Young people 8-18 in age view about four hours of television a day, says Dr. George Comstock, Professor at Syracuse University in a December 16, 2008 email interview. The big surprise is how early TV viewing begins. Children two and under average about two hours a day. The images are apparently pleasing to these young children even though they don’t understand much about them. Even this early, however, children can imitate simple physical acts performed on the screen.
Children Consume Violent Cartoons
According to Dr. Comstock, children’s cartoons are among the most violent of formats. The best count is 14 violent incidents per hour, compared to about six for general audience programming. Cartoons make violent behavior particularly attractive to children. They almost always show violence as achieving a sought-for goal, and as the normal way to behave. Children imitate those who succeed, and in cartoons, violence succeeds.
Violence is more prevalent in children's shows. Dr. Barbara Wilson conducted a large scale study examining physical violence on television from 1994 to 1997. Of over 3,000 programs airing on 23 channels, she found that nearly 70% of children's programs contained physical violence, whereas less than 60% of non-children's shows did. There are two observations Dr. Wilson, Vice Provost of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has made from these percentages. First, violence is a staple in most fictional programming on television today. But second, physical violence is even more likely to be portrayed in shows targeted to children aged 12 and under. Many of these programs, of course, are cartoons.
According to American Psychological Association, "an average twelve-year- old has seen 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence on network television”. According to Dr. Aletha Huston’s 1992 study titled Big world, small screen: The role of television in American society, by the time a child is eighteen years old, he or she will witness on television (with average viewing time) 200,000 acts of violence including 40,000 murders.
Effects of Violence in Cartoons
It is sad that violence in children's shows is more likely to be rewarded than is violence in non-children's shows, which tends to glamorize such portrayals. Violence in children's shows is also less likely to depict pain and harm to the victim (sanitization) and it is more likely to be couched in humor (trivialization). In a sense, the youngest viewers are receiving a very distorted message about the seriousness of physical violence in society.
Dr. Barbara Wilson of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign said in a December 10, 2008 email interviewe, “Studies show that people who are exposed to a great deal of violence in the media will react with less intensity and less concern to real-life violence compared to people who watch less violent media. This desensitization can occur for adults as well as for children. In one study, for example, children who had watched a violent movie were less likely than children in a control group to intervene and get help when they later witnessed a physical fight among real children”.
Children who watch violent content in TV do become desensitized to violence. Desensitization to media violence has been examined in experimental situations, as in the classic work by Drabman and Thomas (1974). In this study titled "Does Watching Violence on Television Cause Apathy?", children who viewed an aggressive film later took significantly longer to seek adult assistance to stop what they thought was an altercation between younger children, compared to the children who did not see the film. In a more recent replication using contemporary video materials, Molitor and Hirsch (1994) examined children's toleration of real life aggression after exposure to media violence. Their study confirmed the original findings: viewing violence increases tolerance for violent behavior.
There are more than 1000 research reports available on adverse health impacts violent content in media on children, over the last 50 years, says Mr. Bala Kumar. Mr. Kumar, one of the founders of the organization Parents against Media Violence was interviewed via email on December 6, 2008. He says, " The first US congressional hearing on violence in TV dates back to 1952. During the last 55 years very little has been done by the government to protect health and well being of young children". Today there are no rules in place to restrict matured video games for young children. Most adults would find it difficult to stomach mayhem and gore perpetrated in the video games like "Grand Theft Auto" and these are the images children are constantly exposed to.
Watching Cartons Increases Real-life Aggression
Dr. Dimitri Christakis of Seattle Children's Hospital Research in a December 8, 2008 interview, says, “Watching violent cartoons increases real life aggression. Decades of research have proven that children imitate what they see on screen – this includes both undesirable and desirable behaviors”
Dr. Christakis says that that in the case of cartoon violence, there are two central messages that increase the chances that children will become aggressive. The first is that cartoon violence occurs without consequences – no one REALLY get hurts. This has many parents thinking cartoons are harmless whereas the reality is the opposite. The second is that they frequently depict violence as something that is amusing or entertaining which for adults seems harmless since it is not real after all. The truth is that children less than 7 years of age do not distinguish between fantasy and reality. Cartoons are actually quite real to children and once again, repeated research has shown that commingling violence and humor increases its potency, cautions Dr. Christakis.
Research shows a strong link between media violence and the way children behave. Exposure to screen violence increases real world aggression. Also, children frequently exposed to violence on television are indifferent towards real life violent experiences. Children become immune to the pain and suffering of others. Children don't have much experience in the real world; that is why it is hard for them to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Consequently, they imitate what they see in cartoons.
Sugandha Jain - I am the Assistant Director of Kids 'R' Kids Schools of Quality Learning in Austin, Texas. I have years of experience as an educator and ...
