Violence Depicted in Cartoons is Harmful to Children.
Can children learn aggressive behavior by watching violent acts in cartoons? When TV violence is portrayed as funny, can it have harmful effects on children? Are violent cartoons okay for children of all ages? There has been a definite increase in violent acts committed by young people (over the past XX years). All one has to do is turn on the evening news or pick up the Sunday newspaper to learn about the recent school shootings and the increasing rate of youth homicides among young people to acknowledge the trend. Although the causes of youth violence are multifactorial, violence depicted in cartoons is harmful, and can lead to violent behavior. .
The public often misunderstands the research that has been performed on media violence (???). There is no way to randomly assign children to watch violent TV programs at an early age, and then years later see which children commit violent acts. This type of limitation is also true for many other industries in which valuable research is desirable. What is ultimately desired is whether there is a correlation between television viewing and violent behavior. .
Allowing children unsupervised access to television can have negative consequences on the behavior of children. In 1950, only 10% of American homes had a television. Today 99% of homes have televisions Over half of all children have a television set in their bedrooms. Approximately 28 hours per week is spent by watching television by children. By the age of 18, the typical American has seen 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence (American Psychiatric Association, Psychiatric Effects of Media Violence). One study listed 20-25 acts of violence per hour on Saturday mornings. Cartoons are very popular among young children. This is especially for children under 8 years of age, because they cannot differentiate between real life and fantasy, very easily.
