Criteria D

Most cartoons shown on television are quite violent and the issue remains of how these cartoons alter the view of reality to the children who watch them. The issue extends when objects that are dangerous for kids to use such as knifes or guns are used in such a way to appear harmless in cartoons. One example commonly used is that when a gun or rifle is fired, the person does not get shot instead he/she would be covered in smoke from the gun, so what is a child, by any means, got a gun in his hand and shot it, a case like that would not be blamed on the child if he harmed another person as from his point of view, would only shoot black smoke. But again, in today’s world, cartoons could be said to be one of the main sources of entertainment for children and a huge business for companies, but they still continue to alter the reality for children. This issue can be solved by changing the types of shows used and the times displayed. For example, a channel could be programmed to show a real life educational program for kids after displaying an animated cartoon and repeat the process by showing different shows. This is helpful to keep the children aware of reality and educate them at the same time. This solution is feasible but, personally, I have not seen it done on any channel. Even though some channels offer both types of shows, they are both clustered separately into different times, so by changing the times of when the programs are on air, this could cause a great improvement on the psychological effect and behavior on children.

Criteria C

As CGI advanced, television shows, especially for children is starting to change from a 2-D perspective to 3-D perspective and as that continues, shows will start to look more realistic. This is an impact on the psychological effect of CGI on children since they would think it is real instead of a cartoon. According to a study, not until second grade were a majority of children able to differentiate human from animated and puppet characters (Quarfoth, 2008). Second grade students would be around 8-9 years old, which, by that time, would have watched a considerable amount of television shows. So cartoons that show fictional creatures or things that are different from what they are in real life could alter the children’s view of reality. Even though children above the age of 8-9 years old can differentiate between humans and animations, side effects or habits from their younger age could remain unchanged. From my point of view, these psychological effects would become a smaller issue as a child grows older and become a more mature person, but nevertheless, this issue is quite a problem for young children as parents would have to watch their behavior more often since actions done by the children could be more hazardous towards their health.