kryptonitemonkey | What does age have to do with anything?

I just read a small article about the things we watch, and it's gotten me to thinking. Particularly, one comment made on the article about how certain movies can be okay, just as long as one doesn't bring their kids. But here's the question. Why are we shielding our children so desperately and not ourselves? Why the double standards? To a certain, limited extent, I can understand some of it. For instance, many children have a harder time differentiating reality from story, and we don't want our children picking up bad habits. I ask though, what does being older have to do with what is inherently good or bad for us? We don't want our kids to watch stuff with language, because we don't want them to swear. So why don't we care about language? Why don't we care about swearing more because of what we watch (and don't tell me you don't swear a little more after listening to someone who does a lot)? Why don't we worry about how excessive gore, sexual situations, or moral corruption affects us? Why does whether or not it's entertaining matter?

We watch what we eat so very carefully anymore, careful to watch out for our health and well-being; why do we not care about the things we mentally and visually consume? When we grow up, we have to make our own decisions about our food choices, and they do matter. We can eat nothing but cake frosting and pixie sticks if we want, but sooner or later we pay for it. Is it foolish to assume that even though the results are less visually apparent they are any less dangerous to our health? Being an "adult" doesn't make poor eating habits any safer for our well-being and I don't see why our visual and aural media should be any different.