Why are today's kids so spoiled?

And according to the Old Testament God punished people back then for doing the same things we're complaining about nowadays. These problems are as old as time itself and nothing new.

Then that's who they are as people, and they would be whether there was Television or not.

Yeah. Would've responded to mr3urious's post, but D'Snowth pretty much said it. We're just talking about why the kids are the way they actually are and the reasons behind it.

Yes, I understand that, but over time recently, some of these problems have rose up to a much higher level. It's not really the problems themselves, it's how they have escalated.

Sometimes. But other times television, movies, and internet influence young people into being that unwholesome person. Where are the main ways kids learn bad stuff? Sometimes it's parents, often times it's media. Which is my explanation to why the problems have escalated over time: media popped in. Before, with just parental influence, the problems weren't as bad as now.

If I'm coming across as stating that television and movies are bad, that is not my attention. I'm a super huge TV and movie fan, I love entertainment! Entertainment is great...if it's made and used properly. I'm talking about how entertainment has been hurting our society, but it has helped too. After all, I may have become one of the kids I've been talking about if it wasn't for the Muppets.

I just don't think you get much worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. Or a world where the only people worth preserving was Noah's family and some animals.

In my opinion a great overwhelming majority of the time it's the parents. And those same parents blame the media because they can't admit or recognize where they've failed.

The way I view entertainment, it doesn't create good or bad. It simply feeds into inclinations we already have, for good or bad. And if it wasn't entertainment, it would be something else.

But...God promised never to destroy the people on the earth again. Who knows if he'd have done it again if not?

It is the parents at some points, as I said earlier, but I think it would more be both together. The parents neglect their children, so their children find the bad stuff world.

Now I have to completely disagree there. See, I can guarantee I would be a lot worse if I didn't happen to be introduced to the Muppets. It's sort of a first hand experience thing...now, I don't know if you have, but you kind of have to witness both sides with your own two eyes.

I'm just saying that positive entertainment like the Muppets taps into what we already have. That's a good thing. And in turn negative entertainment feeds into our weaker inclinations.

I'm going to go for a random, obscure entertainment reference here, hehe. I remember an episode of The Monkees where Peter is giving the ability to play the harp by the devil (yeah just go with it, lol), but then the devil takes the gift taken away. Or so he thinks. But Mike sees it differently: "The power's inside you. Nobody can give it to you. Nobody can take it away."

You know what I would like to have happen? You ever heard of "The Rural Purge"? We need something like that, only in reverse: instead of canceling a whole bunch of popular shows at once because they're "no longer relevant", we need to release a whole bunch of new shows that aim to bring audiences together again: not shows aimed specifically at adults, and not shows aimed specifically at kids, shows for everybody. A real-life "Clean-up Brigade", if you will... only a different title since that's already been used, lol.

But yeah, I once had a mock show pitch once, and I was asked (and later told this question is asked all the time) who my target audience was, and I said plainly and clearly, I have no target audience, because I don't want to limit what I do to any one specific demographic.

There are cases where no matter how well they raise their kid, circumstances beyond the parents control screw them up... but blaming the media is something every stupid generation did to try to explain that kids who are screwed up are everyone's fault but theirs. Remember the dogooder that screwed up comic books, and said "that's where Juvenile Delinquents come from: only because of circumstantial evidence that J.D.'s had comics in their possession? That was all the way back in the 50's.

Now we have Kids are fat because cartoons are on boxes of stuff and junk food exists and is accessible, or kids are sexualized because sex exists in the media. Not there's a huge class gap that causes poor families to have to rely on cheap, processed foods or the fact we give kids too much busy homework that they don't want to go out and play or anything like that... not the kids that are inclined to be sexually active usually have poor grades and no future, so they basically don't care what happens or the woman's in an increasingly abusive relationship. There's no room for complexity or treating cases any different. It's all one big thing that has to be gotten rid of right away because it's so horrible and we're too impatient to deal with the issue in a clear, concise, sane, rational, mature way.

Nope... now we can't even have bake sales to fund underfunded schools because we're so worried about the obesity hype-o-demic that we're going to start another Prohibition.

I don't see why everyone has a problem with fictitious sex scenes in television shows and movies when we have a culture where we make celebrities out of wealthy hussies that make sex tapes. Why are we following the Khardashians? What's their worth to society? They're even WORSE than Paris Hilton. And we shouldn't have had her in the first place.

You know what makes me laugh? The fact that TLC had a show called "All American Muslims" that was so controversial that people were pulling funding out (not looking xenophobic at all), and it got canceled because they were SO incredibly normal, it was too dull to watch. Meanwhile, NO ONE has anything bad to say about reality shows where backstabbing is rewarded, "half ton" people are put on display, crazy people with way too many kids who want to get on television are put on the same display, people yelling insults at other people until they cry, and of course, reality shows starring said sex tape trust fund brats. They just hated this show because it's the same race of people who did something bad.

Where are those whining about decency on television? They're crying about GCB and Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23 because they have cuss words subliminally in the title.

Except for the people that has a problem with that stuff too...

Yes, that would be great if we could get a whole bunch of new shows at one time. Then that style entertainment could begin to play a bigger role, and it may also result in some other not great shows being broadcast less. The thing you have to be careful with would be to not just dish out shows nonstop; you have to make sure that it is quality entertainment and not just cheap, no good shows.

Interesting discussion. I agree with Hubert and D'snowth. Kids are being exposed to some things waaaay too early.

Well that's why we have parents in theory, hehe.

But they aren't as vocal, and they aren't trying to mercilessly cancel those shows the way they do with something scripted... especially if it's kid's programming. I feel they're way too lenient on things like Jerry Springer, Maury Povich (which I'll say for the zilliontrillionth time, why in God's name is that still on?), and all that crap that's a button press away from Sesame Street on weekdays. I may not be able to agree on censoring television, but it's sleaze for sleaze sake (like 90% of reality Television) that we all should agree needs to go.

Yes. I do see the point that there's too much for kids to be exposed to... but we have a detailed ratings system, V-Chips, and all these parental tools, and apparently, they're not as good as punishing everyone, especially mature adults who watch programming meant for them. If you're 5 year old is watching something TV 14, you failed on so many levels.

I worked with kids for 10 years and I can tell you it's all in how their raised. It's not cliche or cheesy we set the example for our children. I am not a mom yet but I have seen so many kids that came and went through our doors and you could tell the ones who were really given the attention they need at home and the ones who's parents just wanted to drop off and get rid of them for the day. Granted I know parents need to work to support their families and you only see a portion of them at the beginning and at the end of day but you just got a feel of what kids were being raised properly and the ones who's parents just weren't as involved in their lives as they should be. And it's those parents who are gonna oneday regret it. Being a child only comes once and it goes by so fast. I hope I'm not creating any beef here but I just had to give my opinion.

I can tell you half of the kids that did have behavior problems was because there were other issues going on at home. It was so sad seeing what situations some of those kids were dealing with outside of school.

Agreed. How come we keep hearing "Kids shouldn't watch 2 Broke Girls! Let's censor television" but we never hear "we're putting to much pressure on kids and slowly taking away their ability to be kids, causing them to act out?"

Kids that have to deal with issues at home will always blow off some stream or act "crazy." How come we have less and less groups that want to see tools with how kids cope with a bad reality, and more and more blaming everything lazily on the media? Surely, it's not Ren and Stimpy's fault if the kid has a bad homelife or has some jerk other kid picking on them.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

I kind of think some of you seem to be missing my point...I'm not saying we can totally blame everything on television. Parents play a big role. How about an analogy:

Basically parents are carpenters, forming children's lives. One of their tools is TV and movies. Good tools (or positive quality TV) will lead to help the child be able to grow into a good product. Bad tools (inappropriate TV) will lead to end up making the final product worse. Of course, there's also a thing called bad carpenters, which plays the largest role.

Multiple things come into play. Good carpenters with good tools will result in the best product. Bad carpenters with good tools don't work, because you need a good carpenter behind the whole project. Good carpenters with bad tools just don't take enough effort to get the good tools.

That is a VERY black and white definition. Not to mention, often times, such bad tools are clearly labeled.

You don't give a 2 year old that's still a slave to his oral fixations (in other words, puts stuff in his mouth) a toy that clearly says "WARNING: Toy contains Small Parts! Not Suitable for ages under 3." But some parents of the year do. They ignore warnings and wonder why everything's screwed up. Like that case of the secret naked code on a Grand Theft Auto game. Some parent discovered their kid found it and flipped out when Grand Theft Auto isn't an appropriate game for those under 17 anyway. Kids should be playing games that are rated E or E-10... maybe Teen in some cases. They went through this big whininess in the 90's when Mortal Kombat (which is tame by today's standards) came out and they demanded a strong ratings system.... only to ignore it?!?! Same with TV ratings. TV 14 MEANS TV 14. You have V-chips, family friendly options on other networks, and of course DVD movies... if you're complaining that you're 5 year old is watching something explicit, you have ONLY yourself to blame.

We have ratings systems for a reason. Sure, some kids will always bypass it. But those are kids who are looking for trouble anyway.

I know you definitely have good intentions. The issue I have is just because a program is rated R doesn't mean it's bad or corrupting. That's taking some of the responsibility away from the child and saying they're helpless against the evil brainwashing tube in the corner of the Family Room. If that a child is that pliable then they have bigger problems than bad TV habits, hehe.

Right, I know that an R-rated program doesn't been it's necessarily bad or corrupting. Sadly however, that is often the case. And I'm not saying they're helpless against evil brainwashing...they have responsibilities in this case too. It is their part to resist watching the stuff they know they shouldn't.

Or if they do watch it, be able to separate it from real life.

Yep.