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Common Sense Media and Others - Subb - 12-20-2013 03:12 PM
http://www.commonsensemedia.org
What do you guys think of this? I just made a long rant about it, but I accidently deleted it. So discuss, and then I'll join in later.
Common Sense Media and Others - brainiac3397 - 12-20-2013 03:16 PM
Quote:-We believe in media sanity, not censorship.
-We believe that media has truly become "the other parent" in our kids' lives, powerfully affecting their mental, physical, and social development.
-We believe in teaching our kids to be savvy, respectful and responsible media interpreters, creators, and communicators. We can’t cover their eyes but we can teach them to see.
-We believe parents should have a choice and a voice about the media our kids consume and create. Every family is different but all need information.
-We believe that the price for free and open media is a bit of extra homework for families. Parents need to know about the media their kids use and need to teach responsible, ethical behavior as well as manage overall media use.
-We believe that through informed decision making, we can improve the media landscape one decision at a time.
-We believe appropriate regulations about right time, right place, and right manner exist. They need to be upheld by our elected and appointed leaders.
-We believe in age-appropriate media and that the media industry needs to act responsibly as it creates and markets content for each audience.
-We believe ratings systems should be independent and transparent for all media.
-We believe in diversity of programming and media ownership.
So...what exactly do they do? Give free media advice or something?
RE: Common Sense Media and Others - Subb - 12-20-2013 03:19 PM
They tell you what is and isn't approptiate for your kid. Look at the reviews. That's where the crap is.
My main problems with it are that they're too uptight (they're age recomendations are always 1-2 years older than what I would say. Sure, that's a matter of opinion, but there needs to be multiple viewpoints.) And that it encourages parents to look on a site and your child's age, rather than the content itself and your kid's maturity.
RE: Common Sense Media and Others - brainiac3397 - 12-20-2013 03:42 PM
Interesting. They literally mean all media. Even music and books o_O.
Common Sense Media and Others - James Comey - 12-20-2013 03:54 PM
I'm familiar with Common Sense Media. From the sound of it they're not nearly as bad as, say, the Parents TV Council or the American Family Association.
RE: Common Sense Media and Others - brainiac3397 - 12-20-2013 04:00 PM
I agree. Though I generally dont like people going for the simple one-size-fits-all belief by just adhering to the guidelines set by these third-party organizations, these guys at least give closer to a neutral view than the above mentioned groups which generally evoke the image of parents totally disconnected from their children and think everything they think and do is for the best of their children, regardless of whether it is actually the best.
RE: Common Sense Media and Others - Subb - 12-20-2013 04:26 PM
Holy shit. Looking at the Parents TV Council. Now THAT'S just scary. I haven't seen anything yet.
Common Sense Media and Others - James Comey - 12-20-2013 04:29 PM
American Family Association is really fucked up though, in my opinion far more worse, probably because they're crazy Christian fundamentalists, and those kinds of people really piss me off. They're hell bent on making people say "Merry Christmas" and I think they told people to boycott McDonald's because they were hiring gay people. They're also hellbent on banning any non-Christian religion, as well.
Common Sense Media and Others - Trar - 12-21-2013 03:36 AM
I remember finding this place a while back and looking at some of the reviews. While I definitely agree that showing a 5-year-old Seagal action flicks isn't a good idea (I should know because my parents let me watch Under Siege when I was around that age), do you really think a 17-year-old shouldn't play BioShock 2? Or that 12-year-olds can't play Tropico 4, or at least play it with a bit of parental guidance initially?
I do like the learning potential and parental-need-to-know sections, at least. I like how they also provide topics for discussion. I hope somewhere in this fine country there's a kid who's talking about Tropico at the dinner table. (We don't even have a dinner table.) I am a bit disappointed that they don't have the first two Tropico games.
Grand Theft Auto 4 is still suitable for teenagers(and younger), I should think, with or without parental advisory (even if understanding and knowledgeable parents may be useful for younger players). They just need the wherewithal to not actually do any of it in real life. Which they pretty much do have. There's not much good in shielding them from the uglier aspects of the world, not at that age. I've even heard tell of a father letting his 3-year-old daughter watch him drive around in the game. She yells at him every time he violates traffic laws.
This review says it all:
Quote:Fine for anyone who comprehends real-life "right" from "wrong"
The Grand Theft auto series does not MAKE people "go bad". This game does have gratuitous amounts of violence, sex, drugs, etc. but it is FICTIONAL. I let me 9 year old play this while I'm in the roo [sic] because he understands its not real. He knows that violence and crime in real life has [major] censequences [sic]. Since playing this game, he has had NO negative life changes whatsoever. A game is NOT real life, get over it people and take some darn responsibility for what you do and stop blaming things that have NO effect on the utmost VAST majority of people who experience it.
Overall, at least it's not fundamentalist bullshit.
Common Sense Media and Others - James Comey - 12-21-2013 09:44 AM
Yeah, the whole "there's already crime anyway" and the lack of any strong statistics really blows the "GTA makes people violent" theory out of the water. Plus, any stories that always pop up are yet another great example of a logical fallacy, this time being the "anecdotal evidence" fallacy.
Common Sense Media and Others - Trar - 12-21-2013 11:37 AM
Jack Thompson feeding his fish.
Common Sense Media and Others - Missile - 02-20-2014 09:00 AM
Common sense media actually has a feature where other parents can other kids can put in their own reviews of the book/movie/video game etc. It tends to be more actually more acuaratte
Common Sense Media and Others - KFC Nyan Cat - 02-20-2014 11:29 AM
At least it's not One Million Moms.
RE: Common Sense Media and Others - McGee! - 03-28-2014 04:04 AM
(12-20-2013 04:26 PM)SubCulture Wrote: Holy shit. Looking at the Parents TV Council. Now THAT'S just scary. I haven't seen anything yet.
Looked at their guide, they're not even all that good at fitting things into their three narrow categories. Although when further examined, it's obviously a thinly-veiled ethics check, as NCIS, Glee, and Once Upon a Time are all considered less child-appropriate than Grimm.
Nothing on the guide for network primetime TV is labled "child appropriate", although most of the programming which has a possibility of falling into the category (Resurrection for example) are "unrated". In fact, just about the only "safe" shows are 7th Heaven and some gameshows and cartoons, and probably more related to nostalgia than anything, (I'm suppposing the rating is on the "new new" ie 2003 version)The Twilight Zone.
...People actually use this?