Dad Revisited

We lock our televisions. We didn’t always do that, but since my wife started working full time, we’ve had a few issues with unattended television use. It’s not about the content (although my wife would like my son’s viewing to contain less violence) but time. Unattended the kids will watch television until they blob up into those immovable obese folks you see on the news who can’t leave their house anymore.

I tried the V-Chip on the TV. It does what it claims to do. You can make sure your kids can’t watch anything other than the ratings level YOU choose. Unfortunately, the V-chip does not limit time. It also does not limit unrated TV shows, so there is no guarantee it will prevent all illicit TV viewing.

Our problem is screen time. The kids will vegetate if allowed. This is where our cable provider has a solution. Parental controls on Verizon FIOS TV give us the opportunity to lock out ratings OR channels. I have all the TV’s in our house locked out 100%. No viewing without parental access. That works great, until one of us accidentally enters the code at the wrong time and the kids see it. The big hassle for adults is that we constantly have to enter the code to watch anything. Channel surfing is out, because you have to enter the code every time. Changing the channels is now a seven keystroke deal.

Of course, the kids figured out a way around it. The DVD player isn’t locked. They can watch DVD’s at any time. It’s much more common now to find some of the very old DVDs getting played now. Clearly they have been through the newer discs and looking for something they haven’t watched hundreds of time. Sure, it’s a pretty big hole, but I believe the real issue with TV is it’s ability to surreptitiously steal an afternoon away from you. You sit down for a 15 minute break, get involved in a show, flip a channel, and suddenly two hours of your day have passed. Cracking open a DVD and sitting down… sure it can steal an hour and a half, but it’s more of a hassle than just flipping on the TV, making it less likely, at least in my mind.

Of course, my wife says one good justification a day is healthy. There it is.

Tags: controls, dvd, parenting, television, v-chip