Posted on 05/11/2006 8:19:48 PM PDT by Beowulf9
Kids' TV holds very adult content AMY JOHNSON, Guest Columnist
DISRESPECT, violence, profanity and callousness these are a few of the things TV producers are working overtime to teach children about. Parents already know they don't want MTV coming into their homes, but this wave of anti-social behavior is not from the usual suspects. Unfortunately, much of this is from children's entertainment programming, mostly cartoons. When our youths are fed a steady diet of sex, violence and profanity, everyone needs to take notice. Whether you have children or not, you will be affected by the changes that will be apparent in schools, in the workplace and on the streets.
A recent study by the Parents Television Council, "Wolves in Sheep's Clothing," examined what Hollywood is producing for children ages 5 to 10 on eight networks. In the 443.5 hours of programming, researchers documented a staggering 3,488 instances of violence. This isn't just an anvil falling on Wile E. Coyote. It is realistic, and often pits one child against another.
On Fox's "Shaman King," a fight between two characters ends when one kicks the other in the head and knocks him unconscious. The victor picks up the loser by his hair, and reaches into his chest while the loser screams. The victor then takes out the loser's soul and puts it into his own body, silencing the other. What is this teaching the 6-year-olds in the audience?
The American Psychological Association weighed in on this debate with a 15-year longitudinal study of 329 youths. They found that children's viewing of violent TV shows, their identification with aggressive characters, and their views of TV violence as reality are all linked to aggression as young adults. Researchers went back to the participants years later and noted that men who were high TV-violence viewers as children had been convicted of crimes at over three times the rate of other men. Women had similarly alarming rates.
Without any help, children find terrible ways to put each other down. Many shows encourage this with new put-down ideas and comments.
The adults are often worse than the children, on shows such as Disney's "Proud Family." Adults regularly have exchanges such as when one told the volunteer baseball coach that "we all have real jobs, you're the only loser with spare time."
Disrespectful behavior is in style as well. The PTC study found 622 examples of disruptive, disrespectful or otherwise problematic attitudes. Out of these, 53 were aimed toward teachers or parents. Disrespect for authority takes much more time away from learning time in the classroom today than ever before, and with what children are watching on TV, it is no surprise.
Not so long ago, the promotion of sex started with teenagers, but now this isn't early enough for Hollywood. On Disney's "Sister, Sister" there are references to pornography, descriptions of foreplay and discussions about a "Gay Policeman's Ball." Are these topics appropriate for 8-year-olds to be discussing?
In 2005, a University of North Carolina study found that adolescents who are exposed to more sexual content on TV, and who see it supporting sexual behavior, report more sexual activities and greater intentions to engage in intercourse in the future. We all pay for this eventually, with unwanted pregnancies, and children who contract sexually transmitted diseases.
The next time your child wants to watch cartoons or other child-targeted TV shows, take a long, hard look at what lessons they are being taught. You will likely find a lot you don't want them to learn.
Amy Johnson is the Los Angeles chapter director of the Parents Television
Council.
Have you watched?
TV was banned from my home in 2000. Never once regretted it. My kids only see videos I rent or buy for them.
I'm not talking about the cartoons for adults.
I didn't let my kids watch TV while they were young. I remember a neighbor asking my son, who was about 5 years old, "Who's your favorite teenage mutant ninja turtle?" My son said, "I don't speak Russian."
Shaman King is anime not American style kiddie cartoons.
It should be rated for teens.
For example, the other day I saw a cartoon about a ten year old boy with fairy godparents who grant him wishes, the ability to grant wishes got into the hands of his father. The father was the usual buffoon they make of fathers on tv and the fairygodfathers felt the power should be taken from him immediately, 'he could turn planets into plants' they said to the ten year old boy, 'or he could turn Uranus into...we'd better stop him!'.
There are various sexual references on these shows, sometimes in the way the characters are drawn. The cartoon children in the shows are often depicted in their underwear, references to defecation, urination, sex with same sex partners, opposite sex, sexual references often added into the plot. What is the point of this in a child's cartoon? Why would any adult write this into the plot for a show written for children?
Are you sure it's the same show?
Lol! I didn't mean all that in one show, I meant I've seen it on various shows. Actually I've always liked Fairly Oddparents, but why that reference on a kids show?
6 channels are banned from my house. The three 'kids tv' channels on our system (nick, disney, cartoon network) and the three mtv channels (mtv, mtv2, vh1). I am actually more adamant about keeping the kids tv channels out of the house than mtv. At least with mtv, when you see sex and violence, it's not buried within a veneer of being kid-friendly.
For the parents that might be forced to watch some of those shows, but I find Fairygodparents amusing if I happen to watch it. Kids Next Door is fairly good at poking fun at every group, include the kids.
You're no fun. I grew up on the 70's 80's cartoons and even classic WB stuff! I miss them dearly that I downloaded most of the non-PC clips when I can find them.
I LOVE the old WB cartoons...and have quite a few on DVD. But they rarely play them on any of those channels.
Excellent! We have not had a TV (with reception) for many, many years. As a result, our little girl has skipped a grade and is still at the top of her class in private school. But, beware: As we know from seeing what happened to our older children as they grew up, the values pop culture instills in kids affect even non-viewers because they get a heavy dose of them from their peers.
Kids are too precious; they grow according to their programming, parenting, and environment. It's our responsibility as the grownups in their lives, to direct them as much as possible towards the goals we know are beneficial and good for them.
gay policemen don't have balls ...
Don't I know it. We are very conscious of that and do our best to mitigate it. Tough job though. Still, I think we're well ahead of the game compared to most. We also home school, so that's a BIG area where we can control input from other kids.
My kids have a very controlled social life for the most part. We will tell kids to leave and not play with our kids if they act, or in one case dress inappropriately.
We're so mean. ;)
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