The V-chip is not effective.

I can honestly say that I do not know one person who uses the V-chip in their television. Not an aunt or uncle, friend, or other relative... literally nobody. One of the reasons that I think the V-chip is ineffective is because who is teaching you how to use it? The manual that came with your TV? Please, first of all it's a well known fact that no guy reads a manual for a television. We men are preprogrammed to know how to work a TV. You take it out of the box, plug it in, put batteries in the remote and away we are. The V-chip is what guys like to call "a process" meaning that in the time it takes to figure out how to use it we could have done 12 other things that are deemed to be more useful... plus Sportscenter is on an lord knows that nothing is more important than that.

Also, I think that some people view the V-chip as a form of regulation. Simply put, that we are filtered from certain content. This bothers me. Personally I don't like the idea of missing out on something and when I am not allowed to view something, well that is going to get to me.

Now I know that this is primarily designed for children... and that it came about shortly after the Columbine Massacre in response to the viewpoint that children were seeing too much violence on TV and that it was effecting the way children saw the world. Well, if you ask me the V-chip is no excuse for poor parenting. Seriously, you should know damn well what your kids are watching on TV. You should be right there watching it with them, no excuses. The television has become a babysitter in this day and age, how it morphed into that I have no idea. If you are going to let your kids watch TV unregulated, then make sure you are having a dialog with them about what they are watching. So many people are afraid to talk to their kids these days. Be a parent, or at least try. Sit down with your children and set the guidelines for what they should be watching and then enforce it. Or find an alternative to too much TV time. It's OK to play with your kids - they just might enjoy it.