I WOULD like to draw the attention of parents towards the issue of cartoons on TV. Cartoons are considered the safest and appropriate entertainment for children even when they are alone at home.

But the recent research on violent cartoons has changed our perception. Three major effects on children have been proved by psychological research because of violence on television. Children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others; children who watch violence neither fear violence nor are they bothered by violence in general. Children are more likely to become aggressive or resort to 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 the brain.

As a result, a tremendous amount of childhood involvement with the electronic media can limit social interaction and may obstruct the development of a brain’s social functions.

High levels of violence in cartoons such as Scooby - Doo can make children more aggressive, researchers claim. They found that animated shows aimed at youngsters often have more brutality than programmes broadcast for general audiences.

Researchers say children copy characters just as much as they would with real actors.

The study also found that youngsters tended to mimic the negative behaviour they saw on TV such as rumour - spreading, gossiping and eye - rolling. There are cases where children take cartoons to an extreme.

This is crucial because parents sometimes just let their children spend hours in front of TV as they go about their daily chores.

When parents allow their children to watch cartoons, they should ensure that these cartoons are appropriate. If parents find profanity or explicit language and scenes in a cartoon, they should not allow children to watch. People who create popular cartoons are careful not to 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.

SILA ZAHID Karachi