Patterns Of Watching Televised Animated Cartoons By Children Aged Seven To Eleven Years In Nairobi County, Kenya

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to establish the patterns of televised animated cartoons watched by children aged seven to eleven years in Nairobi County, Kenya. Methodology: The study used descriptive survey method to collect information through casual interviews and self-administered questionnaires. The research used the non-probability design and employed judgmental sampling to select a sample of 426 children (224 boys and 202 girls) aged 7 to 11 years old from the six selected primary schools in Nairobi. The study used structured questionnaires with closed and open-ended questions to collect primary data. The collected data was edited, cleaned, coded and analyzed using descriptive statistics with the aid of SPSS version 11.0. The data was analyzed through straight tabulations and generated tables, graphs, and charts such as measures of central tendency such as means and modes and measures of dispersion such as the standard deviations. Results: The study also concluded that the children consume more cartoons during the weekends with an average number of between 8 and 9 cartoons a day as compared to between 2 and 5 cartoons on weekdays. They watch cartoons most during the months of April, August, November and December when schools are closed for the holidays. The majority of the respondents watch cartoons from home. It can be concluded that children consume a lot of animated cartoon content from television both during school days and when they are holidays. They spend a lot of time watching animated cartoons on television. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: Parents should influence their child's viewing by modifying their own viewing habits and develop guidelines for children on how much animated cartoons he/she can watch; the less the better. Television should be kept out of a child's bedroom preferably in the family room. Parents or guardians should watch and discus animated cartoons with their children to enable them understand and evaluate the content. Media houses /practitioners need to development of home-grown animated cartoons. The middle level colleges and universities should train their students on how to produce animated cartoons with content for the local market, especially children. Keywords: Watching patterns, televised animated cartoons, children aged seven to eleven years.