Concern over the harmful effects of televised violence on children has prompted the development of antiviolence interventions to prevent these negative outcomes. These interventions have taken many different forms, from formal television literacy curricula implemented by schools to smaller-scale research efforts designed by individual researchers.

Television literacy curricula were first developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s to provide systematic instruction in how to watch television. Since then, many different organizations and individuals have developed television literacy materials, including the major television networks and organizations funded by the U.S. Office of Education. Television literacy programs have been used with children as early as kindergarten and as late as high school. They have been implemented in many different locations around the globe, including the United States, Sweden, South Africa, Great Britain, France, Canada, and Australia.

Advocates of television literacy curricula argue that, just as children...