[1] Popular short films and television programs with cartoon violence include Rick and Morty, Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes, The Simpsons, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Family Guy.
[3] Studies have shown that watching more cartoon violence is associated with higher levels of aggression among Taiwanese children.
Researchers also concluded across the early and middle childhood, laboratory experiments using cartoons with comedic violence have consistently failed to demonstrate significant differences in reality-oriented aggression.
In contrast, field experiments have consistently shown that aggressive behavior towards peers increases following the viewing of non-comedic violent cartoons.
[8] They know that violent acts qualify as immoral and infringe on the welfare of others, therefore the violence witnessed in cartoons will register as "make believe" to children and will not be applied into their real lives.
Along with these technological improvements settings at home have changed, creating environments where often times children are left unmonitored.
[citation needed] With parents growing concern for how much violence was being shown in cartoons, some initiatives were put into place.
This type of violence refers to when minimal to no physical harm is shown, as well as little attention is paid to the long-term effects.
Despite studies demonstrating that this television category has the most violence, many individuals do not consider sanitized cartoons to be violent.
[16] Victor C. Strasburger, Amy B. Jordan and Edward Donnerstein, writing in Pediatrics, say that parents should limit the total screen time for children older than two years of age to no more than one to two hours per day.
Publishers Jiayu Li, Xiaoli Zhang, and Qian Du did a study on children with left-behind adolescents and the aggression they have.
[20] So, depending on whether or not cartoon violence leads to higher levels of aggression can be hard to determine with the lack of a parental figure.
An article published by Andrew J. Weaver and his team provides data showing boys do prefer to watch cartoon violence more than girls but they still both equally enjoy them.
[22] Steuer, Applefield and Smith claim children emulate cartoon characters' activities, even when they aren't depicted as being human.
With present day cartoons having an increased rate of on-screen death, if a child is not emotionally prepared this can lead to many harmful effects.