# Airplanes, children, and explicit entertainment **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 20, 2015, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904 "2015-12-20T06:50:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Garula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Garula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garula)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/1 "2015-12-20T06:50:57Z")
At the moment, I’m sitting at the airport waiting for my flight, killing time by going over my entertainment options. A thought occurs to me, suppose I get seated next to a child for this very long flight. Would I have an obligation to refrain from watching TV or movies with particularly explicit scenes? Let’s imagine there’s a 7 year old next to me and I want to watch a Tarantino flick or Dexter or something along those lines. My laptop doesn’t have any sort of privacy filter, so I wouldn’t really be able to stop the kid from looking over during gratuitous sex or vicious disembowelments. Is it okay for me to watch what I want, or should I limit myself to PG fare? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/2 "2015-12-20T06:53:16Z")
My opinion is yes, you should limit your choices. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/3 "2015-12-20T06:56:18Z")
watch what you want. Parents generally do the best they can to cope on long flights with their your children. Hope it’s not a flight to Japan early next week as the China family will be flying. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/4 "2015-12-20T07:00:31Z")
Sexual (non porno) material, go ahead excessively violent, no ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/5 "2015-12-20T07:40:24Z")
If someone wants to artificially shelter their kids from reality, that’s their problem to deal with, not yours. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/6 "2015-12-20T08:03:39Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > If someone wants to artificially shelter their kids from reality, that’s their problem to deal with, not yours. The example mentioned was Dexter and (I think) disembowelments. That is not an event that happens everyday, I’d not call keeping kids from seeing those images artificially sheltering them from reality. If it was a nomral action movie with a fistfight or even a gunfight, ok, kids are already exposed to that type of stuff on “normal” television. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/7 "2015-12-20T09:26:23Z")
You’re a Doper. The first rule of this site is “don’t be jerk” So I assume you follow that rule on airplanes, too. You’re not at home, and you surely know that on a plane you don’t have any private space. Showing respect for others is just plain common sense. Your computer may not have a privacy filter, but your brain does. Use it. (And not just for kids. Suppose you have an adult sitting next to you. Would you watch a hard-core porn movie?) ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/8 "2015-12-20T10:19:43Z")
Unless I was sitting next to Bill Clinton, no. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/9 "2015-12-20T12:18:23Z")
If it was your seven year old, what choice would you prefer your seatmate choose? ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/10 "2015-12-20T12:41:38Z")
I don’t see why being on an airplane alters the social fabric much. IOW, your standard of behavior should be about as it would elsewhere in public. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/11 "2015-12-20T12:44:30Z")
I wouldn’t call it an “obligation” so much as “simple common sense”, or “basic good manners”. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/12 "2015-12-20T12:45:40Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > I don’t see why being on an airplane alters the social fabric much. Because when you’re on a plane, you’re stuck there next to that specific person for as long as the flight lasts. In almost any other public situation, people can choose to leave if they don’t like something, and even if they can’t it won’t last very long. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/13 "2015-12-20T13:54:26Z")
> [@Garula](#): > > At the moment, I’m sitting at the airport waiting for my flight, killing time by going over my entertainment options. Read a book. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/14 "2015-12-20T19:36:47Z")
Yes, watch the sex/violence movie. If you’re lucky, the parents will complain to the flight attendants, and they will move the child to another seat elsewhere. Success! ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/15 "2015-12-20T19:41:51Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > If someone wants to artificially shelter their kids from reality, that’s their problem to deal with, not yours. In case you doubt know this, violent imagery gives a lot of small children nightmares for days or weeks. Giving a kids nightmares about violent death flee weeks is not helping them comes too terms with reality. ---
**Author:** ![Garula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Garula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garula)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/16 "2015-12-20T23:48:00Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Hope it’s not a flight to Japan early next week as the China family will be flying. 🙂 Other direction, actually. > [@elbows](#): > > If it was your seven year old, what choice would you prefer your seatmate choose? If I had a child, I would probably prefer that everyone else accommodate me and my offspring in every way possible, regardless of how reasonable or unreasonable an imposition it would be. > [@Peremensoe](#): > > Read a book. I tend to be much too groggy while traveling to read. Thank you for your judgment, though. It was really just a hypothetical question, though, as I don’t go to the theater very often and usually just try to catch up on whatever pop movies are available on the in flight entertainment. Personally, I would refrain in such a situation, but I tend to be very self-conscious about these things. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/17 "2015-12-20T23:58:56Z")
Are you aware that a lot of ADULTS find material like that objectionable? :dubious: My advice? Watch something a little less controversial while you’re on the plane. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/18 "2015-12-21T01:34:36Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > In case you doubt know this, violent imagery gives a lot of small children nightmares for days or weeks. Giving a kids nightmares about violent death flee weeks is not helping them comes too terms with reality. Why not? Reality can be a violent place. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/19 "2015-12-21T01:42:59Z")
If a parent cares what their kid is watching it’s up to them to police it not you. I wouldn’t watch anything you wouldn’t want to watch in public but if you want to marathon game of throwns and if the parents object they can move the child. I say all if this as a parent. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904/20 "2015-12-21T01:45:27Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Why not? Reality can be a violent place. please tell me you’re just playing devil’s advocate. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-children-and-explicit-entertainment/740904.md?page=2)