Hold Me Back Podcast: Content: Parenting Is Now Rated-R

With practically unlimited access to a world of unfiltered content, real or fiction, do parents need to fundamentally rethink how they monitor and control their children’s access to content? Do they have to start over with well-established content rating systems to account for this new reality? Join Aidan and Ash as they unravel this thorny topic. All in this week’s episode of Hold Me Back. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and your other favorite podcast platforms.

• Episode Summary & Player
• Show Notes
• Hold Me Back Summary

Content: Parenting Is Now Rated-R

With practically unlimited access to a world of unfiltered content, real or fiction, do parents need to fundamentally rethink how they monitor and control their children’s access to content? Do they have to start over with well-established content rating systems to account for this new reality? Join Aidan and Ash as they unravel this thorny topic, share some controversial research, and discover how parents might need to reconsider their views on managing their children’s access to content to prepare them for a new reality. Things get tense in this controversial episode. This episode covers everything from Aidan sneaking violent video games to Ash reminiscing on the first time he saw Jaws. Here’s a small sample of what you will hear in this episode:

• What was the first R-rated movie Ash let Aidan watch?
• Is content rated and regulated on YouTube?
• How does the movie and TV rating system work?
• Has the relative threshold of ratings changed over time?
• What impacts sensation seeking?
• Does Ash think Aidan is a high or low sensation seeker?
• Is this a losing battle?
• How does Aidan think parents should approach adult content?

Who was more convincing: Aidan or Ash? Vote at the bottom of this post.

Enjoy the show! Check out the show notes below for much more detail.

Show Notes

• Intro to Rated-R
• [0:17] Welcome to Hold Me Back
• [0:22] Meet Aidan (Gen Z) & Ash (Gen X)
• [0:40] Boomers
• [0:55] Where did the topic of R-Rated content come from?
• [1:01] Content Ratings
• [1:10] Hold Me Back Episode #6: Do Not Disturb: On Parents, Teens, and Privacy
• [1:24] Game of Thrones
• [2:53] Content, Media
• [3:28] What was the first R-rated movie Ash let Aidan watch?
• [3:37] Gladiator, T2
• [3:56] GTA (Grand Theft Auto), COD (Call of Duty)
• [4:18] LEGO Batman
• [5:24] Why is Gen Z being held back around this particular topic?
• [5:57] YouTube, Safari
• [6:33] Psychology, Sociology
• Research: What does the research tell us about parenting in an R-rated world?
• [7:18] “Children and media in the U.S. – Statistics & Facts“
• [8:02] “Distribution of daily video content consumption among teenagers in the United States from fall 2015 to fall 2020, by platform“
• [8:09] Netflix
• [8:30] Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV
• [8:51] Murder, She Wrote, Dallas, Dynasty
• [9:19] Facebook
• [9:23] Is content rated and regulated on YouTube?
• [10:08] “The movie rating system is pointless“
• [10:31] How does the movie and TV rating system work?
• [10:51] Content Descriptors
• [11:07] “OPINION: The MPAA rating system needs to recommend, not restrict“
• [11:19] Are the movie and TV rating systems harmonized?
• [11:34] Netflix Original
• [12:21] HBO
• [12:29] Do they still have NC-17?
• [13:05] American Psycho
• [13:49] Has the relative threshold of ratings changed over time?
• [14:03] Jaws
• [14:31] Common Sense Media
• [15:49] CEO Jim Steyer (Chief Executive Officer)
• [16:08] Black Mirror, Internet
• [17:00] AARP (American Association of Retired Persons)
• [17:19] What is the mission of AARP?
• [18:16] Social Media
• [18:21] Why are Steyer’s beliefs relevant to this conversation?
• [18:50] “R-rated Movie Viewing, Growth in Sensation Seeking and Alcohol Initiation: Reciprocal and Moderation Effects“
• [19:35] Does the content kids watch really impact their development?
• [19:54] First-Person Shooter Games
• [21:22] National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• [22:09] What’s an example of the traits that change vs. those that don’t?
• [22:30] Introvert vs. Extrovert
• [22:39] Sensation Seeking
• [23:54] High Sensation Seekers vs. Low Sensation Seekers
• [24:25] What impacts sensation seeking?
• [24:55] Does seeing drugs & alcohol in content affect kids?
• [25:48] “Exposure to Media Violence and Emotional Desensitization“
• [27:09] Does seeing sexual content affect kids?
• [28:00] Does swearing in content affect kids?
• [28:11] Hold Me Back Episode #2: Is Swearing Really a Big Deal?
• [28:29] Does seeing violence & gore in content affect kids?
• [28:49] News
• Debate: What is wrong and what is right about parenting in an R-rated world?
• [30:06] Does Ash think Aidan is a high or low sensation seeker?
• [31:08] Does Ash have a bias toward the low sensation seeking side?
• [32:03] Mission: Impossible
• [34:31] How would Aidan prefer parents approach content ratings?
• [36:35] Aidan’s story of his friend whose parents tried to over-restrict his content
• [37:44] Webinars
• [37:54] What is self-regulation?
• [38:42] Where does Ash think Aidan falls on the self-regulation scale?
• [39:24] Has Ash’s view impacted what he lets Aidan watch?
• [39:42] Super 8
• [40:38] What does Aidan’s reaction to Super 8 have to do with self-regulation?
• [41:00] Self-Awareness
• [41:25] False Attribution
• [41:55] The Walking Dead
• [43:25] Ash’s friend who walked in on his son
• [46:35] Ash’s friend who stops movies to talk about uncomfortable scenes with her son
• [47:40] Is this a losing battle?
• [49:39] How does Aidan think parents should approach adult content?
• [50:41] Happy Days, L.A. Law, Two and a Half Men, Family Guy, How to Get Away with Murder
• [52:58] Marketer
• [53:15] Little House on the Prairie, Breaking Bad
• [53:39] What was the first R-rated movie Ash saw?
• [54:01] Scuba Diving License, YMCA
• [54:15] North Dallas Forty, The Warriors
• You convinced me
• [54:41] What did Ash convince Aidan of?
• [55:31] What did Aidan convince Ash of?
• [58:51] Thank you for listening! Follow Hold Me Back on HoldMeBack.com
• [59:00] Who was more convincing: Aidan or Ash? Vote below

Thank you for listening to Hold Me Back. To hear more episodes, follow Hold Me Back at HoldMeBack.com.

WHAT IS HOLD ME BACK?

Gen X and Gen Z live together, but we occupy different worlds. As the generational gap widens and conventional wisdom on parenting and education fails, is it even possible to understand one another? In this unique son-and-father podcast, Aidan & Ash ElDifrawi hash out a new contract between generations, forcing them to violate comfort zones on today’s most charged topics: social media and screen time, bullying and loneliness, inequality and privilege, sex and drugs, education and etiquette, even politics, religion, and sports. All to uncover a path toward greater harmony and a hopeful future for the next generation.