3/19/2019 0 Comments What are kids consuming?When I was 11 years old the very first live action Transformers movie came out in theaters. Though it wasn’t earth shatteringly exciting for me, my cousin, Mark, really wanted to see it. So, he devised a plan. His parents wouldn’t let him see it in the United States because it was rated PG-13 and he was only 12, but in Canada it was only rated PG. He found a loop hole. But why was it rated differently in Canada? I literally live 2 hours from the border and suddenly the movie is appropriate for a younger audience? I didn’t know the border was that magical.
So, if it wasn’t magically turned cleaner and Megan Fox’s shirt didn’t magically cover her cleavage in the Canadian version, what is the difference? Now, I am not saying that the Canadian rating system is even close to being perfect, I don’t know if any country has really figured out how to do an effective rating system… however, let’s take a little look at the rating system in the United States and the good old MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America). The Break Down In general, the MPAA is more lenient towards violence in movies than language or nudity[i]. In fact, if the movie contains more than one of the “harsher sexually-driven words” it gets bumped from a PG-13 rating to an R rating[ii]. So, movies like “The Kings Speech” where there is a scene featuring 12 F words[iii] gets an R rating while “The Dark Knight Rises”, a film featuring a fairly graphic torture scene, shootings, stabbings, explosions, and grenades[iv], gets the rating of PG-13. So, what is worse? 12 F words or watching someone set a man on fire? Swearing Though there is little research done on the effects of swearing on children, one study found that when swearing is used to replace aggression in a movie it could be harmful for the child[v]. But, for the most part, swearing is not used in films as a replacement for aggression but is mostly used for positive outcomes, such as jokes, stress relief, or in order to fit in with a crowd[vi]. I am not saying that films should include more swear words, or that the ones included are justified. However, if I had to choose between teaching my child to punch someone in the eye when they are mad or swear under their breath when they stub their toe, I would definitely choose the later. Violence Research has found that children are affected by viewing violence in media. In fact, there are short and long-term effects including, aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, aggressive behavior, desensitization, and lowered prosocial behavior among children who consume a high dose of violent media[vii]. Not only does it increase aggressive behavior, but it also increases verbally aggressive behavior[viii]. So, those pesky swear words we are trying to shield the children from are actually a biproduct of their high doses of violent media consumption. Children and adolescence aren’t just exposed to a couple acts of violence in media every once in a while. By the age of 18 the average teen will have viewed an estimated 200 000 acts of violence on TV alone[ix]. Ratings are not a reliable predictor of violence in films[x]. Now, you might be sitting there thinking “yeah but, just cause my kid watches Joker torture some people doesn’t mean they will go do that, right?” Well, I sure hope not. Children Processing Media Children consume media a little differently than we do. They are still at the beginning of the whole development processes. Before the age of 8, children can’t discriminate between what is fantasy and what is reality[xi]. If I am being completely honest, I thought Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fud were really real when I was a kid. I honestly thought that the key to getting out of a fight was to slyly trick the person holding the gun into saying it’s actually duck season…thanks Looney Toons. But even once children are older and can differentiate between fantasy and reality there are still limitations to their understanding[xii]. It isn’t until adolescence that children begin to question the probability of the things they are seeing, understand that the creators of media may have an agenda, and realize the association between what they are watching and their feelings[xiii]. The full development of the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for impulse control, does not finish until emerging adulthood[xiv]. So not only are young children who can’t tell the difference between Looney toons and the news consuming media differently, but adolescence may be under the influence of their not quite fully developed prefrontal cortex, and corresponding lack of impulse control, when consuming media as well. The Current System So, if we are trying to watch out for our children and adolescence, who are we trusting to rate the movies? Are we giving the job to a group of qualified researchers who know about how media affects children? Here is how the MPAA does this whole rating thing. The rating board includes a chair person chosen by the MPAA, “appropriate staff members”, senior raters chosen by the chair person, and raters[ii]. The raters are all parents who cannot have any affiliations with the film industry and must have a child between the ages of 5 and 15[ii]. That is it. That is the qualification. They receive some training and then they rate movies for the whole country. Now, I know we don’t live in a perfect world. I know that we can’t protect children from everything. I know that violence is everywhere. But I also know that children are negatively affected by consuming media violence. They don’t understand media the same way that the group of MPAA raters do. We might be protecting them from F bombs but why aren’t we protecting them from real bombs? Why is our priority in clean mouths and not in clean minds and actions? We expect the ratings of movies to be dependable, but can we really depend on them? [i] Wong, T. (2012, Mar 22). How Movies Get Their Ratings. The Star. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2012/03/22/how_movies_get_their_ratings.html [ii] Motion Picture Association of America. (2010, Jan 01). Classification and Rating Rules. Retrieved from https://filmratings.com/Content/Downloads/rating_rules.pdf [iii] https://kids-in-mind.com/k/kingsspeech.htm [iv] https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-dark-knight [v] Riggio R. E. (2012, May 18). Will Swearing Harm Your Child? Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201205/will-swearing-harm-your-child [vi] Jay T., & Janschewitz K. (2012, May). The Science of Swearing. Association for Psychological science. Retrieved from https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/the-science-of-swearing [vii] http://web.a.ebscohost.com.erl.lib.byu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=3db36ba4-6537-4f54-a4fc-ccffcb1f96ce%40sdc-v-sessmgr04 [viii] Gentile, D. A., Coyne, S. and Walsh, D. A. (2011), Media violence, physical aggression, and relational aggression in school age children: a short‐term longitudinal study. Aggr. Behav., 37: 193-206. doi:10.1002/ab.20380 [ix] Huston AC, Donnerstein E, Fairchild H, et al. Big World, Small Screen: The Role of Television in American Society. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press; 1992 [x] Webb T, Jenkins L, Browne N, Afifi AA, Kraus J. Violent entertainment pitched to adolescents: an analysis of PG-13 films. Pediatrics.2007;119 (6). Available at:www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/119/6/e1219 [xi] American Academy of Pediatrics. (2009). Media Violence. Pediatrics, 124(50) Retrieved from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/124/5/1495.full.pdf [xii] Spear, L. P. (2010). The behavioral neuroscience of adolescence. New York, NY, US: W W Norton & Co. [xiii] Morison, P., Kelly, H., & Gardner, H. (1981). Reasoning about the realities on television: A developmental study. Journal of Broadcasting, 25(3), 229-242. doi:10.1080/08838158109386447 [xiv] Pharo, H., Sim, C., Graham, M., Gross, J. & Hayne, H. (2011). Risky business: executive function, personality, and reckless behavior during adolescence and emerging adulthood. Behavioral Neuroscience, 125(6), 970-978
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I was sitting in class when the article got handed to me. It was titled “How depression can damage a marriage(1).” My heart sank. I instantly felt inadequate. I am 23 years old and I already have something about me that will damage my future marriage? I just sat there and stared at the title. It seemed to cut to the deepest parts of me. It found my weakness. I had been exposed. Maybe I shouldn’t be getting married next month. Am I bringing something into this relationship that is going to damage it? If mental illness can drag the relationship down(2), then maybe I am just a sinking ship. Maybe, I am doomed for failure. Fast forward to my next class, a group gets up to present about the negative impacts that depression has on parenting(3). Wait, now my depression is going to make me a bad mother? Not only is the chemical imbalance in my brain going to damage my future marriage but now it is also going to handicap my parenting. Great. Are the chemicals, or lack of chemicals, in my brain really going to be the downfall of my future marriage and family? I am not the only one that deals with depression. Depression is the most prevalent mental health issue in the United States(4). Major depressive disorder (MMD) affects nearly 16 million adults in the United States and that is not the only way that people can experience depression. Along with MMD there is also clinical depression, atypical depression, seasonal depression, bipolar disorder, persistent depression, situational depression, and postpartum depression(5). It is not a short list, and it is not only handful of people. So why will depression ruin my future marriage while someone who takes [insert example of some other daily medication] does not get singled out or researched? Now, I don’t think that the researches want people with depression to feel worse, never get married, and not have children. Though that may have been my first instinct when I read the title of that article or sat through that presentation. Here is the thing, “the stigma of mental illness is perhaps the greatest barrier to care.(6)” The problem isn’t that I have clinical depression, the problem is if I don’t get the help I need. It isn’t about fighting the problem solo, it is about getting help. It isn’t about being strong, it is about being healthy. In fact, with help from professionals, being married to a spouse with depression can be an eye opening and stigma shattering experience. Tackling depression together as a couple can lead to greater understanding, unity, and empathy. In fact, the husband of a wife with depression said it “has been a gift that has helped her empathize with so many people. It’s helped us understand that mental illness is not an abnormality. We see it as something that needs to be accepted as part of being human.(7)” So, what is the take away? Here is a hint, I am not going to ruin my future marriage or family because I have clinical depression. I am not doomed for failure. I am worthy and deserving of help and just like someone who might have to take insulin every day to get their body working the way it should, I am not ashamed of what my brain might need. For some people what they need is a visit to the doctors, for others it is a long talk with a professional to help them unravel their emotions, and for me it is taking a little blue pill in the morning to give my brain a needed boost(8). 1. Whiting, J. (2018, Sept 07). How Depression Can Damage a Marriage. Psychology today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/love-lies-and-conflict/201809/how-depression-can-damage-marriage
2. Krauss, S. (2016, Feb 16). How Being Depressed Can Affect Your Relationships. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201602/ how-being-depressed-can-affect-your-relationships 3. O’Connor, R. (2018, Dec 04). Depressed Parents and the Effects on Their Children. Psych Central. Retrieved from https://psychcentral.com/lib/depressed-parents-and-the-effects-on-their-children/ 4. Anxiety and Depression Association of America. (2018). Facts and Statistics. Retrieved from https://adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics 5. Feintuch, S. (n.d.). 9 Types of Depression You Didn’t Know You Could Have. Reader’s Digest. Retrieved from https://www.rd.com/health/wellness/types-of-depression-you-didnt-know-youcould-have/ 6. Friedman, M. (2014, May 13). The Stigma of Mental Illness is Making us Sicker. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brick-brick/201405/the-stigma-mental-illness-is-making-us-sicker 7. La Gorce, T. (2017, Aug 18). Coping with Depression as Love Wins the Day. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/fashion/weddings/battle-depression-love-wins-episcopal-priests-to-be.html 8. Popular meme. Retrieved from https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d5/07/3b/d5073bacebb7a51298d47b66380d7c14.png |
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