Do you consume media that contains vulgarities?

[steve-in-kville]

Once one of our children was just making up nonsense words that rhymed, and accidentally hit on a vulgar one. So I had to tell that that one is a bad word, being careful to not have this come across as a reprimand, or as scolding.)

We had the same thing happen. Our daughter had a big speech impediment when she was little and she said something that we asked her not to say again!

[Josh]

It's fairly easy, really. The only type of media I consume regularly where I occasionally catch some language that I would consider coarse enough that I wouldn't use it (not sure if I would call it vulgarity - language such as "damn" or "Hell yeah") is some political commentary podcasts.

Don't watch TV or movies.
Avoid watching online commentary that frequently uses bad language.
Don't listen to music with bad words. Seriously, it is not that hard.
Don't listen to podcasters that frequently use vulgarity.
Unfriend or unfollow people on social media that use vulgarity.

You don't even close need to become a monk to avoid 99.99% of vulgarity in media.

That really does filter out almost everything outside of a religious-conservative "bubble". I do find printed material is far less likely to contain obscene or vulgar material in it.

For example, it's difficult to keep up to date on the trucker convoy without running across vulgarity so I have to primarily rely on secondary sources instead of watching primary sources. (Someone shared something with me where a protester had their flag stolen by a liberal anti-protester, who then started spewing a stream of vulgarity. Eventually, the liberal anti-protester was arrested, and plenty more foul language came out. I don't want to expose my family to that kind of thing.)

[temporal1]

And with their ears and eyes. If we are consuming the media that we are complaining about, then we are part of the reason for its existence.

Short of going to a monastery, how to avoid?

It's fairly easy, really. The only type of media I consume regularly where I occasionally catch some language that I would consider coarse enough that I wouldn't use it (not sure if I would call it vulgarity - language such as "damn" or "Hell yeah") is some political commentary podcasts.

Don't watch TV or movies.
Avoid watching online commentary that frequently uses bad language.
Don't listen to music with bad words. Seriously, it is not that hard.
Don't listen to podcasters that frequently use vulgarity.
Unfriend or unfollow people on social media that use vulgarity.

You don't even close need to become a monk to avoid 99.99% of vulgarity in media.

i largely agree.
(when i had a family) it was not a problem. not enough hours in the day to bother with outside noise.

now they are all far away, my limited visits are even more restricted, like everyone, because of the pandemic.
i went for 2 years without seeing my grdaughter. i hope to not have to repeat that! i hope to be blessed in future. i hope to be blessed with a future. one never knows.

my TV was unplugged in 2016, not turned on since.
in 2020, i withdrew from nearly all news sources - basically, what i see is on this forum. with adult virtual friends.

i pray you never experience life as it now is for me. with the big family i grew up in, i did not anticipate years of isolation.
the close losses felt so complete, in a short span of time. at first, i literally compared it to the 2004 tsunami, wherein some survivors found they were left behind, after their entire families/villages were washed away. in news reports, single villagers could be seen standing alone in rubble, in shock, in disbelief that all was gone. my situation was more drawn-out, many losses over 2 years. a slow-motion tsunami of loss.

you are unlikely to experience this. and, i pray not. not for anyone.

so. i see things. much of it to pass time. we were never big consumers of media. not news or entertainment.

i don’t intend this as an excuse.
just my observations of how life can be unexpected. even alien.
even when things look perfectly ok on the outside. i look perfectly ok on the outside. i mean, i guess so, no one i meet anywhere seems put-off or alarmed. doctors are pretty optimistic. i know this is what God wants for me. i’m waiting to understand why. maybe i don’t need to understand.

there is one young one counting on me to be there.
she does not understand the fleeting nature of life on earth. children don’t, and they shouldn’t. i’m doing my best to be there for her, 2000 miles removed. one day, she may miss me as i miss my elders/loved ones. i never wanted to think of them as temporal, either. young ones want everyone to be there. God’s design. God’s time.

i know lots of parents+grparents are disturbed by the world they know full-well their children are swimming in.
i know many young people are not having families because the world is “not fit” for children. they live in it and they know it.

this is quite a phenom, the psychological state of things in a world with relative plenty.
i mean, history is full of seriously dire times, disease, wars, concentration camps, acts of God, poverty, famine, et al.
Yet, in the past, people were motivated by the drive to “leave things better” for those coming. Life was valued.
Today, in relative abundance, the psychological factor is so intense, many are responding with, “It’s not worth it to try.”
“We’ll have cats+dogs!” Even the pope has noticed.

i believe normalized, for-profit vulgarity is a major turn-off to young minds. it’s poison.
poison they think they like. but it’s killing them. day by day. poison does not nurture bodies or souls.

anyway.

[mike]

i pray you never experience life as it now is for me. with the big family i grew up in, i did not anticipate years of isolation.
it was so complete, in a short span of time. at first, i compared it to the 2004 tsunami, wherein some survivors found they were left behind, after their entire families/villages were washed away. my situation was more drawn-out, many losses over 2 years. a slow-motion tsunami of loss.

you are unlikely to experience this. and, i pray not. not for anyone.

I'm very sorry. I feel the loneliness of many people is one of the unfathomable sorrows of our times, and it has been made so much worse the past several years especially for the elderly.

[temporal1]

i pray you never experience life as it now is for me. with the big family i grew up in, i did not anticipate years of isolation.
it was so complete, in a short span of time. at first, i compared it to the 2004 tsunami, wherein some survivors found they were left behind, after their entire families/villages were washed away. my situation was more drawn-out, many losses over 2 years. a slow-motion tsunami of loss.

you are unlikely to experience this. and, i pray not. not for anyone.

I'm very sorry. I feel the loneliness of many people is one of the unfathomable sorrows of our times, and it has been made so much worse the past several years especially for the elderly.

thank you, i know you’re sincere. i know it’s a widespread problem. made worse by the pandemic. distance+isolation.

i was in my 50’s when this happened. my mother grieved my husband’s terminal illness, “he’s in the prime of his life!”
she was right. he died at 60. for men, a time of robust leadership.

they were both gone within months, along with several others. so many close to me died within 2 years. i expected deaths! just not all at once. i was shaken for a long while. my grdaughter was born right then. huge help.

babies are glimpses of God’s greatness. each one a miracle.
babies live “in the moment,” very important to keep life moving!

now, i’m getting used to being elderly.
it really isn’t all bad. there are some fun perks.
decades ago, an older friend once told me, “don’t fret about age. every age has a way of taking care of itself.”
he was right.

[mike]

The thing I remember about visiting care homes for the elderly years ago is that basically everyone is glued to a TV. Thinking of how forms of media have multiplied, there are now many, many more ways to consume media content, and I expect that as the current generations age, now they will all be glued to personal devices.

One could see media or easy electronic communication as an antidote to loneliness for those who live alone. I assume it's better than staring at a wall or watching the traffic go by. However, I think the best antidote to loneliness is having people in one's life. I don't think media is a great substitute, but it's still something I suppose.

We might think, as Christians, of what kinds of media we could produce that will benefit those who are alone, and need something of good substance to pass the time in a beneficial way.

[Josh]

Its all around us. We choose to absorb what we want. Children on the other hand are a sponge and that's where a lot of censorship needs to take place.

I'm not so sure about that. Adults are a sponge too. Being around too much foul language and I start thinking it - and then out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The best way to avoid unwholesome words coming out of my mouth is to prevent them from going in.

[Bootstrap]

It's fairly easy, really. The only type of media I consume regularly where I occasionally catch some language that I would consider coarse enough that I wouldn't use it (not sure if I would call it vulgarity - language such as "damn" or "Hell yeah") is some political commentary podcasts.

Don't watch TV or movies.
Avoid watching online commentary that frequently uses bad language.
Don't listen to music with bad words. Seriously, it is not that hard.
Don't listen to podcasters that frequently use vulgarity.
Unfriend or unfollow people on social media that use vulgarity.

You don't even close need to become a monk to avoid 99.99% of vulgarity in media.

I agree. I really don't encounter much vulgarity in my everyday life.

I do watch some TV and movies, but I'm pretty selective, and I watch neither in an average week. Sometimes I do watch a movie that contains vulgarity if I think the content of the movie as a whole outweighs that.

But other than that, this is pretty much what I do.

[JimFoxvog]

Maybe a little off the subject of media, but how about people who regularly use vulgarity? Do we associate with them?

I have a hard time; I find vulgar speech very unpleasant. But maybe this just proves how middle-class I am. I believe this has hurt my ability to empathize with and be a witness to, some very hurting needy people.

[Josh]

I encounter blasphemy and vulgarity almost every day. Pretty much impossible to work in a modern corporate workplace with it.

Someone using a racial slur would probably be instantly fired.