Obesity, Children, and the Media

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQbfF4mJS7w&feature=relmfu

 

This epidemic, known as childhood obesity, began in 1980; this is when the percentage of obese children in America began to rise significantly (Cuttler).  But as of 2002, that percentage has doubled from 7% to 16% in children between six and eleven years of age and for twelve to nineteen year olds the percentage has more than tripled from 5% to 16% (“Childhood Obesity”).  So now people are wondering what happened?  What has changed over the last 30 – 40 years that has caused the children of America to put on so much excess weight?

Fashion has changed since the 80s; the music has too.  America has seen several different presidents in the last 30 years and there have been new laws passed in Congress.  But there is one change that has truly influenced how we live in this country: the media. 

There are two ways that the media has an effect on childhood obesity: children are spending more time watching television instead of being physically active (Juster, Ono, and Stafford) and many of the ads on the television are advertising for foods that are high in calories and low in nutritional value (“Childhood Obesity”).  This surplus of food advertisements in the media has a huge influence on a child’s food intake.  The research that has been accumulating since the 1980s suggests there is a definite link between children’s viewing of food advertisements and the increased rate of childhood obesity (“Childhood Obesity”).  This link is made even clearer once you realize that the average child is now seeing more than 40,000 commercials every year compared to 20,000 in the 1970s (Roberts and Foehr).

http://earlychildhood-educations.blogspot.com/2012/07/childhood-obesity.html

But somehow there are many people who still believe that the media is not the main cause.  Many people in society believe that the only cause of the obesity epidemic is that kids are  not getting enough physical activity (Mota).  The point that these studies are missing is what the children are doing instead of getting physical activity; they are sitting at home watching TV for four or more hours each day (Roberts and Foehr).  And while they are watching those four hours of TV they are being bombarded with media that is all about food (and it’s usually not promoting fruits and vegetables) (“Childhood Obesity”). 

So next time you go to watch TV, pay attention to what you are being shown and determine whether or not you want the children of America to be exposed to such high concentrations of food related media.

The Isolation of Video Games

In an August 2011 New York Times article titled “The Kids Are Not All Right,” Joe Bakan wrote, “A recent Kaiser Family Foundation study reports that children spend more hours engaging with various electronic media -- TV, games, videos and other online entertainments -- than they spend in school." This simple statement makes a powerful impact--are the children of America spending more time plugged into the tv than they are at school? 
Since children’s primary opportunities for socializing occur at school, it’s a likely possibility that they really do spend more time with virtual friends than with real ones. Excessive video game use may be encouraging or even creating antisocial behavior in children. Parents, teachers, friends, and siblings need to combat this by making an effort to spend time with the children in their lives, enabling the kids to learn good social skills and acceptable behaviors.

updatednews.ca

            Everyone is affected by an overuse of video games, but children are especially susceptible. What children learn during their first several years of life is critical to their ability to develop and grow in a normal way. If, during this important time, they spend more time playing video games than they do socializing with others people, like family members, it will negatively affect the way they are able to befriend and interact with others. We’re going to end up with a generation of children with excellent hand-eye coordination and no social skills whatsoever.

Winmentalhealth.com

          It would be dangerous to oversimplify this issue, since different forms and types of video games promote and teach different things. But it would also be dangerous to assume that educational video games can take the place of personal relationships. In light of new research in support of educational video games, it becomes increasingly easy to let children spend more and more time in front of a screen, cut off from all others forms of human life. Despite the potential educational value of some video games, children need to spend time with others to create a healthy balance in their developing lives and susceptible minds.

photobucket.com

The Future of Children, a website published by Princeton University, has posted some interesting research on this topic and related subjects. In one online journal titled “Children and Electronic Media,” Barbara J. Wilson wrote, “Some media messages can teach children positive, pro-social lessons, while others can lead children to be fearful or even to behave antisocially.” Based on this information, it’s safe to say that the amount of time children spend playing video games needs to be carefully monitored and balanced with plenty of interaction with other people.

While video games can teach children everything from math and science to coping mechanisms and friendship, an overabundance of electronic face time can rob children of valuable social learning experiences and harm their ability to progress. 

By Katherine Cutchins