Effects Of Cartoon Network On Children

Running head: EFFECTS OF CARTOON NETWORK ON CHILDREN 1

Effects of Cartoon Network on Children

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EFFECTS OF CARTOON NETWORK ON CHILDREN 2

Effects of Cartoon Network on Children

Introduction

Presented in form of animations and motion pictures, the history of cartoons dates back to

the early 1800s when the first cases of such forms of entertainment appeared. As explained by

Iamurai (2009), the popularity of cartoons has cartoons has continued to advance with more

children and adults watching cartoons in different television channels across the world. While

children between the ages of 5-10 view the act of watching cartoons as entertainment, numerous

positive and negative effects inspired by the activities in cartoons subconsciously get passed to

children as they watch cartoons. These affect their mentality, social relationships with others,

personalities, and beliefs in ways of handling issues within the society. Overall, cartoon

networks remain linked to child education, violence, addiction, negative sexual behavior,

provision of societal role models, and health challenges in children among other issues.

Analysis of the Effects of Cartoon Network on Children

A review of the effects of cartoons on children by Aluja-Fabregatand Torrubia-Beltri,

(1998) revealed that many children spend outstanding amounts of their time on television

stations watching cartoon programs. As shown by Habib and Soliman, (2015) in a survey of

children around Gujrat City, over 60% of children watched cartoons for much of their free time

and favored more violent cartoon programs. Additionally, the report indicated the presence of

behavior change on children who would want to watch more of the cartoon programs and even

apply some of what they watched in real-life situations.

The first negative effect of cartoons on children is the leading of sedentary lifestyles in

which children do not engage in exercises. As pointed out by Habib and Soliman, (2015), many

of the sessions of cartoon watching last up to more than four hours in one or more sittings.

EFFECTS OF CARTOON NETWORK ON CHILDREN 3

Terminally, such trends lead to childhood obesity which is a challenge and is secondarily

associated with other chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension among others. When

watched for long, many cartoon programs leave children addicted to them and glued to their

screens for the better parts of their days. Sometimes, children even sneak to watch cartoons when

they should not. Further, the increasing limits of violence have also affected children ages 5-10

in different ways. Notably, most animations are characterized by wars in which antagonists and

protagonists fight one another. Typically, one party wins in outsmarting the other through

violence. This makes many children believe that there is heroism in violence. Many of them tend

to emulate lead characters of cartoon programs like Superman and Ben 10. Even in cases where

no heroism is involved, children choose to identify with one character and subsequently pull

associated trends on their counterparts like in the case of Tom and Jerry kids.

Perhaps, the most subconsciously passed trend in many cartoon networks is that of

sexually explicit content and seductive behavior. According to Habib and Soliman, (2015), many

cartoon programs display these trends in different ways. Citing Symbiotic Titans, Hercules,

Digimon, the authors identify the propagation of ideas like attractive girl dances, dynamic girl

waist, and explicit feminine organs among other features. Because of watching cartoons, many

children get drawn into early sexual behavior that occurs as they try to discover more of what

they have watched in the cartoon networks. They may begin these by kissing one another or

engaging in other more involving sexual activities.

Conversely, many beneficial outcomes get achieved in watching cartoons. The first of

these is education and associated milestones in learning. Because of presentation in exciting and

interesting ways, many cartoons help teach children a variety of new elements. This is to the

extent educators consider coining some learning content on the approach of cartoons to make it

EFFECTS OF CARTOON NETWORK ON CHILDREN 4

more interesting to children (Kirsh, 2006). To this extent, some studies view the use of cartoon in

education as motivational in the acquisition of knowledge by preschool children. This stems

from the fact that many children more easily accept to identify with their favorite cartoon

characters as opposed to adults. Resultantly, they easily pick words from such characters to

develop their language and accept social and life-skills presented by these characters for their

own good. Hence, cartoons also help children to learn language and lessons on morality and

ethics.

This same process of learning acts to provide role models for children to emulate.

Typically, most antagonistic cartoons have villains and redeemers. Examples of such are

Superman and Mutant Teenage Ninjas. In all the cases, the redeemers present characters of

compassion, love, bravery, and the determination to always fight for and deliver good. Overall,

they provide good role models for the children who watch. Like the cartoon heroes, many

children desire to fight and deliver justice and fairness; thereby developing the virtues needed for

a better human society (Kirsh, 2006).

Conclusion

In conclusion, animations have progressively been improved to become more interesting

and entertaining. Children who watch them experience both positive and negative impacts.

Cartoons consume time, become addictive, and lead to sedentary lifestyles that may result in

obesity. They also remain responsible for substantial limits of increasing cases of violence and

negative sexual trends in children. On the other hand, cartoons are educative and assist children

to gain milestones in languages, morality, and ethics. They provide role models after which

children adapt positive human values.

EFFECTS OF CARTOON NETWORK ON CHILDREN 5

References

Aluja-Fabregat, A. and Torrubia-Beltri, R. (1998).“Viewing of Mass Media Violence, Perception

of Violence, Personality, and Academic Achievement. Personality and Individual

Differences”. 25, 973-989. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(98)00122-6

Habib, K., &Soliman, T. (2015). “Cartoons’ Effect in Changing Children Mental Response and

Behavior”. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 3, 248-264.

http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jss.2015.39033

Iamurai, S. (2009). Positive Cartoon Animation to Change Children Behaviors in Primary

Schools.

Kirsh, S.J. (2006) Cartoon Violence and Aggression in Youth. Aggression and Violent Behavior,

11, 547-557. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2005.10.002

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