Last month, I was flying home from Europe and was burning through movies and TV shows on my 9-hour flight from Munich to Chicago. I re-watched Erin Brokovich and Shaun of the Dead. I tried to get through Queer with Daniel Craig, but that didn't happen. I could tell it had gone through some significant editing and that drives me crazy. Then, as we got closer to our arrival at O'Hare, I decided to watch some reruns of South Park.

I remember thinking to myself, "I wonder what my cabin mates are thinking about my viewing selections." Look! If you've ever flown internationally, you're fully aware that your chair-back screen isn't the only one you can see. You can see what's playing on every single screen around you.

So, is it cool to watch something R-rated? I mean, a person in the row in front of me was watching Diane Lane be quite, how shall I say, erotic and acrobatic in some movie. For a brief period of time, I was just as guilty. I was watching Daniel Craig chain smoke and make his way through some sweaty guys in Mexico City. Did I feel a little guilty? Maybe. Did my neighbor? Maybe. Should we?

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It's funny. I have only been home for a few weeks and I have stumbled across two magazine and newspaper articles asking the same thing. I just got my new issue of AARP The Magazine (shut up!) and there's an article in it called "Sex and Violence at 35,000 Feet." That particular article quotes a flight attendant named Heather Poole. Heather wrote Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet.

Heather claims that she has had to ask passengers to "turn off porn." Whoa!!  What??  Really?? And I was feeling guilty because I was watching South Park? Watching Eric Cartman launch F-bombs at his elementary school class suddenly doesn't seem so scandalous.

Just this month, the New York Post published a story called Passengers refuse to stop watching raunchy R-rated moves in airplanes- even with kids nearby: "I did not sign up to be a mid-flight babysitter." The author, Brooke Steinberg, poses a similar question. She asks, "Is there an appropriate way to enjoy in-flight entertainment?"

Look! I think there is. When I travel, which is pretty frequently, I am always aware of who is seated around me. I'm not going to watch something that's potentially offensive if there are children seated around me. Of course, if I am traveling internationally, there's almost zero chance I am going to be seated in the vicinity of a child.

For me, I will always play my choices for in-flight entertainment by ear and, in this case, by eye.