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Parents Have Many Tools to Combat Objectionable Media Content, Researcher Concludes

Tools and techniques used to monitor media exposure are widely available to parents, negating the need for increased governmental regulation of content, explains Adam Thierer in a recent study published by The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Thierer documents these tools and explains the roles that industry-led educational efforts and advocacy groups can play in protecting children from exposure to content that is not age appropriate.

In his paper, Thierer, PFF Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Digital Media Freedom, presents a comprehensive overview of technologies that allow parents to block potentially objectionable media content; identifies technologies, such as VCRs, DVD players and personal video recorders, which allow parents to collect large libraries of programming they deem to be educational and age-appropriate; and summarizes efforts across the entertainment industry to produce educational resources for parents and impose self-rating systems for content.