Parents and Media Ratings: Context Isn't a New Concept

[Commentary] In the July issue of "Pediatrics," a research team headed by Iowa State's Douglas Gentile found that parents are not satisfied with age-based rating systems like those used by the television V-chip, on video game boxes, or for movies by the MPAA. As I read coverage of the studies, I was compelled to check the publication date, to be certain they weren't conducted in 1996.

Gentile's research might have been news then, when the V-chip was introduced. Cable penetration was around two-thirds of the country and digital TV was years away; fewer than a fifth of Americans were online; today's immersive mobile media world was the stuff of dreams or science fiction. TV technology wasn't ready for multi-dimensional ratings or equipped to do much beyond "block" or "pass." Today, his conclusions are beyond obvious, and ignore the profusion of data sites, expert reviews, apps and social networks that support (if not supplant) the basic V-chip, MPAA and ESRB ratings.

The studies suggest as eye-opening what most child study experts accept as fundamental: development follows a consistent path, but the pace at which individual kids take that path varies considerably. Development cannot be divorced from context - family values, culture and ethnicity, religion, educational philosophy, SES and more contribute to what parents want, expect and allow - and at what age. V-chip, ESRB and MPAA ratings remain important, but are far from monolithic. Given the evolution of technology, Gentile's research would have been much more revealing and useful had he asked parents about the range of sources they do use to navigate the ever-more complex media landscape.