Effects of Media on Childhood Obesity
ENG122 English Composition II
Effects of Media on Childhood Obesity
Introduction
childhood obesity rates in America have been on a steady climb over the last 30 years. The Nemours Foundation (2009) report indicates that one in three children is now classified as obese. Children who are living with obesity are at great risk of severe medical conditions that will follow and haunt them throughout life. Diabetes, heart disease, and stroke are just a few of the problems these children could face later in life. Childhood Obesity is defined by the Mayo clinic staff (2010) as “a medical condition that occurs when a child is well above the normal weight for his age and height.” weight gain occurs when there is an excess intake of calories above the daily expenditure of energy needed to burn those calories. Sedentary behavior is one cause of this offset. In children sedentary behave becomes a habit that will follow them into adulthood and become a lifestyle that is difficult to shed.
The percentage of obese children in America due to sedentary behavior is directly comparative to the developmental time line and rise in popularity of electronic entertainment media. As gaming consoles, televisions, computers, and cellular telephones have become more, affordable, available and popular with children the sedentary behavior these devises promote has replaced the more physically active play that dominated children’s social lives in the past. Television also has an additional hazard that is often overlooked in obesity studies, advertisements of sugary foods often zero in on children who pressure their parents to supply them with the cereals, fast food and snacks that are then eaten while the child watches the very programming or uses other electronic media that keeps them in a static state where fewer calories are burned.
The Essay on Child Obesity 3
America has it’s share of problems just like any other country throughout the world, but there is one issue in particular that has been a growing trend for years in America. Today’s topic of issue is child obesity, this is a huge problem in America and it seems to continue to grow in numbers. Child obesity is the highlight of my research, but due to lack of time there will only be an explanation ...
It is important that research of this current trend is conducted and analyzed in order to identify the primary causes of sedentary behavior and discover ways to reverse the habits and behaviors that are being formed in American children. If a solution to the problem of childhood obesity is not found in the near future the children that are obese today will face a growing medical crisis as they are beset with the diseases that excessive weight brings.
While there are other primary causes of obesity such as genetic predisposition and medical conditions such as Hypothyroidism that cause weight gain, the preliminary findings of these studies suggest there is a direct correlation between the growth of the electronic media industry and the number of clinically obese children in America. There is also evidence that suggests the research and development departments of electronic media corporations are aware of weight gain caused by the sedentary behavior their devices promote and are attempting to develop new products that use electronic media in more physical ways to get children active again and possibly reverse the trend of rising obesity rates.
METHODS
This research paper studies data from peer reviewed articles in medical journals, and documentation from long term study groups gathered from several reputable sources in the Ashford Library. Sources that where of particular interest include an article by Deutsch, J. (2009) entitled Virtual reality and gaming for rehabilitation written for the Academic journal, Physical Therapy Reviews, also useful was the summary of Victoria Ridouts March 2, 2004 testimony to the Senate Subcommittee on Competition, Infrastructure, and Foreign Commerce. A Hancox & Poultons 2006 article “Watching television is associated with childhood obesity” printed in the International Journal of Obesity was very influential. Other sources of information were gathered from internet sites such as the Mayo clinic, the American Pediatric Association, and some nonprofit organizations that conduct research to trends of the sedentary behavior that is causing excessive weight gain in children. Book sources such as Askew & Wilk (2002) The Anthropology of Media where helpful in comparing the developmental timeline of electronic media with the rising obesity rates over the years in order to show that the percentages of obese children have increased proportionate to the popularity and availability of this type of media.
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RESULTS
The American Academy of Pediatrics (2011) estimates that approximately 30% of the pediatric population (2-19 year olds) has as a BMI of 85% or higher while a report from the American Academy of child & Adolescent Psychiatry (2008) states the numbers are between 16 and 33 percent depending on the area of the country the study is conducted in with Southern states having the highest numbers and Western states having the lowest.
While testifying before a senate subcommittee Ridout (2004) stated, “During the same period in which childhood obesity has increased, there has also been an explosion in media targeted to children”. Her testimony went on to say that Children spend on average 5.5 hours a day using media such as video games computers and television, Children who spend relatively long periods of time using media are more at risk for severe weight gain because of the sedentary nature of these activities. There is also the added factor of advertising aimed at children that promotes item such as sugary cereals, fast food, and other snacks that kids push for their parents to buy when in the stores. It is estimated that see as many as 40 thousand commercials a year. While there have relatively few documented controlled experiments directly comparing children who watch healthy food advertising as opposed to junk food advertising there is a general consensus that children who cut down on the amount of time they spend watching television do not experience as much weight gain as those that watch longer. Mrs. Ridout suggests that a three phase public service campaign that includes reducing the time children spend using media, reducing exposure to food advertising, and increasing support for media-based education can be effective in promoting healthier weight in children. One of her conclusions was “Preventable deaths from obesity may soon outnumber those from smoking.”
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In their executive summary to the Kaiser Foundation Ridout, Roberts & Foehr (2005) explained that through portable media way from home, and in home sources such as television and computers young people have access to an unparalleled amount of media, spending an average of 44.5 hours a week with media. The American Psychological Association (2004) formed a task force the year before that investigated the Advertising effects of these mass media devices on children, one of their conclusions was that “Basic developmental research on egocentrism and perspective taking, along with a great deal of evidence specifically examining developmental differences in the comprehension of persuasive intent within advertisements, establishes clearly that most children younger than 7–8 years of age do not recognize the persuasive intent of commercial appeals.” This means that children under the age of about 8 cannot understand that commercials are biased and only for the purpose of persuading them to influence their parents to buy what are most often unhealthy or non nutritional food products.
A long term study by Hancox & Poulton (2006) assessed a group of children up to the age of 15 in order to determine the impact of television viewing on body mass index (BMI) 1037 Children were assessed at birth and every 2 years from age 3 to 15 with parents estimating average weekly television viewing time. This study found that the percentages of overweight children at all ages was directly associated with average hours spent watching television with Girls having a stronger association than boys. After adjusting for genetic indicators such as parent BMI and socio economic status the associated percentages remained the same. Hancox & Poulton Concluded that “Television viewing should be regarded as an important contributing factor to childhood obesity” because “Time spent watching television is a significant predictor of BMI and overweight in childhood.” They also stated that while the effect is small in comparison to other primary causes of weight gain it is larger than commonly reported for nutritional intake and physical inactivity.
The Essay on Child Obesity 5
Thompson Jordan Topic: Child Obesity and Concerned Parents. A big topic here is because many children are obese. There are ways to fix and overcome these struggles. Parents need to listen up and get some advice for this. Who do we blame here? Research question: Asking how parents can change their kids eating habits. Giving suggestions to parents on what to feed kids. Certain problems that are ...
Daniels (2006) explained in his article, “The Consequences of Childhood Overweight and Obesity” that many adult diseases such as high blood pleasure, hardening of the arteries, type 2 diabetes, liver disease, and disordered breathing during sleep are showing up with more frequency in children who are obese. His article shows how childhood obesity exacerbates the damage caused by these illnesses in adulthood. He states that “Researchers are only gradually becoming aware of the gravity of the risk that overweight and obesity pose for children’s health.” He also notes that future mortality rates caused by these diseases may reverse the modern era trend of longer life expectancy.
While analyzing 3 small trials Daley (2009) concluded that “As physical inactivity and obesity levels continue to rise in young people, it has been proposed that new-generation active computer and video console games (otherwise known as “exergaming”) may offer the opportunity to contribute to young people’s energy expenditure during their free time.” She reported that the results of these studies where mixed and that the energy expended while playing most of these games was minimal at best with only a few games causing players to expend moderate amounts of energy. In no case was the energy expended during video game play the same as that expended playing the actual sport the game simulated
With the invention of the “Brown box” in 1967 and the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972 Ralph Baer ushered in the age of video gaming. Since that time video games systems have come and gone, they have evolved from a simple electronic switch system games like Atari’s Pong in 1975 thru familiar arcade games such as Taito’s Space Invaders in 1978 to the home gaming consoles of today like Nintendo Wii, Xbox and Playstation. While the companies that produce these systems have come and gone, one thing that has remaining consistent is their popularity with the youth of America. By comparing the developmental timeline of these devices with the yearly childhood obesity numbers last published in 2010 by the Center for Disease Controls one can see a direct correlation between the popularity and availability of gaming consoles to the rising numbers of obese children in America.
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A guest editorial written by Judith Deutsch in a 2009 issue of the academic journal Physical Therapy Reviews, suggests that virtual reality and gaming systems such as the Xbox Kinect and the Nintendo Wii, which use movement of the player as the input mechanism for the game, are effective tools for rehabilitation of individuals who have suffered from many ailments and injuries such as stoke, cerebral palsy, and injury to spinal cord to name a few.. While her article did not specifically mention studies of obesity these types of gaming systems force the player to be more physically active which would burn more calories. The Nintendo Wii even has workout programs available. It would be worthwhile to further investigate this avenue as one way to reverse the current trend of obesity in children who spend long periods of time using electronic media.
Conclusion
Over the last thirty years television, computers and gaming consoles have become more affordable and thus more widely available to the masses. In the 1970’s you would be hard pressed to find an 8 year old that regularly played video games on a gaming consoles at home, now you would likely not find one that hasn’t. Children are spending more time using mass media devises such as Portable media, computers, and gaming consoles, these activities along with television and its child targeted food advertisements and the current trends of social networking via computer and cell phone texting are a primary cause of the sedentary behavior that may affect the weight of children. It is essential that the gaming and media community address these issues and continue to develop systems, technology, and programming that promote healthier lifestyles in children. Without new developments in this area the children of today will face increased health risk for diseases like high blood pleasure, diabetes, stroke and heart attack to name a few.
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Exergaming is the newest trend in popular gaming consoles such as Nintendo Wii, Playstation Move, and Xbox Kinect. These newest game programs show an interest in the game manufacturing community to address the issue of obesity, However Daley (2009) concludes that “No adequately powered randomized, controlled trial has been published to date, and no trial has assessed the long-term impact of exergaming on children’s health.” Future long term research in this area is needed; it must include randomized, controlled trials of exergaming that takes into account region and genetic variation as well as the tradeoff between long term health risk from obesity and the sports type injuries that could be caused by more advanced exergame systems.
References
American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry (2008).
Obesity in Children and Teens. Retrieved November 23, 2011, from http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts for families/obesity in children and teens
American Academy of Pediatrics (2011).
What AAP is doing. Retrieved November 22, 2011 from http://www.aap.org/obesity/what.html
American Psychological Association (2004).
Report of the APA task force on advertising and children. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved November 27, 2011 from http://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/advertising-children.pdf.
Baer R. (2005) Videogames: In the Beginning. Springfield, NJ: Rolenta Press. 2005. 280pp.
Daley, A. J. (2009).
Can Exergaming Contribute to Improving Physical Activity Levels and Health Outcomes in Children?. Pediatrics, 124(2), 763-771. retrieved on 10 November 2011 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=113&sid=1b8c092c-7426-4201-a408-7bfae17870bd%40sessionmgr112&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLGNwaWQmY3VzdGlkPXM4ODU2ODk3JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3Qt
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Daniels, S. R. (2006).
The Consequences of Childhood Overweight and Obesity. Future of Children, 16(1), 47-67. retrieved on 10 November 2011 from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/recordDetails.jsp?ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ795881&searchtype=keyword&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&accno=EJ795881&_nfls=false&source=ae
Deutsch, J. (2009).
Virtual reality and gaming for rehabilitation. Physical Therapy Reviews, 14(5), 297-298. Retrieved on 07 November from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=113&sid=1b8c092c-7426-4201-a408-7bfae17870bd%40sessionmgr112&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLGNwaWQmY3VzdGlkPXM4ODU2ODk3JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3Qt
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Hancox, R. J., & Poulton, R. R. (2006).
Watching television is associated with childhood obesity: but is it clinically important?. International Journal Of Obesity, 30(1), 171-175. retrieved on 08 November 2011 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=113&sid=1b8c092c-7426-4201-a408-7bfae17870bd%40sessionmgr112&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLGNwaWQmY3VzdGlkPXM4ODU2ODk3JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3Qt
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Mayo Clinic Staff, (2010) Childhood Obesity definition. Mayo Clinic Health Information. retrieved on 11 November, 2011 from .
Rideout V. (2004) Summary of Testimony Before the Senate Subcommittee on Competition, Infrastructure, and Foreign Commerce. retrieved on 11 November 2011 from http://search.kff.org/gsaresults/search?site=KFForgnopdfs&filter=0&output=xml_no_dtd&client=kff&sp=kff&getfields=*&q=childhood obesity&no_pdf=1
Rideout, V, Roberts D, Foehr U, (2005) Generation M: Media in the lives of 8–18 Year-0lds, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, retrieved on 27 November 2011 from http://www.kff.org/entmedia/upload/Executive-Summary-Generation-M-Media-in-the-Lives-of-8-18-Year-olds.pdf
The Center for Disease Control (2010) U.S. Obesity Trends, Overweight and Obesity retrieved on 27 November 2011 from http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html
The Nemours Foundation, (ND) Overweight and Obesity. Kidshealth for parents, retrieved on 05 November 2011 from http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/body/overweight_obesity.html#
