Audio Video News

Eighteen months after its introduction, the V-chip has found its way into approximately 40% of TV-equipped American homes, but surprisingly few parents use the device to control their children's viewing habits.

Mandated by the Clinton administration as a technological solution to objectionable programming, the V-chip offers parents the opportunity to lock out any program that they feel includes too much sex or violence (hence the name of the device). But only 17% of the parents who have V-chip TVs are aware of how to use them, or bother to do so, according to a recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Most parents use publicized program ratings to decide whether TV shows are appropriate for their kids, the study found. "A year and a half after its introduction, the V-chip is being used by a small minority of parents; TV ratings are more of a mainstream resource for concerned moms and dads," said Drew Altman, PhD, foundation president.

Like seatbelts and other government-mandated safety measures, the V-chip is effective only when used. Introduced in January 2000, and now included in almost all new television receivers, the V-chip requires active programming in order to work. That extra bit of effort may be why most parents choose to control their children's viewing the old-fashioned way. According to the survey, which was administered by Princeton Survey Research Associates, 53% of parents who now own a V-chip–equipped television do not even know it is built into the set. Among those who do know, only 36% have ever used it to prevent their children from watching objectionable programs. The remaining 64% who have and are aware of the feature have never used it. Seen as part of the total US television viewership, only 7% of parents use the V-chip.

The study indicates that most parents are concerned about what their kids watch, however, and use program guides to make decisions. Fully 92% of the study's respondents say they have consulted program ratings, and 56% say they use them regularly. There is, of course, variation among parents as to what they will allow their kids to see, but a significant number (40%) of those interviewed say they would prefer a uniform rating system for entertainment of all kinds—movies, TV shows, and music—to simplify decision making.

Parents are almost evenly divided as to whether they favor (48%) or oppose (47%) governmental restrictions on the content of TV shows. "American parents are clearly worried about what their children are watching and how it affects them, but when it comes to how to limit sex and violence on TV, parents are far from unanimous," said Victoria Rideout, director of the Kaiser Family Foundation's Program for the Study of Entertainment Media and Health, based in Menlo Park, CA. Conducted by telephone between May 7 and June 6, the study involved a nationally representative, random sample survey of 800 parents with children 2–17 years old.