Time to just put a cork in it, E______
By Allen R. Sanderson
February 7, 2010
Recently, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel described some recalcitrant Democratic senators as "f_____ retarded." The
media, beginning with The Wall Street Journal, jumped all over E______ for his insensitivities and offensive language. This was
followed by the usual political piling-on and follow-up broadcast and Web coverage. And ultimately he was semiforced to appear
before various groups, such as the organizers of the Special Olympics, and apologize.
(In addition, even President Barack Obama was chided by oral surgeons for referring in his State of the Union address to a policy
proposal that was likely to be as popular as a root canal.)
However, to my knowledge, not one news organization demanded that E______ apologize for using the F-word. While peppering
one's sentences with F-that and F-you may be standard fare for comedians and Soldier Field fans, that word remains highly
offensive to many in our society. (For the record, I was equally offended by both words in E______'s sentence.) We don't use it in
public or in print, and movies can get their ratings adjusted upward from PG-13 to R by inserting that word into the dialogue.
E______ is known for his fiery outbursts and coarse language, but even in covering that, the media seem to be striving for
descriptive accuracy rather than passing any judgment that this is probably not appropriate language for one of the president's
primary public faces to be using.
(My own sense is that E______ could be as effective in his job and in promoting Obama's agendas, or likely even more effective, by
toning down his language and abusive behavior. But that is a call for his boss to make, not me.)
Shortly after E______'s remark, actor Mel Gibson was caught on camera allegedly describing his interviewer as an a______ . In
part because of Gibson's high profile and relatively recent activities that included a drunken driving arrest and, while intoxicated,
making anti-Semitic remarks, he became easy fodder for cable programs and late-night monologues. I suppose he is lucky that we
don't have an A______ Association.
And in a recent on-air debate, Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter was appropriately rebuked for asking his female
colleague from another state to "act like a lady."
If we are advised, as I think we should be, to avoid the R-word, the N-word, and several other alphabet-word descriptors, in terms of
being fair and balanced, could we not discourage others as well? If the R-word and N-word are totally inappropriate, and the S-word
(one of George Carlin's original "seven words you can't say on television" list) are out of bounds, why stop there?
While anti-Semitic, racist, sexist and homophobic remarks are offensive and inappropriate, why is it that barking out "Jesus Christ"
to express outrage (done far too often by faculty members in classrooms and administrators in meetings at my own institution) gets
a pass? Or why is mocking Catholics, Mormons and Southern Baptists fair game?
Without approaching anything that takes us back to the staid 1950s, on television and in movies, as well as in public discourse, we
could certainly tone down the frequency of profanity so that it becomes an appetizer rather than the entree. Being a lazy bully,
having a limited vocabulary and succumbing to bouts of narcissism are hardly acceptable excuses for being a crude individual and
coarsening our language. And while we are appropriately proud of our constitutional guarantee of free speech, perhaps we should
think on occasion before we exercise it. F-speech is not the same thing as free speech.
Allen R. Sanderson teaches economics at the University of Chicago.
Report: Media use by teens, tweens grows to 53 hours a week
Cell phones, computers, MP3 players consuming more of youths' time
By Bonnie Miller Rubin, Tribune reporter
January 20, 2010
The amount of time young people spend consuming media has ballooned with around-the-clock access and mobile devices that
function practically as appendages, according to a new report.
A few years ago, the same researchers thought that teens and tweens were consuming about as much media as humanly possible
in the hours available. But somehow, young people have found a way to pack in even more.
In the last five years, the time that America's 8- to 18-year-olds spend watching TV, playing video games and using a computer for
entertainment has risen by 1 hour, 17 minutes a day, the Kaiser Family Foundation said.
Young people now devote an average of 7 hours, 38 minutes to daily media use, or about 53 hours a week — more than a full-time
job.
"What surprised me the most is the sheer amount of media content coming into their lives each day," said Kaiser's Vicky Rideout,
who directed the study. "When you step back and look at the big picture, it's a little overwhelming."
The numbers zoom even higher if you consider kids' multitasking — such as listening to music while on the computer. Those data
show young people are marinating in media for what amounts to 10 hours, 45 minutes a day — an increase of almost 2.25 hours
since 2004.
The report, "Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-year-olds," is based on a survey of more than 2,000 students nationwide.
It is the third wave of the nonprofit's ongoing look at children's media use, providing a glimpse at current viewing and listening
patterns while also documenting changes from five and 10 years ago.
The huge increase since 2004 can be attributed to the transformation of the cell phone into a content delivery device, Rideout said.
"Kids are spending more time using their phone to play video games, watch TV and listen to music than to actually talk on them,"
she said.
And, of course, the last time Kaiser took the nation's temperature, social networking sites barely existed.
"The average day for me, if I am not at work, I will text all day or be on MySpace or Facebook," said Felinda Seymore, 17, of
Waukegan. "That's my life."
On Sunday, for instance, she fiddled around online from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., updating her status and commenting on her friends'
pages, she said.
"My mom thinks it's too much technology," Seymore said. "She says back in her day, they didn't have that stuff. I feel like it helps us
open up and learn new things ... instead of sitting around at home being bored."
Media consumption is even heavier in minority families such as Seymore's — a trend unaffected by a child's age, socioeconomic
status or parents' education. African-American and Hispanic youths favor TV over mobile devices, posting nearly six hours of tube
time a day compared with 3.5 hours for their white counterparts.
Parents aren't helpless to limit the intake, the study found.
When parents impose limits, they work, with their offspring tallying nearly three hours less exposure a day. But only 30 percent
impose some kind of parameters, the study found.
It's not easy playing electronic cop, but the stakes are too high, said Becky Kirsh, who has been known to pack up the remote
controls and bring them with her to work.
With four kids, three computers and assorted cell phones, TVs and video games, Kirsh and her husband struggle to keep media
from seeping into every corner of their Lombard home.
"The bottom line is that this is my house," she said. "There's so much that is positive about old-fashioned family life ... and I'm just
not willing to give that up to technology."
She offered one example of how gadgetry can alter relationships with her four children, who range in age from 9 to 15. In a simpler
time, the car was an ideal place for heart-to-heart chats (captive audience, no eye contact).
But when her kids go right to their cell phones or immediately retreat into their headphones in the car, "it's no different than if they
were in their bedrooms, with the door closed," said Kirsh, an educational coordinator at a local church. "That's when I really put my
foot down."
Right now, the biggest tussle is with her 15-year-old son over texting — a practice Kaiser didn't include separately in its count of
media use, but parents often file under the same category. The Kirshes have responded by building in some restraints, including a
limit of 2,500 texts and blocking any incoming messages from 7 to 9 p.m. (homework time) and after 11 p.m.
To most adults, a couple of thousand texts is tantamount to a blank check, but Joe Kirsh chafes under the allotment, saying it
cramps his social life.
"When I run out of texts, I can't make plans," he said, adding that there is no way to access messages that arrive after hours and
that he is the only one of his friends to have such restrictions. "I get good grades ... so it's really not fair."
When it comes to report cards, the Kaiser report finds a difference between heavy and light media users, though researchers note
that they haven't determined cause and effect. Nearly half of all heavy media users, those who consume more than 16 hours a day
(including time spent multitasking), say they usually get "fair or poor" grades compared with about a quarter of light users (less than
3 hours).
Certainly, part of managing the media landscape means parents need to be savvy about everything from age-appropriate content to
V-chips.
But it's not just about more government regulations and stronger locks, Rideout said.
Adults also need to look at their own behavior. Do they put a computer in every bedroom? Is the TV on during dinner? Are Mom and
Dad tethered to their own BlackBerrys?
"Really, parents make choices about the media environment every day, Rideout said. "We hope these findings will allow them to
look at what goes on in their own families ... and talk about it."