Suggestive themes, violence and Swearing in the media

[Felicity]

So, OmegaRaiders last status got me thinking on this. The generally accepted wisdom for as long as I can remember is that suggestive themes, Violence and Swearing in the media have a negative result on the children who end up being exposed to it. Whether they come across this form of media because they have the freedom of uncaring parents or know someone with access to that media.

But just because it's commonly accepted, does that make it true? No. Times change, research comes up and opinions change. So, what are people views on the recent media landscape and it's impact on young children?

[Hexagoen]

honestly for me im personally okay withall these little children knowing these things, but even though they know these things it doesnt mean they should use it sparingly. See back 30 years ago people were all like "Dont say that" and it was a semi-strict culture. Nowadays the culture on the internet is lax. People dont know that a third grader is online buying/ playing mature games such as gta, and the majority (hopefully not) of said people arent going to mind the younger generation playing these games.

Basically what im saying is that even though the younger generation knows these things, they should fear thse things not embrace it

( i know im a total emo lol )

[Tomas Elliot]

I am a 24 YO italian guy, which means I have grown up in the two decades during which Berlusconi's TVs have pretty much ruled italian mainstream culture. Which means, tits and butts of girls and women of all ages being exposed left and right, pretty much 24/7. And the end result of such exposure at young age is... Well, it's me: you judge whether it's a good thing or a bad thing

[Felicity]

@Ashes, that is, of course, true. But to what extent do games have that influence?

The biggest example, that everyone loves to use, is GTA. Nothing like a game where you can beat hookers with a baseball bat to make you do that IRL, right? I'm going to just point out that the characters yu play are hardly admirable. Michael, whilst living in luxury, has a family that pretty much hates him. Trevor is a psucho bum pretty much. They hardly seem positive.

Another point, to what extent should media be censored in the effort to prevent long term issues? A few months ago (I think) a game known as Hatred which literally revolves around Mass murder of innocent civilians for no reason that caused a massive kerfuffle. Imagine if a child got their hands on that. Imo, it requires censoring and, to my knowledge, it was taken down. But where does that censorship stop?

[Aurorix]

IMO its the parents job to choose what they're kids should or shouldn't be watching. Just people think some media has negative effects on children doesn't mean they should change. If I want to put blood and gore in the things I like I should be able to. If I want to curse someone out in a game I should be able to. Maybe I just want to go around killing everyone and setting things on fire, that's what I want to do. whether or not its appropriate for younger kids its not up to me but the parents. If the parents don't want their kid watching "R" rated movies then don't let them. If they dont want them to rob banks and commit random crimes on the street in a virtual world don't let them. We can't tell the media to stop putting violence in games just because kids might be affected. If you feel your kid is not ready for GTA don't have him play GTA. If you feel he's not ready for CoD, don't let him play CoD.

That's basically my opinion/rant on this subjct

[Felicity]

IMO its the parents job to choose what they're kids should or shouldn't be watching. Just people think some media has negative effects on children doesn't mean they should change. If I want to put blood and gore in the things I like I should be able to. If I want to curse someone out in a game I should be able to. Maybe I just want to go around killing everyone and setting things on fire, that's what I want to do. whether or not its appropriate for younger kids its not up to me but the parents. If the parents don't want their kid watching "R" rated movies then don't let them. If they dont want them to rob banks and commit random crimes on the street in a virtual world don't let them. We can't tell the media to stop putting violence in games just because kids might be affected. If you feel your kid is not ready for GTA don't have him play GTA. If you feel he's not ready for CoD, don't let him play CoD.

That's basically my opinion/rant on this subjct

What of the kids who get their hands on these media forms without the parents knowledge?

[Aurorix]

What of the kids who get their hands on these media forms without the parents knowledge?

Then the parents have to keep their kids on a tighter leash. When we get into this kinda scenario this becomes more of a house hold problem. Kids being rebels and such. Whether they got the game with a credit card via online or got it from another adult this then becomes a game of trust between parent and child. Like say if a kid wants to buy a fighting game like SSB. Some parents wouldn't get the game till they're a certain age like 9 or 10. Then with a game like CoD they wait till 12 or 13. It's basically like saying, "you're proven to me that you're mature enough to play this and I trust to not to do anything foolish like actually kill someone/something illegal."

This goes for language as well. For me, in my house, I basically can do or watch whatever I want as long as I keep respect towards others around me. Like I could swear words with friends but not older adults. There's a video I found about bad words that I found interesting and I'll put it in a spoiler.

[Felicity]

When it comes to swearing my own stance is:

The only reason they're received so negatively is because we give them the negative connotations ourselves. For people who actually know me, if I call someone a Silly Cunt, that means nothing and may as well be a term of endearment. On the other hand, if I called someone pathetic, a universally more pedestrian insult, it is far more condemning. Whilst this is largely subjective, if people are constantly exposed to curse words we will become desensitised to them and slowly the majority will find it less harmful. These opinions stem more from a societal view. Due to this and how important a perception of these words are to their grade of insult, it will slowly eradicate swear words from being bad if more people are consistently desensitised to those words.

On the other hand, it's a whole 'nother ball game with violence and such, physical actions with actual consequences. Someone beating another half to death will never be something desensitisation will solve for obvious reasons.

[Kurotsune]

While not exposing a particular opinion, I will discuss the sex-media's biological effect on the youth.

Summing up: There are two main hormones that aid the body's development during puberty. the growth hormone, henceforth called GH, and estrogen for the ladies and testosterone for the guys (There's a lot of grey here. Women produce testosterone and men produce estrogen, but we are not going to merit these into the discussion, merely the main hormones involved in the process of pubescence and their relationships).

So, GH makes you grow. No surprise there; Development of the musculature, organs, tissue - From a very young age we are constantly bombarded with a healthy dosage of GH, which is not bad at all since the more of the stuff you get, the taller and stronger you become.

Here's the kicker, when we reach puberty, our body has fully developed. That means all bones, organs, muscles and tissues have fully finished their growth stage (with very few exceptions). So, when our puberty hormones kick off, our growth hormone gets shut down.

For males, this is a non-issue. Testosterone does most of the things the growth hormone does already; It helps strengthen and develop musculature, it makes you taller (at times very much so), it increases libido (if also aggressiveness) and it does all of the other fun puberty things.

For females, however, things are slightly different. While estrogen does contribute to some of those (most puberty stuff, libido, musculature definition (though in the female case is more along the lines of refinement rather than growth) it does not contribute to muscular or bonular (yep, this is a word) growth; In other words, when girls reach their first period, they will generally stop gaining height at all or in significant amounts.

Now, in a situation where the maturing process of the human body occurs as nature intended - starting at 15 and ending at 21 - things would be swell and no one would have an issue.

However, studies indicate women are actually growing shorter each generation because of higher sexualization in the media. Why? Because this is actually causing women to go through puberty earlier, with females starting puberty as early as 9 years old, which not only gives them trouble in regards to physical appearance, it can have drastic effects in organ development as well.

While the same is happening for males (12 years old as opposed to 15), due to the higher uptake of testosterone, the effects are lightened and often harmless.

So, from a biological standpoint, the exposition of higher to sexual material and a sexualized society can have biological consequences. The reasons why this happens can also be explained psychologically, but they a tad on the obvious side.

Now, this deals only with one type of material, and only one particular situation, and a few things must be disclaimed:

1 -> As mentioned above, there are few studies on this matter, so it is theorized but unproven.

2 -> The same organizations that conduct the studies on early puberty have pointed other causes such as obesity as the main factor, so it may not be exposition. (though then one could argue the sins of a sedentary society, but this isn't the place for that)

3 -> The above doesn't reflect my opinion, just something I thought would add to the conversation.

To briefly mention my opinion on the matter, I think to say we have a choice on what we are exposed to is bullshit. Even as an adult I have no choice on what type of content I'm exposed to when simply opening this very website I will see two or three ads I did not chose to watch; Opening a youtube video may expose me to a sexualized advertising propaganda I did not elect to view, and in the interval of my quiet cooking show I may be exposed scenes from the latest trailer of super-violent-action-movie V.

Of course in regards of the some of content I have choice, and of course in regards to some of it I can shield my child from seeing, but I can't control the billboards she watches as the bus moves towards school, or what her friends' parents' allow their children to see and discuss and so on and so forth.

Therefore, I don't think the right way is to shield content from children, but to guide them through it. Impart upon the child the knowledge to determine what interests it and what doesn't; Regardless of how much medical and psychological society likes to state otherwise, I've seen five year olds more "mentally developed" than some fifty year olds. Everyone can be taught and reasoned with, all it takes is a willing teacher.

And from then on, it's up to them not to chose what they watch, but to filter it, and chose when what they watch will affect them.