That television set in your home can baby-sit your growing children. It can also silence them forever. The consumers Associationof Penang(CAP) gave this warning in a study on how violence on television could affect children. CAP said it was prompted to make the study when in January this year, the press came out with reports of for small Malaysian children who died within a week's span trying to imitate Ralph,the flying superman -like character in the popular television series "The Greatest American Hero".
Of the total viewing time,violence is shown plenty of times in a variety of forms. It may range from psychological violence like shouting which evokes fear threats like "i'll blow your head off" and cursing, to actual buildings. Cheating and blackmailing are considers violent because they ruin the personality or the selfesteem of victim. Consequently, Malaysian children (mostly below 10 years of age) are becoming confused as to the difference between reality and fantasy.