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How We as a Community Address [Violent Games & Media]
Hamurabi
MiamiRegistered User regular
MiamiRegistered User regular
So before I get to the actual conceit of the thread, some blatant autobiography...
So I was for all intents and purposes a "latchkey kid." I'd come home from school and pretty much immediately go spend the whole day outside with my friends from the neighborhood. We were really poor (well, we're still poor, but not as much so as when I was a kid), so I was never enrolled in after-school programs or anything like that. Pretty much spent all my time out on the Miami streets. When I was at home, I would most often just be glued to the TV; my parents really had no idea what I was consuming. Obviously this unsupervised media consumption meant that I'd seen porno and had had conversations with other kids about drugs, theft, and other Unsavory Stuff by the time I was like 5 or 6. Once we got a computer and the Internet in 1999, there was even less supervision and I now had access to basically all of the Unsavory Content in the entire world.
But I like to think I turned out Generally Okay. The point is that I don't think all kids need strict supervision. My parents never once told me what I was watching or listening to or reading was "too violent" or too profane or otherwise inappropriate.
But basically anytime Violent Video Games come up as a subject, the reflexive response of vidja-game nerds is to blame parents. I think the actual solution -- assuming that violent games and media are even a problem -- is much more nuanced.
tl;dr: Is "blame the parents" a sufficient response to accusations that violent games and other media somehow "corrupt" the youth? If not, what is?
So I was for all intents and purposes a "latchkey kid." I'd come home from school and pretty much immediately go spend the whole day outside with my friends from the neighborhood. We were really poor (well, we're still poor, but not as much so as when I was a kid), so I was never enrolled in after-school programs or anything like that. Pretty much spent all my time out on the Miami streets. When I was at home, I would most often just be glued to the TV; my parents really had no idea what I was consuming. Obviously this unsupervised media consumption meant that I'd seen porno and had had conversations with other kids about drugs, theft, and other Unsavory Stuff by the time I was like 5 or 6. Once we got a computer and the Internet in 1999, there was even less supervision and I now had access to basically all of the Unsavory Content in the entire world.
But I like to think I turned out Generally Okay. The point is that I don't think all kids need strict supervision. My parents never once told me what I was watching or listening to or reading was "too violent" or too profane or otherwise inappropriate.
But basically anytime Violent Video Games come up as a subject, the reflexive response of vidja-game nerds is to blame parents. I think the actual solution -- assuming that violent games and media are even a problem -- is much more nuanced.
tl;dr: Is "blame the parents" a sufficient response to accusations that violent games and other media somehow "corrupt" the youth? If not, what is?
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Now that I'm a parent I consider it my responsibility to know what my kids are taking in from a media standpoint. It's easy now, because the boys are young, but I hope to give my kids some flexibility. As long as they aren't watching too much or learning bad habits.
I don't think violent games make kids violent, but as a parent it's my responsibility to make sure the games my kids play are appropriate.
How I'm gonna raise my own kids vis-a-vis media filtering is something I think about as well. The protective side of me wouldn't, for instance, want my 10 year-old to watch The Wire; the freelove hippy latchkey kid side of me thinks the more media the better, so they can sate their curiosity and realize there isn't actually much to this "bad media" and just move on, like I did as a kid.
Plus what the hell is a 10 year-old gonna learn from watching The Wire anyway?
Unless it is a " criminal fuckin' conspiracy "
How to have an entire conversation that consists of nothing but variations on the word "fuck."
Which, you know, I probably wouldn't want my kid seeing, personally, because they'll probably be at least somewhat like me and try to pull it off because it's funny as shit, which it would be until I got the phone call from the school.