With TV overload, parenting is needed
It does not seem so long ago when, as a wholesome young man, 14 years of age, I was told by a stern-faced librarian that no, I would not be allowed to borrow the James Joyce classic Ulysses, and did my parents know I had attempted to obtain this once-banned book?
The novel, published in 1922, was banned at first on the basis that it might cause readers to harbour “impure and lustful thoughts,” as the censor put it. It eventually became available in the U.S. in 1933 and in Canada in 1949.
Back in 1957, the naughtiest movie available was Roger Vadim’s And God
Created Woman, starring Brigitte Bardot.
The South Beach surfing regulars, try as we might, were not allowed into the local theatre to see that, either.
Back then, we were still living in a world where, in Australia and England at least, some Enid Blyton books were banned because of suspicion of an improper relationship between Noddy and Big Ears. I’m not making this up. A shipment of a book entitled
Between Man and Man sat unopened on the dock at Sydney Harbour in New South Wales for months until someone pointed out that it was a philosophical treatise by Martin Buber, scholar, theologian and one of the 20th century’s most influential thinkers.
Buber believed that the deepest reality of human life lies in the relationship between one being and another. Between Man and Man is the classic work where Buber applies this belief to the concrete problems of contemporary society. Sleazy stuff.
But things have changed over the past 60 years, and now both Ulysses and the Vadim film and a whole anthology of a different kind of “between man and man” publications are available online to anyone with access to an iPad.
And, like it or not, we and our kids barely have control of a genie living in a lamp called Netflix.
With on-demand streaming subscription sites such as Netflix, kids can find the shows they want, whenever and, just as significantly, wherever they want them.
What can’t be found on Netflix can be found on YouTube.
While the networks in Canada tend to be subject to various organizations, including the Canadian RadioTelevision and Telecommunications Commission and the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, no such restrictions apply to Netflix.
Similarly, in the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission regulates anything it regards as indecent, but satellite, cable television and Internet outlets are not subject to content-based FCC regulation.
From a kid’s point of view, Netflix and YouTube are one-stop shops.
Fortunately for parents concerned about kids watching some of the unmitigated sex and violence available on Netflix, help is at hand.
Simply Google “How do I set parental controls on my Netflix account?” and instructions are there to limit viewing to four levels: “for little kids only,” “for older kids and below,” “for teens and below” and “all maturity levels.”
A four-digit pin can be used to release the restrictions.
Further good news about kids and Netflix comes from the American Psychological Association, which points out that even with children’s programming on network TV, children can watch up to 40,000 commercials a year.
That, says the APA, is a problem because most children younger than seven or eight can’t easily tell the difference between fiction and reality, and do not recognize the persuasive intent of commercial appeals.
Netflix being commercial-free is also a plus in the view of the psychological association, because researchers at the University of Hartford in Connecticut discovered that about 12 per cent of commercials featured disturbing or violent behaviours such as threats of physical violence or accidents. Only 20 per cent of commercials featured positive behaviours such as sharing or helping.
There was a time when the network schedule influenced our lives to the extent that we scheduled family activities around favourite shows. Then came video recorders, then personal video recorders and now Netflix, which is “on” any time kids (or adults) want it.
What we don’t know yet is the overall effect of TV being available all the time to provide what kids want and when they want it. Instant gratification or a better way to organize priorities, including watching TV? We don’t know yet. Some parenting is needed here.
Oh, and 60 years later I still have not been able to read Ulysses cover to cover, although Lord knows I’ve tried more than once. Gave up every time.
And Vadim’s film is a dud.