when a serious loud gun battle from the movie. It is clear these children thou ght it was real and were scared. Therefore, we do need to have ratings for what we watch on television in order to protect the young ones from harmful content. References Haine, A. (2013). Guns, blood and violence: is the UAE cinema ratings system effective? The National. Retrieved from thenational.ae/lifestyle/well-being/guns-blood-and-violence-is-the-uae-cinema-ratings-system-effective Hamilton, J. (2000). Television, Violence and Public Policy. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. Kunkel, D. (2006). The Effects of Television Violence on Children. University of Arizona: retrieved from apa.org/about/gr/pi/advocacy/2008/kunkel-tv.aspx Linder, J. R. Gentile, D. A. (2009). Is the television rating system valid? Indirect, verbal and Physical aggression in programs viewed by fifth grade girls and associations with behavior. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30 (3): 286-297. Linder J. (2011). A Content Analysis of Indirect, Verbal and Physical Aggression in Television Programs Popular Among School Aged Girls. American journal of psychology, 4 (4): 24-42. ParentsTV.org. (2010). What Kids can see when it is rated TV-PG. Parents Television Council. Retrieved from parentstv.org/PTC/publications/reports/TVRatings2012/2012_RatingsStudy.pdf