1. How effective is Film and TV regulation in the Netflix era? 2. Should society or the individual or an educated elite decide what is a appropriate level of sex and violence to expose children to

With the rise of the internet and streaming services, it has become practically impossible to regulate all of the content shared, alongside the fact that as there is no age rating system, allowing younger children to be able to access content they are not supposed to be able to view. There is nothing stopping an underage internet user from accessing pirated copies of 18 movies/tv shows. Platforms such as Netflix do not legally require regulation from a governing body, meaning that even if a film/show is deemed unacceptable after regulation, Netflix can still allow that content to be readily available. Video sharing sites such as Youtube have become a host for a range of child-oriented content containing themes which would not be accepted by a regulatory body such as the BBFC. Therefore, unless the internet loses it’s open-access capabilities, these issues cannot be resolved. It is important that parents pay close attention to what their kids are viewing.

I believe that both society and the indivual share responsibility for the decision over which media they or their children decide to access. It is important that the age classification system is put in place to educate consumers about the sort of content present in these films. However, in it’s current state, the system is heavily flawed due to how they do not consider the varying rates of development between individual consumers. This is why it is important that parents make a moral decision whether or not that their child is developed enough or not to consume a media product as they understand their child personally. Once a parent feels their child is responsible enough, they should be able to self-regulate their consumption of media products based on identifying what they do and don’t feel comfortable viewing. While this system would be ideal, it has become harder to achieve due to the ease of accessing content unrestricted through unofficial sources. As well as this, a majority of childrens content is accessed through youtube, which is not regulated in correlation with a governing board’s ratings due to the vast influx of content shared every minute.