Booming laughter echoed in my ears. I peered over the frail shoulder of the young boy, my ten-year old cousin, to see as to what his eyes were glued to. On his laptop screen displayed a video of some teenagers running around slapping each other with shaving cream. “Smack cam” they dubbed it and their view count was climbing exponentially. Confusion and curiosity crept into my mind as creases formed on my forehead. How was this activity popular? People actually find enjoyment in abusing their so-called friends and recording it for the world to join in on the fun? How did my young cousin even get his paws on such a horrendous video? Seriously, what is wrong with our generation? I find myself asking these questions every time I hear about another viral trend like “twerking” (a dance involving shaking the hips while doing a handstand) or “smack camming”. This may be entertaining to watch, but we need to keep in mind the age of the audience viewing these videos. Nowadays, with easy access to the Internet and television younger children can view these videos and find them socially appropriate. More restrictions should be placed on public broadcasting, as certain material needs to be censored from adolescents.

It seems every time I log onto one of my social media accounts there is always a post of some scantily clad girl dancing or a song slewed full of curse words. Just the other day multiple posts of Miley Cyrus swinging naked on a wrecking ball, while licking a hammer, flooded my newsfeed. My nose crinkled with disgust as the edges of my mouth curved down into a frown. This was considered art? I had to know more details about this strange video to quench my curiosity. Pulling up YouTube, I managed to find the music video without any trouble seeing as it was openly displayed on the homepage for anyone to view. I, for one, sure felt like a tetanus shot was called for after watching the video of the former innocent Disney star grinding in a demolition site. Now I clearly knew everything I watched are considered abnormal, but children may not see it that way. They still possess the “if everyone else is doing it, I should too” mentality. Once we introduce such videos to adolescents, they will be acclimated to the weird and somewhat grotesque behavior.

Like the first snowfall of the season, children’s minds are unmarred by any pollution. We take caution to avoid tarnishing the unblemished blanket by walking on paved sidewalks or even stepping in the footsteps previously made by others. We prolong the inevitable because once we dirty the pure, white flakes our actions can’t be reversed. Just in the past year, I visited my cousins who in my mind are still considered babies since their average age is 12. I remember distinctly overhearing them slinging curse words at each other, thinking that is was of the norm to do so. My ears were bleeding from hearing these crude sayings from such angelic voices. These kids, supposedly blind to all the bad in the world, dropped the words “s***” and “b****” as often as people abused the word “like”. I asked one of the boys where they heard such words; his simple reply, “I saw it on YouTube.”

What happened to the good ole days where people only watched shows with family values like Full House? Back then, the biggest controversy showed on TV would be a short kiss shared between two characters. Now show writers are constantly pushing the boundaries as to what they show, whether it’s crude language or half nude scenes. However, as more of these social norms become accepted, worry spreads that as a culture we sully the youth’s unstained snow. Parents need to monitor the children’s activities more carefully. For instance, putting parental locks on television shows and movies isn’t as difficult anymore. Almost all cable programs provide settings to block inappropriate content. Even protection locks are placed on Internet sites that only allow mature audiences access. Parents can research ahead of time what movie their kids will be going to see and decide whether or not it is suitable for them to view. During a viewing of the R-rated movie, The Heat, I glanced up into the back row only to be met with the sight of 14-year olds giggling at the profane language and violent scenes. Their parents sat next to them thoroughly enjoying the movie like it was an appropriate family activity for them all to bond over. I don’t know if these parents want to seem cool to their kids or not, but I find it wrong when it’s socially acceptable that a child can watch these movies without any further questioning. I am not saying that all children should be watching Barney or Dora the Explorer, but there need to be restraints placed on what is deemed as family friendly.
I understand even with parental guidance, there are still loopholes as to where this content could have infiltrated. The music video by Miley Cyrus previously mentioned is not even restricted to those 18 and older, meaning anyone can access such inappropriate behavior. Recently, content ratings have been lowered as more people find certain curse words acceptable to say. Yes, cursing is a mean for people to truly express their feelings, but not everyone likes to use explicit language just to describe their anger. Personally, I find cursing cathartic. However, I know when to restrain myself from shouting out the colorful language in certain situations. The broadcasting networks could also apply a similar restraint concerning what younger viewers should be able to see, especially during daylight hours. Although late night shows are where these violent and mature contents are shown, some children can also view them if their own parents don’t monitor them more closely.

Censorship does not narrow people’s views of the world, it merely restricts offensive content from the youth. Blocking these undesirables is just a small measure to prevent children from acting out and becoming lascivious characters at an early age. As they grow more mature and have a better judgment of what they find personally acceptable, these now adults will be able to decide if they can view these mature subjects. Even if we avoid soiling the virgin snow as much as possible, eventually, we are forced to step into the white ice with our muddy shoes to cross the road. Although it’s nice to stay indoors and watch the peaceful snowflakes, we must journey back into reality to advance in life. As their mentors, we can influence their minds more than we think we do, so it is our job to guide these clean slates towards more appropriate topics.