Every hour 25+ acts of violence are shown on
children's television programs. This may seem like nothing, but when you put this together with the fact that children ages 8-18 watch approximately 6 and a half hours of TV per day, you reach the startling truth that most teens today view over 150 violent acts on TV per day. Yes one might argue that not all programming promotes violence, but that is just 4%. The other 96% either promotes it or turns a blind eye.
But why is violence in children's programs so dangerous? Young children have very impressionable minds and pick up tons of garbage they view on television every day. The American Academy of Pediatrics made this statement on October 19, 2009 "Exposure to violence in media, including television, movies, music, and video games, represents a significant risk to the health of children and adolescents."
One of the main problems with violence in children's programs is the fact that it almost always goes unpunished. As we all know, in cartoons one character will beat another senseless yet he/she just walk it off like nothing happened. In addition; characters will commit serious crimes such as theft, burglary and grand theft auto which all go without repercussions.
I am not saying that all
cartoons or children's programs are bad. For example, these channels;
Boomerang Plus,
Tom and Jerry Cartoons,
Looney Tunes Cartoons and
Road Runner Cartoons TV are really great for children. My main point to that, just because it says "children's program" doesn't mean that it is in any way wholesome entertainment. Half of the violence found in programs geared towards children could never be put in a live action film without it receiving an R rating. Ending on a positive note, encourage your children to make good choices when it comes to watching TV and make sure to provide them with numerous alternatives to television, because most of the time spent around the TV set is time wasted.
