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Cartoons can cause personality change

Television is a ubiquitous part of modern childhood.

Cartoons can cause personality change

With busy schedules of parents, and increased unsupervised television time, the danger of exposure to violent and aggressive content on TV becomes very high



Samir Parikh

Television is a ubiquitous part of modern childhood. It plays many roles in a child’s life — entertainer, educator and even babysitter. As children are exposed to television at earlier ages and for longer periods of time — it becomes imperative that as parents and teachers, we pay close attention to what our children watch on television and the possible effects that it can have on them.

Cartoons form a major chunk of children’s television viewing. It has been a topic of concern that many popular animated shows depict aggression and violence, feelings such as envy and revenge as accepted behaviour usually in the guise of humour or righteousness. Physical violence, bombs, verbal aggression, etc. are all a part of various child-centric shows. There is a long-standing debate on whether increased depiction of violence has a consequence on aggression in children.

Young children do not have the ability to distinguish between reality and make-believe world. With today’s stellar technology and special effects, video games and television has become very realistic and life-like. This makes it even harder for young children to make the distinction between what is real and what is not. Children are very susceptible to learning through observation. Whether this is observation of parents and peers or television characters, they tend to turn into role-models, they learn what they see. This learning then transfers to practise in real life. Such children may be more aggressive with their friends and their loved ones.

With busy schedules of parents, and increased unsupervised television time, the danger of exposure to violent and aggressive content on television becomes very high.

Keep it supervised

It is a good idea to ensure that you are familiar with the TV content that your child watches. You must examine if the content is age appropriate for your child. This can also help you keep connected with your child’s world.

Talk about it

When you do find objectionable content in the cartoon shows that your child watches, it is a good idea to talk and discuss what aspects of it are ok and what are not.

Make it age-appropriate

Children below the age of two should not be exposed to screen time as they are unable to cognitively process the information that they see. It is important to make sure that children are exposed to TV viewing that is age appropriate and for limited time periods.

Expand your horizons

Computers, video-games and televisions form the mainstay of a child’s entertainment time but this can be quite limiting for a child’s holistic development. Other activities like spending time with peers, physical activity, bonding with parents and exercising imagination through board games, etc. are very important for their all-round development.

— The writer is director, Mental Health & Behavioural Science, Fortis Hospital

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