The volume was turned down low so sound won’t seep through her room, causing her mom to wake up. The lights were off and the door was closed, to deceive her mom into thinking she had gone to sleep already. Junior Sonya D. wanted to watch her favorite — yet forbidden —TV show, Desperate Housewives.
Despite her clever schemes, her mom discovered that her daughter was not sleeping but actually watching the show. She walked in and demanded Sonya to turn off the TV right away.
Sonya said her mother does not allow her to watch shows with what she considers inappropriate content.
“Mom dislikes 16 and Pregnant, The Secret Life of An American Teenager, The Bachelor, and Desperate Housewives,” D. said. So when these TV shows air, Sonya tries to devise a plan to watch with no interruptions.
“I only watch those shows when my siblings and mom isn’t present at home,” she said. If caught, she’ll just quickly change to a news channel.
Some teens find it hard to resist the television shows, movies and video games that their friends all watch but their parents forbid.
Sophomore Julia N. is not allowed to watch horror movies, but that does not stop her.
“Usually when I want to watch a scary movie, I go to the theaters with my friends,” Julia said. Her parents don’t specifically ask what movie she watches and don’t ask how the movie was afterwards, she said.
But junior Keren H. will not even attempt to watch the Hispanic novellas she is not allowed to watch.
“They said it fills my mind with bad things,” she said. And even if Keren wanted to watch it, she wouldn’t try out of respect for her parents’ rules.
Although she is restricted, she says she does not resent the rules.
“I feel happy and cared for because my parents keep me from bad things and want the best for me,” Keren said.
Senior Connor W. gives reason as to why parents might prohibit their children to watch certain things.
“I think a lot of it deals with how they want their children to think,” Connor said.
Biology teacher Clarissa C. didn’t have as many channels to watch as a youngster. Many activities and words weren’t shown due to censorship rules, so she wasn’t prohibited from any movies or TV shows.
“The overall control of TV was a lot different than today,” Clarissa said.
