Forget the V-Chip, Our Kids Need An L(ife)-Chip
by Jacqueline McAbee

In today’s world, parents are strongly cautioned to monitor their children’s activities. No big surprise here. Our world has changed dramatically from the days when husbands and wives slept in separate beds during the airing of popular television shows.

Today’s television offers us V-Chip technology; a ratings and show blocking system to guide our family’s viewing habits — as television offers up intense violence (V), intense sexual situations (S), strong course language (L) and intensely suggestive dialogue (D) in most TV-14 shows. Not surprisingly, the term “TV-14“ implies that some of this material may not be suitable for children age 14 or younger. You think?

Despite this rating system, television viewing has become so challenging that some parents I know have actually pulled the set completely from their home, or limited their viewing options to “network only“ shows by not subscribing to a cable service and always watching what limited TV reception they do get, as a family. For parents who want to limit the amount of (V), (S), (L) and (D) coming at their children, these dramatic measures seem the only option - but I have to ask, “is it enough”?

I have always believed that parental supervision was the key to building children of strong character. Most things in life could be monitored, avoided or completely removed from influencing your children negatively. However, as with the changes that occurred in television viewing ... there are now changes in our everyday life that we are beginning to have no control over. We are in desperate need of a L(ife)-Chip.

Let’s face it. With our current technological advancements, wouldn’t it just be easier to surgically insert an L-Chip into our children and block out questionable content of every day life? The L-Chip would be a perfect solution to our diminishing sense of common decency, and our apparent inability to think through the results of our actions. I’m not just talking television, movies, music and internet here ... I’m talking about everyday things that you used to take for granted, which you can’t unplug and remove from influencing your family.

Last month while stopping in at a Circle-K store, I was stunned to find the Sports Illustrated 2008 Swimsuit Issue on full display in a floor stand, directly in front of the check-out counter. Within seconds I had done a double-take of the front cover, determining that the model was actually topless and had only a bulky necklace to cover her naked breasts.

Immediately my attention focused on the group of very young boys in front of me, gawking and giggling at the magazine.

Never before have I been bold enough to mention my outrage to an establishment, but as I approached the counter I inquired for the manger and informed him that as a woman, mother and Christian I believed the magazine display to be “way too much“ . In return I was met with a completely blank stare. Hence, the over-the-top L-Chip idea.

In years to come, if we become a society with no levels of appropriateness, what are we to do? We need to take action before our grandchildren are living in a world of (V), (S), (L) and (D) that we cannot protect them from. Despite the blank stare I received at Circle-K that day, I still believe it’s important to take a stand for common decency and let our voices be heard.

Sure, it can be embarrassing to take a stand for what’s right. But if you don’t, who will? If we do not take the risk of being bold now, situations like this will become far more common and our society may very well have an L-Chip for our children in it’s future.

© 2008 Good News Tucson™