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the influence of watching violent cartoons on children
the influence of watching violent cartoons on children
the influence of watching violent cartoons on children
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Television is everywhere these days, not just in our living rooms but in bathrooms, kitchens, doctor's offices, grocery stores, airplanes, and classrooms. We have access to TV virtually anywhere and as American's we are taking advantaged of it. Adults aren't the only ones watching TV; children today are watching more TV than ever before. TV has even become known as "America's baby-sitter." (Krieg). Meaning that parents are now using the television as a way of entertaining their children while they attempt to accomplish other things such as cooking and cleaning.
Most American's would agree that children watch a lot of TV. It's common to see a child sitting in front of the TV on a Saturday morning with their Coco Pebbles watching their favorite superhero. This sounds harmless enough. However, many parents and teachers across the country are worried about the cartoons their children are watching. They feel that the cartoons have become too violent and are having negative long-term effects on children. It is common to see young boys pretending to shoot one another, while jumping on the couch and hiding in closets as a sort of make-believe fort. But parents say that children are learning these behaviors from cartoons and imitating them. Others however, disagree, they say that violence in cartoons does not effect children and that children need this world of fantasy in their lives. They say that children would show these same behaviors regardless of the content of the cartoons they watch.
On average and American child will watch 32 acts of violence per hour on TV. This number has skyrocketed from 20 years ago when it was just 12 acts per hour (Krieg). This being said a child will have watched anywhere from 8,000 to 100,000 acts of violence before they even finish elementary school (Weiss). While adults can watch violence on TV and understand that it is not real, children on the other hand have difficulty differentiating the between what is real and what is make believe.
Those arguing that children's cartoons are too violent say that these cartoons will greatly affect these children's behaviors growing up. Violence is a learned behavior and therefore children need to see violence in order to become violence themselves (Krieg). If a child is viewing their favorite character hitting, kicking, and beating up the "bad guys" a child will learn these behaviors too.
According to some studies, research proves that by watching violent television, children will begin to believe that brutality is okay to use when overcoming obstacles in life and they will end up mimicking whatever’s going on. In the article, Violence in the Media, published by the American Psychological Association (APA), it states, “Of special concern has been the portrayal of violence, particularly given psychologist Albert Bandura's work in the 1970s on social learning and the tendency of children to imitate what they see.” As stated in Albert Bandura’s report from the 1970s, if children watch something violent, they will most likely get influenced by it. This will cause them to emulate whatever they see on television. For example, if a
The media, specifically television, has become more and more violent, in not all too subtle ways, exposing many children to behaviors not appropriate to a young audience. Remember ?the Menendez brothers, who ruthlessly shot their parents as they ate ice cream and watched TV in their family room, planted in children?s minds the worst possibility -- that a parent could die violently at the hands of a child.? (Medved, et. al. 243) Seeing the violence, hearing about it, watching news reports about violent acts committed by real people, especially other children, affects the viewer negatively. Children can not relate to what they see when they are so young, making the act of watching violent television extremely questionable. Children should not know about murder and rape; however according to Gloria Tristani, Commissioner for the Federal Communications Commission, by the time they finish elementary school, children have witnessed 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence. (Tristani...
As television has become increasingly popular over the past few decades, it has allotted researchers a large amount of time to collect data and explore many aspects of this wonderful, yet harmful invention. It is safe to say that almost every household in America has a television, and it is on and used for multiple hours a day. The vast variety of different shows to watch is outstanding; shows about food, homes, the news, imagination, reality, horror, action-thrillers, the list could go on and on, there is always something to watch for everyone. However, is everything on television appropriate for all of its viewers? The answer to that question is up to the reader, but may they be informed of the effect violence on television has had on children, and will effect those children for the rest of their lives.
Violence and explicit themes on television have been a main benefactor in behavioral problems in children, causing educational issues as well. Studies have shown that “excessive TV viewing can lead to poor grades in school” (Boyse Online). TV has even been shown to affect the mood of the child, usually “TV doesn’t improve their disposition. They’re grouchy and irritable right after they watch” (Winn 19). When violence is included in speech or an action a child’s favorite show or movie it wouldn’t be uncommon if that youth would try to imitate it. “Many shows glamorize violence. TV often promotes violent acts as a fun and effective way to get what you want, without consequences, Even in G rated movies violence is common” (Boyse Online). As children are growing it’s important what parents put in the stomach’s of their child so it’s also important what being fed to their brain. This makes them vulnerable and susce...
Everyone’s seen the classic cartoons. Wile E. Coyote chasing the Roadrunner around a bend, only the Roadrunner turns, but our comedic--and usually stupid--villain doesn’t. So, he falls from a height of what looks like about 500,000 feet, only to become a small puff of smoke at the bottom of the canyon. After all, if what happens to you when you fall from that height were to have happened to Mr. Coyote, that would have been a very short lived cartoon series. Maybe this example is an exaggeration, but the idea is the same: violence comes streaming into our homes every single day through our TVs not to be viewed, but to be devoured. It’s been proven that sex and violence sell. For those of us who can tell the difference between reality and fantasy, the effect of TV violence is miniscule. But for our children--who think when the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers come to the local shopping mall, that it’s the biggest event since Bert told Ernie he snores too loud--the violence seen on TV seems like a logical reaction to life’s problems. And that’s a problem within itself. The impact of televised violence on children is only a slice of the pie that is the problem with the endless stream of violent acts on TV.
Today’s society is heavily influenced by television. The violence disrupts a child’s learning process and can alter the moral beliefs that an older person has. Children view more violence on Saturday mornings than any other time. The cartoons aimed at little children influence youngsters to mimic violent acts because their parents do not fully explain the effects of the stunts. It is pathetic that in such a technology based society, such a simple thing as television can have a negative effect on people.
... much while watching television. It’s important for children to play, read, do homework and talk to other children and adults for healthy development. Most parents believe children are imitators and those who watch violent shows are more likely to display aggressive behavior and violence in the media, television programming, video games and movies are a growing concern.
Violence is everywhere on television, and media has become a part of our daily lives. It is difficult to avoid the exposure to violent media. The violent scenes harshly affected children’s innocent minds. Children imitate what they see in media. It should be a wake up call for everyone to realize that television shows and video games reinforce the development in aggressive behaviors. It provides negative thoughts to children, loss of reality, and prevents people from taking responsibly from their acts. Producers should be conscious of what their products have done to the society. Instead of violence, they should have a different (or a bit educational) themes as a representation for their games or
With the recent increase in violent crimes committed by children, adults have been looking for answers to what causes children to commit these acts. Researchers have performed formal studies, and other approaches have been taken to answer the question. Their ideas and perceptions have strayed far and wide, looking for a suitable answer; one such answer of the many they have uncovered is television, but especially television geared towards children: cartoons and animation. In recent years, animation has taken a more openly violent twist during the same time period that the unique and varied forms of Japanese animation have come to America; both have raised many parents' eyebrows as articles and media coverage portray both, but especially Japanese animation, in a harsh and unfair light, depicting all series and movies as violent and only fit for mature audiences. The adults' perception of animation varies greatly from the children's perception, as many factors, such as media depictions, personal opinions, and even the standards of cultures, come into play on the decision of what is suitable for younger viewers.
Young children, starting at about age three, begin to really watch a television program designed for their age. They will begin to imitate what they have seen on the television. Children ages six through about ten often do not fully understand the difference between reality, and what they see on T.V. (Ledingham). With that in mind, consider the violent content in television programs. A recent content analysis, The National Television Violence Survey, had several interesting findings in regard to violence in television programs:
Television violence causes destructive behavior in children, however; television can be a powerful influence to young viewers in our society. Unfortunately, much of today's television programming are very violent. Many researchers like scientists, pediatricians, and child researchers in many countries have studied to find out what it is about television violence that makes it such a big affect on the way kids act and behave. Sometimes, children think that is a normal thing in our real life, by watching only a single violent program, which can increase aggressiveness on children and become violent, aggressive, and vicious.
Cartoons on a television are glue to children. Children will spend hours a day watching their favorite cartoons, such as “SpongeBob SquarePants” or “Adventure Time.” Unfortunately, the content on these shows, and several others, can harm children. Directly, cartoons can affect how children think and act; additionally, this leads to the indirect effect of children physically hurting one another.
Furthermore, television violence causes aggressive behavior in children. Many people believe that children who watch violent television programs exhibit more aggressive behavior than that exhibited by children who do not (Kinnear 23). According to the results of many studies and reports, violence on television can lead to aggressive behavior in children (Langone 50). Also, when television was introduced into a community of children for the first time, researchers observed a rise in the level of physical and verbal aggression among these children (Langone 51). The more television violence viewed by a child, the more aggressive the child is (“Children” 1).
There’s an ancient chinese proverb that states “A child’s life is like a piece of paper on which everyone who passes by leaves an impression” (Great-Quotes.com.) People blindly believe that children are easily influenced by violent cartoons on television. From generation to generation parents are always warned not to allow their kids to watch too much violent cartoons. What kids watch- and not just how much- matters when it comes to television viewing (Rochman.) But just how true is that? Research on the negative influences of cartoons on children is inconclusive and complex.
Television programs that are targeted towards children, such as cartoons, can affect children in both positive and negative ways. I examined a variety of cartoons on both commercial and public television to observe the content of children's programming and determine the effects, both positive and negative, that programs have on children. The cartoons contain a wide variety of subject matters that can influence children in many different ways. I found that the majority of cartoons choose to use violence and inappropriate subject matter to entertain children. These images and stories can have a tremendous negative impact on children because the violence is rewarded without consequences, is glorified, and idealized. Children look up to the characters that have a negative impact by distorting their views on conflict resolution. There are, however, cartoons that contain little or no violence and often try to incorporate educational lessons that concern values and morals that are important for children to learn, thus having a positive impact.