Parental controls on television sets came about because the Federal Communications Commission felt it was time to act to protect children from excessive violence and sexualized and other adult themes without the supervision of parents. This came at a time when children were already becoming known for "latch-key" status of being without supervision due to job demands family budgets keeping both parents working when children were home from school.
Add this to the proactive television industry that wanted to prevent more legal requirements imposed on them. This industry felt that by taking a parent-friendly approach and voluntarily off
However, the advent of cable television, along with many more channels being paid for by adults, changed the situation to one where technology could interfere with the purchaser's enjoyment of any television viewing. The sad reality became one of parents being too busy to learn how to set the V-Chip or to use the technology; in some cases; their children learned to use the technology more effectively. This created the situation of the fox guarding the hen house, and children could easily skirt around such controls or find them not in use at all. The increase in sexualized and violent content in other media, such as songs on the radio, also exposed children in ways that television parental controls could not control.
Basically, the argument has become one of too little, too late. It was a politically-sound and profitable idea to try the parental control technology not for protecting children; rather, it secured friendly votes in legislation and created profitable public relations for the television manufacturing industry. The children, sadly, remained unprotected as always.
The technology alone is beyond the basic grasp of many adults. For example, some televisions automatically implement parental controls when they have been unplugged and turned back on. Ostensibly, this is to continue protection in the event of power outages or children trying to circumvent the control by unplugging the set. The industry and trade open secrets of resetting the television to turn off the controls, while simple to learn, are intimidating to some adults. Nevertheless, some adults are forced to learn because they cannot view programming that they are paying to view, and the intimidating nature of the technology becomes a hindrance and an annoyance too offensive to ignore. So, the controls go unused, or the television gets replaced with something that does not contain the parental control.
All of these factors continue to prod adults into not relying on parental controls and technology to supervise children's television viewing. It is a waste of politics, of time, and no one acts ultimately in favor of the child when this system is used. Children themselves have learned to circumvent the controls or to obtain the exposure to forbidden programming from neighbors or from other media such as film and radio. Even through their interactions with peers at school, the exposure to forbidden programming continues without parental supervision.
It would probably be better to focus efforts away from appeasing parent-voters and throwing extra money to the television manufacturers and to start sitting our children down with their own parents to discuss adult themes and issues as they arise on the screen. Thus, children get exposed to new life issues while getting their parent's reactions and perspectives on dealing with them. In this manner, children can be entertained, informed, and enjoy the pleasure of their parents' company all the more.
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