Parents controlling new media

With the rise of new media and technology has come the fears from parents about their children using these medias and being exposed to inappropriate things at young ages. There are however many new devices that focus on this concern and help parents control what media is coming into their houses. These can range from the v-chip for your television to controlling the content which a child can view on the Internet.

Some of the most common controls are the v-chip, parental controls that are set on the Internet, and disabling features on a child's cell phone. All these help a parent have more control over what media can be used and seen by their child.

Most of the media control has to do with what is seen on the family’s television. The most general form of controlling the media beamed into your living room is the v-chip. The v-chip is a chip in your television that has the ability to block programs based on the television rating that program has. This means that TV MA shows can be blocked automatically while TV PG shows are allowed to be seen.

Media control on televisions doesn't stop there though. Parents can use other devices that filter media seen on their television. This can be done by filtering DVDs or simply buying or renting a clean version of a DVD they like from a store like Clean Flicks. To filter regular DVDs you can use a product such as a Clear Play DVD Player. With Clear Play you simply buy their DVD player then you can set twelve categories of content you want to be shown or not shown on the DVD you are watching from their website. After this you download from their website filters that were created based on your preferences for the DVD you want to watch with your child. The DVD player now will dynamically filter the regular DVD you are watching from the filters you downloaded.

With all these great new ways of controlling content that comes into the house parents have more control then ever on what media can be viewed by their children. No this is exactly the opposite of what is happening. While such medias as parenting magazines, books, and online communities are making it easier for parents to gain information to help raise children more new medias and technologies are being created by and for the young generation. With this flood of information and new ways of getting information it is being implausible to think you can control media being seen by your children.

With more and more ways of getting online such as going to your school, library, or Internet cafe to get online child have more ways of by passing media controls. It is not just the increasing way of getting online but the increasing number of things that are going online. Even new sprinkler systems have Internet connectivity now. The sprinkler system will periodically go online and check the weather forecasts to see if it should run the sprinkler system today or not. If it is going to rain then the system won't run the sprinklers without you ever having to do anything. With all these new ways and things that can get media can we expect the same kind of media protection for our children that we got as children?