After all commited researches, we saw that mass communications tools was investigating effects of delivered messages on upon the targets from the beginnings to date. For that reason, receivers of messages in other words audiance or listeners situations were carried an important weight and it was aroused more attention than other components of communication. The audience understand the message of the acceptance of active or passive, the research found likely to be correct, however, dubious, questionable, problematic parts formed. (Şahinde Yavuz, 2005, Medya ve İzleyici, Bitmeyen Tartışma, Vadi Yayınları, Ankara)

Researchers, the event continues today, according to the liberal pluralist approach, especially the visual media presentation and a principled understanding of the task falls on the way up was needed. To give a presentation of the message by the principles of ethical norms on the one hand, and how the presentation of the message transmitted limits on the other hand, also sets the line between social media and are defending the thesis. (Ayşe İnal, 2003, Medya ve Toplum, Ips İletişim Vakfı Yayınları, İstanbul)

CHILDHOOD AND CHARASTERICTIC FEATURES

In a study showed that the most enjoyable period of childhood, developmental psychologist and expert pedagogues by ‘Before Transaction’ between the ages of 4-7 is called the period. Increases children’s imagination at this stage, games and toys become the most important part of life. Children are very much is “egocentric”. On the basis of the world as they experience the feeling that the world spins around them and they are the only human beings. One of the most characteristic feature of this universe of inanimate objects human characteristics is they believe that lifeless objects can be alive. In kid’s world, any change in terms of cognitive development may be having full faith. For example; Gadgets like the fairy tale Puss in Boots camel can turn into cats or mice. At times like this kind of thinking goes, is sometimes startling. In fact, these kind of fantastic games, movies, stories and fun stuff are tools to enhance creativity of our children, us and that enrich our relationship. To achieve this positive goal, what we need to do is have some mandatory approaches. And this approach results in what direction the research is going to be a case and that will be examined in accordance with references of the researches.

A study of violence in television programs and cartoons to the elements and their activities were examined and children were observed to behave differently after watching violent content on television cartoons. The pre-school children used in this study and 100 children were observed before and after watching TV. One group was watching violent cartoons, while the other group, no aggression, non-line of the content of movies are provided. Children who were watching violent movies were observed to fight with other children more and go against to their parents and be more impatient of their behaviours examined by the researchers.

Educators and pedagogues are also identified by the “new generation” that children’s programs and cartoons are no different than an adult programmes and shows on television. That shows feels a little girl like a teenage girl and boys who feels like the cartoon heroes subjects unsuitable topics according to children’s age and subjects do not conform to the developmental characteristics of children. That puts at risk of these young children mental health. (Sevil GümüÅŸ, Pedagogue, Istanbul, 2010)

When we consider all these things and we get these results that creativity and thinking system of a child is effecting when watching cartoons on the line up of films including the development of systems that are affected by some negative elements. To prevent these adverse effects from the world of cartoons for children with different solutions, rather than depriving them much easier to navigate and that will be effective results obtained by experts and research results are positive according to the data that we have.

TELEVISION AND CHILDREN

Television has an important role in an adult’s life as well as a child’s. Today, as a major entertainment and recreational vehicle of television programs adopted, watched and consumed by the children as much as adults. Programme-makers are aware of the diversity of the audience, and according to different age groups and educational programs are designed in order to their targets. Cartoons are among these programmes and fundamentally children are the main target for these productions.

Primary school age children in the period preceding its relationship with television are identical for the purposes of discovery. Television programs, especially the bright, vibrant and fast-changing elements, moving characters, strongly the sound or light gets children’s attention and affects them. Pre-school children meet with violence watching TV cartoons and that makes them become ready for violence watching these unreal but lively and brighter images. Especially share of cartoons has a big responsibility in that. School-age is a very important period for children as they tend to be more violence and shows aggressive behaviours in terms of their impacts of behaviours because their age.

During this period, a child develops increased attention. They have an ability to understand and follow the continuity in the stories. The described events as implicit in their conclusions and approves the actions or movements of the characters and its mimics. The trend in this period and violence in children varies and changes if they watch violent programs.

Especially those who follow such programs which reflects the real world of violence and those children who believed himself a hero shows aggressive behavior in real life is seen to increase.

During the adolescent period, affected by television charactersor identity formation is less than younger ages. But this young teenage children are more convinient to copy violence the in the television or criminal behavior by mimicking, shows us a rebel behaviour of “traditional authority challenged behavior” can be exposed. (Josephson, W.L.,1995, Television violence: A review of the effects on chıldren of dıfferent ages. Canadian Heritage.)

Cartoons colorful, exaggerated and full of fun world, impresses kids big time and at the same time entertains their world. Because of the level of creativity and thinking system of the children are very different from adults as children watchs cartoons and feels themselves part of what the watch and that develops their creativity. The cartoons and events they watch and follow in a way that’s much easier to adopt and internalize for them. Therefore, cartoons has important activity during children’s internalization period and that learning and observing creates different worlds in child’s thinking system. But the cartoons can be adversely affected in many elements on children especially discernment wise submits and shows us that the ones who did not reach the level of understanding and judging could be way more affected. Because watching the cartoons, children’s world slowly begins to become a part of it. If the necessary intervention is not made a child makes himself part of that fantasy world and cuts the reality between that world and real life. That affects negatively children’s development. They start losing adaptation of the real world and ignore what happening around them. They start becoming some other character which does not exist in real world. (Ä°dil Seda AK, 2010, Çocuk GeliÅŸimi Uzmanı, Istanbul)

The most affected social groups of the television broadcasts are today, children. The broadcasts influences their personality development and socialization who are at the stage of development also well known by the community.

To protect children from negative effects of television broadcasts for both national and international levels, the various arrangements being made every day and joint operations are conducted. Those programs particularly interested by the children and can cause series of physical, mental and moral development damages. The world authorities are working on them not to be too violent and kind of measures taken in the direction of interest is still being investigated as we are not sure if we are on the right direction. (Dr. A.Zahid Akman, RTÜK, 2006, Ä°lköÄŸretim Çağındaki Çocukların Televizyon Ä°zleme Alışkanlıkları Kamuoyu AraÅŸtırması, Istanbul)

THE IMPACT CARTOON VIOLENCE HAS ON CHILDREN

Cartoon violence is an issue which recently has been growing in importance. Now a days it is extremely difficult to find a TV channel that is 100% children friendly. Most channels have children programming mixed with commercials or movies previews that are completely inappropriate for children.

Cartoon programmes should not be aired whole day long as this would have a negative impact on the kid’s demeanor. Parents cannot watch their children every minute of the day and it only takes a second for them to change channels.

Children will try to mimic anything they see or hear and cartoon violence is no exception.   Children should be given an option to watch only child friendly cartoons .

EFFECTS OF CARTOONS ON CHILDREN

Today’s children have become much more interested in television programmes and cartoons over many years and it has become a major action to some lives.

Distinctively, children begin watching cartoons on television at an early age of one, and by the age two or three children become most enthusiastic viewers. This has become a problem because too many children are watching too much television channels and the shows that they are watching (even if they are cartoons) have become violent and addictive. Marketing of cartoons has become overpowering in all around the world and so has the subliminal messaging. The main strategy is targeted toward the children to cause them to want to view the cartoons on a regular basis, but the subliminal messaging is for the adults’ to target them into enjoying the “cartoons”. This is unfortunate because children watch the cartoons on the television and they see material that is not appropriate for their age group. The children who watch too much cartoons on television are more likely to have mental and emotional problems, along with brain and eye injuries and unexpectedly the risk of a physical problem increases.

Mental and Psychological Effects of Children’s Cartoons:

From the time children start school to the time that they graduate they are averaged to spend around 13,000 hours in school. This may seem like an awful lot of hours to attend school unless it is compared to the hours a child watches television, which is nearly 18,000 hours (from the time school is started to the time of graduation). This comparison is an outrage because of the amount of television that is watched by a child will have an effect on their brain, emotions and their sense to feel pain. In a 2000 report on adolescent violence it was stated that more aggressive behavior in a young child’s life is caused by frequently watched entertainment that incorporates violence in it. This has become a public health issue and because of the research findings; the American Psychological Association passed a resolution in February of 1985, informing broadcasters and the public about the dangers violence on the television has on children. Three major effects have been proven by psychological research caused by children seeing violence on television. These are child may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others children who watch violence do not fear violence nor are they bothered by violence in general and the children are more likely to become aggressive or use harmful actions towards others. When we are born we have the capacity for motivation, experience, and training, and because of this our minds are very impressionable. Therefore, our brains’ development is a dynamic mix of nature and nurture, so it is important to choose a healthy environment for all children. This means cartoons with violence will be unhealthy for a child because in general, being interactive with any environment enhances the development of a successful brain. As a result, a tremendous amount of childhood involvement with electronic media can limit social interaction and may obstruct the development of a brain’s social systems.

IMPACT ON THE BRAIN AND EYES:

An episode of the Japanese cartoon “Pocket Monster” which was later renamed “Pokémon” for international distribution drew worldwide attention after multiple cases of children suffering seizures after watching the episode were reported .Parents began to wonder how the cartoons which their children watched affected their mental development. While no former study specifically relating to cartoons has taken place, multiple studies over the years have charted the impact of television on the minds and eyes of developing children.

Most eye specialists agree that watching television is not a danger to the eyes, as long as children watch in the right conditions. However the room should not be pitch black, and children should not sit closer than five feet away from the screen. Sitting in a dark room or closer than five feet will not damage the eyes, but will result in eye fatigue.

As for the brain, there is scientific evidence that too much cartoon viewing can be detrimental to children. According to a study it was revealed that children who watched on an average three to four hours of television daily had a greater risk of developing attention deficit disorder than children who did not watch television. While no specific program is directly responsible, it is speculated that the speed of the images displayed could affect children’s brains.

A question arises whether watching television give young children seizures. According to a study it was found most children who suffered seizures from the December 1997 episode of “Pocket Monsters” had epilepsy, or some other underlying condition that would have caused development of seizures, regardless of whether or not they saw that program.

INCREASED RISK IN CHILD SAFETY

Today in many children’s cartoon’s you see cartoon characters jumping, diving, and falling from very high heights, then landing without being harmed. Parents seem to be happy with this as along as the cartoon doesn’t promote sex or any kind of violence. On every episode of Loony Tunes   a short clip of Wile E. Coyote trying to catch the Road Runner is mostly shown. And in every clip Wile E. Coyote in some shape or form seems to fall off a cliff or simple have one of his inventions back fire and cause a mass explosion. Yet, he manages to collect his teeth, dust him self off and get up for another attempt to catch the Road Runner. Another example of this sort of cartoon would have to be Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.

In these cartoons it always seems to be rabbit hunting season and Elmer Fudd can never seem to shoot that “dang ol’ rabbit.” When he tries, Bugs usually finds a way to either bend the gun to aim at Elmer or to plug it up with some kind of object. But, either way the guns always fire into Elmer’s face. These sorts of cartoons are displaying false sense of reality upon children. Being able to fall off a tall cliff or being shot with a gun in the face and walking from these incidents with barely a scratch. At a young age, this false sense of reality can really affect them. It has been proving that children on average watch 4 hours or television a day. This false sense of reality for every hour of TV viewed per day, the risk of injury rises proportionally.   A child growing looks up to and would want to be like the super heroes in the cartoons. That’s why the false sense of reality that cartoons show encourage children to try things that they see their favorite super hero do. In some cases TV has also been linked to causing seizures. The cartoons children are watching don’t show sex or violence doesn’t mean that they are innocent. Because of this false sense of reality children at a young age can’t tell the difference between cartoons and realism.

TV’S EFFECT ON CHILDREN’S BEHAVIOR :

Children who view cartoon shows in which violence is very realistic, frequently repeated or unpunished, are more likely to imitate what they see. This speaks to the impressionable mindsets of young children, who are still learning control of their minds and bodies, and are likely to mimic what they see, as it seems quite normal to them. A need arises for parents to keep a close eye on what their children watch. They must be there to explain that the cartoon character or actor that was shot has not been harmed, but would actually be seriously injured, or die in real life. They should also work to tell their children that violent behavior is not the best course of action to resolve a conflict.

Young children are very impressionable. Higher levels of television viewing correlate with lowered academic performance, especially reading scores. This may be because television substitutes for reading practice, partially because the compellingly visual nature of the stimulus blocks development of left-hemisphere language circuitry. A young brain manipulated by jazzy visual effects cannot divide attention to listen carefully to language. TV is a very quick medium. Messages are shot at the viewer as if by an automatic rifle. Their minds must be equally as quick to interpret the messages, and with such a “two-minute mind”, many messages are misinterpreted, or confused. When the child becomes used to receiving information at so fast a rate, they lose interest in information that is more detailed and methodical, such as the information received in day-to-day schooling.

Television certainly does affect the kids, who find themselves mesmerized by the bright flashing objects, and rapid assault of messages.

Auditory Subliminal Messaging in Children’s Cartoons

The lessons that the media conveys to those parts of the mind without conscious perception through the cartoons that people watch, are referred to as subliminal messages.

When children watch cartoons, they always pay attention to what is being said.   In a child’s subconscious mind, he or she is exposed to auditory subliminal messages that they may never discover, but they will eventually become a part of their lives.   Not all auditory subliminal messaging is negative.   However, most of these messages have a negative effect on children.   The interesting thing about the situation is that these messages are most common in popular cartoons.

SpongeBob Squarepants has been on the air since 1999 on Nickelodeon.   Today, it still remains popular and new episodes are still being created.   It is now 2004 and people are speaking out against the messages that they found hidden in a number of episodes.   The main allegation against SpongeBob Squarepants is its use of metaphors in place of profanity.   When he is disappointed, SpongeBob will often yell out “Tartar Sauce”.   To an adult ear, that phrase may sound like it is intended to represent a curse word.

When parents choose what cartoons to let their children watch, they want to make sure that these cartoons are appropriate for general audiences People who create popular cartoons are careful to not allow any vulgar content to be incorporated into their cartoons.   However, every cartoon can’t be made perfectly safe for viewing by children and some of the verbal content may be mistaken for auditory subliminal messages.

Marketing Practices of Companies that produce Children’s Cartoons:

Children are no longer viewed as vulnerable human beings that need to be nurtured. Nowadays, companies are increasingly viewing kids through an economic lens.   This is because children are easy to take advantage of. A child will see an item that they want and will throw a complete tantrum until their parents give up and purchase it. This is a marketing company’s dream come true.  

Marketing Companies can open up emotional vulnerabilities, and it’s very easy to do with kids because they are emotionally vulnerable.

Cartoon companies are the most common companies that are tapping into this new trend. It is literally impossible to walk into any store today and not see any licensed cartoon merchandise. From playing cards to toothpaste, these companies have covered every angle possible. By doing this it makes it impossible for a child to walk into a store and not want a specific item. Cartoon companies are also known to advertise their object in between television shows. The commercials are designed to have the child infatuated with the object and wanting it as soon as possible. With such devises these companies are using today, it is quite understandable why these companies bring in billions of dollars a year.

To conclude with animated cartoon pictures are targeted mainly towards children. They can have a positive as well as negative influence on children depending upon the theme and the content. The animated pictures contain a wide array of content matter and messages that may influence children in many different ways. There are some cartoons that are neutral and purely meant for entertainment, some are educational but some are violent to the core.

      Looking   at the good side of cartoon pictures, they are fun, entertaining and a good way to rewind oneself. Moreover, some of them even have a positive influence on kids. In the year 2005, Sesame Street, the educational puppet cartoon series, launched its Healthy Habits for Life series. This was televised with an aim to encourage young kids to lead more dynamic and nutritious lifestyles. Healthy Habits For Life featured Wyclef Jean, the rapper, singing and applauding the benefits of fruits and veggies. The puppets and animated pictures in Sesame Street were an instant hit amongst children since the time it was first televised in 1969. Many parents insisted that their kids remembered each and every word that was taught on Sesame Street.

        There are many other animated cartoon pictures that inspire kids to adopt healthy habits. Popeye, the sailor man, who gobbles on spinach every time he faces a difficulty. This cartoon character actually inspired many toddlers to eat spinach. Keeping in view the positive influence that cartoons have, teachers started teaching kids through cartoons. They used cartoon character drawings to teach several subjects.Cartoon characters inspired them to study the subjects with     a deeper insight

Children also have a tendency to consider some or the other cartoon character as their super hero. It is alright till the time the animated cartoon super hero they adore are cute and cuddly like baby looney tunes, sharp and funny like Tom an Jerry or cute and wacky like The Powerpuff girls However, they may become aggressive and snappy if they imagine picturing a violent cartoon character as their idol. The drawings of cartoon as stated earlier may have a positive as well as a negative influence. The images and storyline can have a enormous negative affect on kids because the violence and fury is honored without aftermaths, is extolled and idealized. Such violent cartoons should be avoided at all costs.

The good news is that there are many cartoons that are simply made for pure entertainment, like Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear, Mickey Mouse or even SpongeBob SquarePants, to name a few. Animated cartoon pictures are meant to entertain. It is more than acceptable if the kids learn a worthwhile lesson from them and are positively influenced.