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Posts like these make me appreciate my parents for not bothering to do any of this nonsense. Absolutely zero care in the slightest for movie/game/music ratings,
by Spivak 3y ago
Posts like these make me appreciate my parents for not bothering to do any of this nonsense. Absolutely zero care in the slightest for movie/game/music ratings, completely unfiltered internet. The only standard I was held to as a kid was "will she have nightmares if we let her watch it." Honestly there's something to the theory that if you don't make it a thing it stops being a thing.
At any point I could have put on an R rated movie, took one of my mom's cigarettes, or drank one of my dad's beers if I wanted but I didn't. For I'm sure their own amusement they even offered them to me just to watch me go bleh. And why would I -- ewwww those were boring dad movies. Hell I could have found porn but what stopped me wasn't parental controls, it was being 9 and not knowing such a thing existed. I'm still embarrassed that I never realized that that's what was behind the swinging doors at hollywood video until I was at college.
And I still remember the moment that was tossed aside too; I was like 8-9 years old, couldn't sleep and came down stairs because my dad was still up watching a movie. He must been in the bathroom or getting something from the fridge but regardless he wasn't there so I got into his chair, put on his headphones and hit play. Didn't know at the time what I was watching but it was Kill Bill and I thought it was so cool these two badass women were fighting each other. When my dad came back and caught me I was mortified so sure I was gonna get in trouble. But no, he was like, "you think this is cool?" and got our another pair of headphones so we could watch together. Big don't tell your mom I'm letting you stay up late energy. After that my dad was like I know what she's goona like and we watched the entire Alien series together and Alien 2 is still my favorite movie to this day.
- smoldesu 3y agoYeah, I posted this in one of these threads last time and got beaten down with sticks and swords. Oh well, I'm on a hot streak and have karma to burn, so I'll agree with you. Parents, if you don't want your children to have internet access, then don't give it to them. If you have reached a point where that is no longer possible (eg. grade school) then it's time to figure things out. Your kids will be perambulating around recess and interacting with all the lovely publicly schooled children. You know, the nose-pickers that stole their brother's smut magazine and brag about it being in their backpack. It's horrifying! But also real-life. I sympathize with my parents for trying to make the best environment for me growing up. I'm even happier (for my sake and theirs) that they didn't overreact when I was playing violent video games or walking in on them watching Shaun of the Dead. I'm not sure I'd be a personally confident individual without those early moments of humility between me and my parents.
- ec109685 3y agoThat worked out well for you, but there are kids who discover horrible or inappropriate content. It’s not natural for a 9 year old to see that and can be harmful.
- arp242 3y agoYeah, I spent years being frightened of stuff like Jurassic Park, Critters, X-Files, and even a MacGyver episode(!) That last one is where MacGyver gets lead poisoning and starts hallucinating; I must've seen that when I was, 4, 5, maybe? I remembered it when I saw it years later at the age of 12 or so (at which point it wasn't scary at all). But around that age I did see Jurassic Park, and I spent months scared in bed – every time I heard some rumbling noise (usually just a car) I worried it might be some T-Rex or whatnot shrug. X-Files was also all the rage at the time and I always imagined aliens and whatnot peeking through my window. It all seems profoundly silly even to me who lived through this to the point of mental illness, but kids can be really silly and have a kind of over-active imaginations that can make things scary that you or I have trouble imagining. And all of that was before the internet. Even back in the 90s some more parental controls wouldn't be a bad idea, tailored to the personality of the child.
- Footnote7341 3y agoWhy? What is going to happen to someone if they see inappropriate content? they will learn of the existence of sex and swearwords?
- ec109685 3y agoNo, I meant the potential to see much worse for children: hardcore porn, beheadings, horrific stuff.