When the commission of violent acts on television is separated from the punishment for those acts, young children are unable to connect the two events. While an older child would understand that the person who shoots someone at the beginning of a program is the same person who is jailed at the end, a young child may be left with the impression that the violent actions are not penalized. But just as TV can teach children aggression, it can also impart important lessons about the damage violence does to individuals, families and society. Likewise, TV can spotlight and validate non-violent means of resolving conflicts. And, interestingly, programs that use violence to increase awareness of its consequences or that show alternatives to violence can also increase ratings.
Laser guns blaze.
Since some of the most popular children's programs are based on this formula, there is considerable concern about the impact of violence in cartoons and live-action programming on children. When the industry set out to develop a television ratings system, child development experts stressed the importance of separate ratings for children's programming that acknowledged the cognitive developmental stages through which children progress. Solutions for Responsible Portrayals O n average, children watch more than twenty hours of television per week. And fifty-four percent of kids have a television set in their bedroom. Increase the depiction of punishment for violent acts.