Hours spent watching ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ or ‘The Lion King’ significantly affects child development, according to Tufts University professor Chip Gidney.

Cartoons tend to reinforce negative societal stereotypes, and children often spend too many hours in front of the television, Gidney, a child development professor, told an audience of about 50 people Thursday at Tufts.

‘One thing that I hope to change about how you view the world is maybe that you’ll like cartoons a little bit less,’ Gidney said.

Gidney, who started the Children’s Television Project, said he conceived the idea for his research project in 1998 after seeing ‘The Lion King.’ CTV’s goal is to teach children to watch critically and to encourage producers to create shows that promote positive youth development, he said.

Gidney said experts recommend children spend no more than 2 hours per day in front of any kind of screen. On average, children watch 1,248 hours of television per year, he said. The average child is in school 1,080 hours a year.

Increased television watching also leads to increased aggression and less community involvement in boys, he said. Stereotype reinforcement, however, is a problem for both genders.

Many shows’ writers exaggerate features and use stereotypes because they have to quickly establish characters’ personalities, Gidney said. Gender stereotypes in particular are often reinforced in cartoons and negatively affect children, he said.

‘So that characters who flout these norms are somehow ridiculous, they’re worthy of ridicule,’ he said.

Children start understanding irony around the age of 10, he said.

‘One of the things that is always interesting to me about looking at cartoons as an adult is how much I would’ve missed as a child,’ Gidney said. ‘And I was a smart child.’

‘It’s very clear that humor in children’s television plays a very important role developmentally,’ he said.

Tufts students said cartoons were funny to them, even if they did not fully understand the humor when they were young.

Tufts sophomore Tilly Philbrick said watching Disney movies has been a different experience for her now that she’s older.

‘You do pick up on the undertones of sexism and commentary on society,’ she said.

Sophomore Sonja Rivera said she watched ‘The Simpsons’ as a child.

‘I don’t know how I understood it at the time, but I still liked it,’ Rivera said.

Although some shows have a negative impact on children, shows like ‘Sesame Street’ and ‘Arthur’ can positively affect kids, he said.

Freshman Sharmaine Oh said she felt inspired to re-watch some of the cartoons she watched as kid after Gidney’s lecture.

‘TV-watching is such a big part of a child’s education,’ she said.