What Is the Right Chip for the Chip Off the Old Block?

It’s probably a good thing that the arrival of the “V-chip” is still several years away. Parents still have some time to figure out what it is and whether it will do any good in their battle against the tsunami of popular culture.

Advocates predict the technology will revolutionize American families’ relationships with their TVs. But who knows? At this point, it’s hard for most parents to envision what the brave new world of parent-censored TV is going to be like.

Most of us, however, already know from our own experience as children the lure of forbidden fruit. Studies have also found that the greater the restrictions on a program, the more kids want to see it.

In a recent study of 374 children, researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that older children (10 to 15) wanted to see shows significantly more when they were rated PG-13 and R, and significantly less when the same show was rated G. Another survey found that no boys ages 10 to 14 said they wanted to watch a G-rated movie, but 53% would want to watch if the same movie were rated R.

The new TV ratings will still be based on age, similar to the movie ratings, but will merge with content ratings: V for violence, FV for fantasy violence, S for sex, L for language. Parents don’t need researchers to tell them the more letters a given show collects, the more attractive it will suddenly seem, at least for older children.

Once it is installed by manufacturers in new sets, the V-chip would supposedly put an end to all that whining and negotiating around the TV. Once programmed by parents, the chip would simply blank out whatever shows the parents think are too adult for their kids.

What then? What if you don’t agree about what constitutes violence or vulgar language? What about context as in the famous “Schindler’s List” example? Some predict programming will become even more adult-oriented, and parents will be forced to shoulder an escalating responsibility to shield their children from a barrage of sleaze. What will happen when parents go to watch their own favorite shows and the screen is blank?

Amid the ongoing mysteries, one entrepreneur is proposing an even more sophisticated technical solution: a so-called PG-chip that would allow in-show editing of specific words or actions.

Members of the National Assn. for Family and Community Education saw a preview at their recent conference in downtown Los Angeles and were impressed.

“This technology would simply refine that filtering in order for people to make choices,” said Harriet Steenson, the group’s vice president for public policy. She said the group would try to make leaders aware of the PG-chip as the FCC considers standards for manufacture of the V-chip.

Lynn Hinderaker, spokesman for Parental Guide, an Omaha company promoting the PG-chip, predicts that if parents take their V-chip responsibilities seriously, two-thirds of prime time shows could be blanked out. He hopes to persuade decision-makers now finalizing hardware standards that the PG-chip is the “chip of choice” that will please advertisers, industry officials, parents--and kids, who won’t even know what they’re missing.

Critics contend it will be too expensive, too unwieldy and too slow.

But Hinderaker said parents in a diverse society need all the filters they can get. “It’s tough in our society to be a responsible parent,” Hinderaker said. “It’s not black and white; it’s a bunch of gray decisions all day long.

“You don’t raise a child by what you filter or don’t filter on TV sets. But it helps. It’s a buffer against the difficult, turbulent, violent world we live in. It’s just one more way to protect your family from it all.”

To those who say parents should just shut off the tube? “That comes from people who don’t have small children,” he said. “It’s such superficial [inaudible.]”