Bob Waliszewski shares about using the media for teachable moments. He also looks at how to have biblical standards to protect children without hurting the parent-child relationship.
He’s seen various trends in his 20-year career looking at media from a Christian perspective. Recent trends in Christian film-making encourage Bob. He sees more Christians being intentional about investing money in the arts.
Bob explains his perspective on the movie ratings system. (G, PG, PG-13, R) He is glad that the ratings exist. However, he emphasizes that people can’t trust the system to protect their kids. The most controversial ratings can hold a wide variety of content.
R-rated movies are usually ones Christians should avoid. Bob doesn’t think we should rule out all R movies. Some war movies rated R could be acceptable.
PG-13 movies run a wide gamut. Movies in this category can include significant raunchiness. He thinks it’s important for parents to remember that these movies are often not appropriate for teenagers. This is the type of content parents should protect young teens from.
Bob also touches on the effects movies, especially movies with strong sexual content, have on young people. Researchers have concluded that the more sexual content teens are exposed to in media, the more likely they are to engage in sexual activity, especially unsafe sexual activity.
Even if parents think their teens are navigating inappropriate content with wisdom, Bob challenges the parents to be cautious.
He sees a connection between video game violence and real-world violence. He thinks that violent video games have an effect although that effect can range from small to significant. No, playing violent video games won’t make someone a school shooter. It might make them more likely to raise a fist in a marital dispute though.
Bob explores these topics and more on how parents can protect their children in his book, Plugged-In Parenting.
Key Scriptures: Revelation 21:1-4, Philippians 4:8
