Literature Ratings

Dear Mr. Wheeler, 

I believe some type of rating system is necessary for all forms of media.  As I reviewed your webpage and researched your ratings process, I realized that your committee regulates all interstate and international communications via radio, TV, wire, satellite, and cable.  While this is an incredibly important goal and responsibility for your committee, I am sad to see that neither books nor websites are included in this comprehensive list; however, I have a more difficult time accepting that books do not currently have ratings.  There is enough evidence and research collected to demonstrate the need for a book rating system as well as the consequences for the lack of such a system. 

I am sure you understand this as rating system experts, but the goal is not to regulate the media; the goal of ratings is to provide information to parents to allow them to make informed decisions about media content.  I agree with this goal completely.  However, I want to mention an interesting statistic: Adolescents are exposed to about 30.23 acts of aggression after reading one hour of novels versus the 18.46 acts of aggression after one hour of watching TV (Coyne & Archer, 2004).  I hope you find this as surprising as I did.  This same study also recognized two popular teen books, Tweak and Gossip Girl.  Did you know that Tweak contained intense profanity including 187 f-words, and Gossip Girl included 107 f-words?  Are you kidding?  And these popular books are not rated at all?  Parents have no idea that their children are reading this garbage.  They may know of the general inclination of the plot of the book, but they have no way of knowing that its pages contain excessive levels of aggression and profanity. 

Along with novels and books, there has been evidence found that magazines effect adolescents in impactful, negative ways.  Several studies have shown that magazine reading is related to body dissatisfaction and several other negative outcomes (Shaw, 1995).  Along with body image, it is no secret that magazines, as well as novels, also emphasize sexual behavior and substance use.   

Something needs to change—not necessarily in the content itself, but in the parental awareness of the type and intensity of this content.  I would bet to say that most parents have no correct estimate of just how much aggression, sexual content, and substance use their children are exposed to in literature.  They may assume movies are worse off when, in reality, they could be less harmful in some cases.  It would be beneficial to you and your customer satisfaction if you developed a simple rating system for books and magazines.  I hope this change will be considered or even mentioned to your board.  This is an issue and policy that viewers and consumers of all types of media would appreciate and respect.   

Sincerely, 

Whitney Robinson 

Brigham Young University 

whitneyr3000@yahoo.com 

References 

Coyne, S. M., & Archer, J. (2004). Indirect aggression in the media: A content analysis of british 

television programs. Aggressive Behavior, 30(3), 254-271. doi: 10.1002/ab.20022 

Shaw, J. (1995). Effects of fashion magazines on body dissatisfaction and eating 

psychopathology in adolescent and adult females. European Eating Disorders Review, 

3(1), 15-23. doi: 10.1002/erv.2400030105 

No Ordinary Blessing

General Conference.  Oh, how I've been looking forward to you!

 

As we each prepare to listen to the words of the Lord's prophets, I pray that we each prayerfully seek out answers and direction from their messages.  I have a testimony of the reality of personal revelation, and I know that preparation and attentiveness will allow revelation and answers to come.

 

Here's a great article by President Uchtdorf about preparing for general conference.  I know most of you won't see this post until after the weekend is over.  But it's a great article to keep in mind for future conferences. 

 

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2011/09/general-conference-no-ordinary-blessing?lang=eng

 

Enjoy your happy, spiritual weekend!

Home Improvement Article

You know those random Buzzfeed articles that come up on your Newsfeed on Facebook?  Everyone knows what I'm talking about.  They're articles that start with "10 things you never knew about..." "You'll never guess what....." "25 signs that..." or the like.  Or articles that have totally misleading titles?  Like "Why Marriage Isn't For You," "I Cheated on My Husband," etc.  The misleading titled ones aren't too bad, but they still annoy me on my Newsfeed...

 

Well, I thought this article was going to be the same thing.  So I don't know why I pulled it up.  But this is actually a pretty cool article!  I'm all about making my future home super efficient and functional.  Check it out!

 

http://www.amazingoasis.org/2014/03/here-are-30-relatively-simple-things.html?m=1

CSI Night Watching

 

I was bored last night, and my fiance was out of town.  So what did I do?  I had an awesome night to myself while watching Netflix and reading a novel.  Perfect, chill Friday night!  I really like watching CSI shows, and I've never seen the NY season episodes.  So that's what I watched.  Keep in mind this was around 10:00 pm.  After watching it, I seriously scared myself sick!  I couldn't even shower without getting paranoid that someone was in my apartment ready to kill me when I got out!  I was so freaked out!  It's the first time one of these CSI shows have scared me that bad.  Goodness, that's the last time I watch that show so late...

My Devine Devotion

In honor of the blog lecture we had today, I want to feature one of my favorite blogs of all time!  I'm sure some of you have heard of Brad and Hailey Devine.  I discovered them a few years back when Hailey released this video of Brad coming home from his mission:

 

http://vimeo.com/31673669

 

Aren't they adorable?!  And I related even more to Hailey then because my missionary was in Brazil.  I just fell in love with this couple and their life!  Then they got engaged:

 

http://vimeo.com/33248704

 

Then married!

 

http://vimeo.com/43582451

 

Those videos still make me so happy!  Now both Hailey and Brad travel the world making videos for different companies and agencies around the world.  Best job ever!  And Hailey has a blog where she does giveaways and featured posts (just like Stacy Risenmay from class).  And now they're having a baby!!  If you haven't seen her blog before, then check it out now!  And you'll get the Devine devotion, just like me! :)

 

http://www.somethingdevineblog.com/

Welcome Baby

I've been incredibly blessed to work with the Welcome Baby program at United Way for my internship this semester.  It's such an amazing program, and I wanted to share a little bit about what we do to help first-time parents in Utah County.

It's essentially a free home visitation program.  A family can register for the visits or can be referred through a number of different ways.  We send a trained volunteer to their home and teach them about infant development, post pregnancy issues, parenting concerns, and anything else a first-time parent would have questions about!  We also have free weekly playgroups with other families in the community which allows parents and children to interact and build friendships.  We also teach free monthly parenting classes at the Health Department which are phenomenal.

We work really closely with the Help Me Grow program at United Way as well, and I love keeping updated with their blog to review what I can do for my future children to help promote their development.

If you or any of your friends might be interested in getting home visits along with learning about different resources and activities for their baby, check out the Welcome Baby website and see if it's something you'd like to do.  Like I said, it's an amazing program and I've seen it benefit so many parents' lives and increase their confidence as a parent.

Photoshop is FINALLY caught!!

I realize that this is essentially the same post as Dr. Coyne's, but I saw this article earlier today and really wanted to share it as well!  Apparently, there were a few mishaps on the Target website regarding Photoshop.  And after JUST having our lecture in class about sexualization of women and thin ideal body image, reading this article drove me crazy!!

 

First off, here's one of the sloppiest Photoshop jobs I've ever seen.  Take a look at her right armpit and her crotch.  Ridiculous!!

 

And here's another:

 

 

And the close-up of her crotch.  Oh, and look at her hip:

 

 

Seriously?!  Ugh this makes me really mad!  Girls compare their bodies to these fake legs and obsess with having an unrealistic, perfect body.  So frustrating!  I agree with Dr. Coyne, I'm just glad the media is making a big fuss about these images and making them known.