FCC Mulling More Control For Electronic Media 176
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the yeah-that-sounds-fantastic dept.
from the yeah-that-sounds-fantastic dept.
A recent Notice of Inquiry from the FCC is looking for opinions on how the "evolving electronic media landscape" affects kids, and whether the FCC itself should have more regulatory control over such media. The full NOI (PDF) is available online. "FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski included a statement with the NOI in which he noted that 'twenty years ago, parents worried about one or two TV sets in the house,' while today, media choices are far more widespread for children, including videogames, which 'have become a prevalent entertainment source in millions of homes and a daily reality for millions of kids.'"
Physical activity. (Score:5, Interesting)
The worst problem with video games and things like that is the lower level of physical activity among the young.
Earlier there was the option to stay in and be bored or go out and face the elements. This day you go out on the net and there is no need for a garden, football or playing in the mud.
Imagine... (Score:5, Interesting)
Read the request for comments, and replace "electronic media" with "community playgrounds". You'll find that most of the comments still apply - they give children educational opportunities but come with a small risk of children being exposed to something inappropriate and run a very small risk of children being targeted by those who would do them harm.
Personally, I have a 7-year-old daughter, and the TV is relegated to the basement where it has no influence over our lives. Despite the fact that I am an acknowledged geek, my daughter is not on the Internet and won't be for a while yet. This has nothing to do with the dangers from strangers, but the negative influence electronic media have on the developing mind, and is based on a request from her school to minimize what they call "screen time".
Having said all that, this is a conscious choice I make for my daughter, because I feel it is in her best interests. I personally feel this is a conscious choice that every American family should make, and I'm a rather vocal proponent of "kill your television" (at least until the kids reach their teens and the major brain development is completed). I am NOT, repeat NOT in favor of giving the US Government the power to dictate this to every family. This should be a decision that every family makes on their own.
As to "protecting the children from inappropriate content", what "inappropriate content" are we protecting them from, exactly? As far as I'm concerned, the most damaging thing you can do to a young mind is fill them with violent conflict, because it takes a lot of time and emotion to process that conflict and understand it, and that's time better spent by the brain developing free play skills and engaging in creative activities. Are we afeared that a couple of titties or a wanker might permanently scar the them for life? That's nothing compared to the impact that commonly-accepted kids programs are already having. So if the FCC is looking to regulate this, they've already approved what is probably the LEAST appropriate content possible. Bus has left the station, folks, and the FCC missed it.
Make your own decisions for your own family. Don't allow the government to do it for you. This one's gotta go down. The government has no place dictating this.
Oh, and for you parents out there, I urge you to please consider "killing your television". Please. As a conscious and informed decision, not as a government mandate.
Re:Just say no to FCC censorship (Score:4, Interesting)
What I don't understand is this American idea that nudity is wrong. No, I'm not a nudist.
I have family in Finland and when I was 16 and stayed at an aunts house, I happened to take notice of a rather peculiar advertisement on TV. A full frontal nude shot of a rather un-pretty man. I don't remember all the details but apparently it was a cell phone commercial.
The fact that I still remember this to this day is shocking in itself. The most basic thing we have as humans is our bodies and our minds. Why is it that we censor our bodies to such an absolute degree?
What, really, is the big deal here?
I agree with you, c64, children should be able to learn about the basic human body and what it is for. There is zero harm in that. Obviously, however, I wouldn't show them hardcore porn, but if there happens to be simple nudity or a discovery program about the birds and the bees, so be it. And if you're against them seeing that sort of thing, limit their exposure to it, but please don't ask the government to decide for _you_ because that would mean they are deciding for _me_ as well. Be a parent and parent your children.
How about zero control? (Score:3, Interesting)
The FCC shouldn't fine a network over an inadvertent nipple slip.
Mostly like the (somewhat broken) MPAA, there should merely by ratings and guidelines that enable parents to make decisions for themselves on how to raise their kids.
I don't want my daughter playing Grand Theft Auto. But I certainly don't want anyone telling me how to raise my kid. Voluntary rating systems are the way to go. However, unlike the MPAA, the rules for how the ratings are determined should be transparent.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493459/ [imdb.com]
Re:Imagine... (Score:3, Interesting)
Not to go all "Clinton" on you, but I should explain (in case you care, which you probably don't) what I mean by "my daughter is not on the Internet".
- She does get email from grandparents, and with our assistance replies to that email.
- When she wants to learn about something she's heard about, say a new animal or something, we go together and look it up, and I use that as a launchpad for the kinds of creative play her daughter's school encourages (we look up owls, and she goes and draws some owls, cuts them out, and acts out a puppet show about what she's seen).
- She does NOT have a Facebook account, or use the computer herself.
Google Earth, and science/nature related Internet sites are good things, even within the framework of an education that looks "troglodyte-based" from the outside. They are the modern equivalent of the most fantastic encyclopedia in history, and if used properly can enrich the educational framework I've chosen to use. TV is much more rarely so.
Re:tired of this "control the internet for the kid (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Just a bet. (Score:1, Interesting)
No offense, but I doubt anyone's going to listen to someone your age on this topic. Come back when you were born before, say, 1980.
responsibility is yours (Score:5, Interesting)
There are SCADS of "plans" in place to afford you all the control you could want - right up to and including NOT putting a computer in your kid's room or even NOT having an internet connection to the house. On the shiny side of that there's DNS solutions, filtering software and even learning to use the goddamn HOSTS file in your own computer.
Your right to raise your kids does not trump another's right to indulge in whatever perversion tickles their fancy nor does it trump yet another's right to express said perversions. Deal with it.
Re:Just say no to FCC censorship (Score:4, Interesting)
The backwards ideas about the human body and sexuality pervasive in "mainstream" American society can be directly traced back to fundamentalist Christians, and to the founding of our country. Puritans, Baptists, Methodists, (old-school) Catholics, Quakers, The Amish, etc all had direct and strict influences on how we as a culture developed, for better or for worse.
So, as usual, we can correctly blame the issue on Bible-thumping nincompoops spewing forth fire and brimstone damnation for anyone that even admires a bit of exposed ankle.
At least women aren't being branded with scarlet A's anymore for looking a married man in the eyes.
Re:tired of this "control the internet for the kid (Score:2, Interesting)
"Speaking of which, for all those who are so vocal against this but do not have children... this subject does not pertain to you. Please close this tab and go back to watching porn."
What? Since when does having someone else crap out a badly copied, smaller version of you give you magical insight into raising children? If anything, the unreasoned, illogical, over-reactionary response most people have when faced with something that might someday have a small chance of doing even the slightest amount of damage to their children shows that an unbiased observer might have a more valid opinion.
Re:tired of this "control the internet for the kid (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, where are the citizen's broadcast bands? (Score:3, Interesting)
Here.
Well, there's been CB and HAM for decades, really, but if you're emphasizing the broad in broadcast, then yeah, we largely sold out that use of the spectrum years ago, partly because that's mostly how we knew how to do it (aside from the ad hoc community or public access station), partly because it's always been that case that money talks.
But yeah, citizen's broadcast? Here, on the internet, the first really democratic broad communications medium.