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What an Age Rating Doesn't Tell You

The rating on a show, game or app is one label covering a lot of really different things, so it tells you almost nothing about what you actually want to know, which is what's in it.

One label, several very different reasons

The same rating on a streaming show can be for swearing, for one scary scene, or for kids being cruel to each other the whole way through, and those three hit a kid completely differently. If you're fine with swearing but careful about scary stuff, the badge alone doesn't help much, because the reason is only in the small print next to it, like language or violence, and kids being cruel to each other never gets a label at all.

App store ratings come from the companies themselves

Games and apps are usually rated based on what the company that made them says, and the rating almost never covers what other players are saying to your kid in the chat, which is usually the real risk. An app rated for nine year olds can still have an open chat in it.

Where the useful information is

Sites that list the actual scenes, instead of just giving a grade, tell you what a streaming app's rating can't: the specific moment at the specific minute. Looking one up with your kid takes two minutes, and then your no comes with a real reason your kid can understand.

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