Analysis_of_Child_Obesity_Correlated_with_Television

   Analysis of Role of Television in Childhood Obesity Prevention In the International Journal of Obesity the article "Role of Television in Childhood Obesity Prevention," was written by Caroli, claiming that television is hindering children from physical activities, which is the cause of the rapid upward slope of childhood obesity. Caroli provides reasons that are supported by previous scientific studies that give facts such as: time spent watching television and being obese are positively correlated, the exposure of unhealthy stimulations in terms of food intake when watching television. Her purpose of presenting data conducted in several studies is to affirm and inform that television hinderers from physical activity and can lead to obesity at a young age and health risks. Caroli's argument is directed towards expecting parents and parents seeing the cause and effect of a lot of television on their child. Even though that television could be used a beneficial tool if used in the correct way, children need physical activity to remain healthy as they grow strong and old because data showed correlates to an upward slope of television and childhood obesity and exposure of unhealthy commercials will influence unhealthy eating. The layout for this journal article was well structured and every claim had a research study to support and give credibility to why it's important to store good habits early in children and how to change the current lifestyle to prevent health risk later in life. This informative argument uses facts, reasons, and builds credibility by referring to credentials that establish her facts on correlation between television and childhood obesity. Caroli's first point in her theisis statement was "time spent watching television and being obese are positively correlated" is presented by two studies: the first study showed the cause and effect amongst Reid 2 the different age groups are cross-sectional. The second study dealing with correlation to tv and obesity was conducted by Gortmaker who found a statistic association between the number of hours spent in front of television during childhood was 4.6 times greater for subjects who watched tv for more than 5 hours a day compared to those who watched for 0-1 hours. Between the two studies conducted on time spent watching tv and obesity, the first study lacked a lot of logical proof and could 've been stronger if data and statistics were included, which would have made the information from study more sound and trusted like the second study. Overall the claim uses an abundance of logos by stating facts and the explanations about the two researches, but in order to make her point more sound and effective she could have included data and more statistical documentation from the beginning of study until the end with numbers and graphs showing how it correlated against (x) time spend watching tv and (y) the rate at which they gained weight. The argument of sign was presented to be the more tv watched the more obese one would become. Ethos was presented in the form of argument authority by Caroli describing and providing the credentials of the factual evidence that were used to support her claims. Caroli's second point in her argument "the exposure of unhealthy stimulations in terms of food intake when watching television "is supported dominantly by logos all throughout this section in her article. She states that food shown during commercials don’t meet the criteria of healthy nutrition which influences kids to say "I want that". Another form of influence by commercials on tv is through characters (human/cartoons) eating snacks and not complete meals, and drinking soft drinks and/or alcohol, instead of water. This particular statement through me off, because the overall article is to be on the role of Childhood obesity prevention why would a child be affected by seeing alcohol present in commercial or television series' This would be considered a red herring, misleading evidence that pulls audience away from real argument, because it has nothing to do with the argument. Logos is very strong in the paper and somewhat strong in this section of the argument that the fallacy didn’t hinder it too much, but the author needs to be careful of throwing facts that don’t pertain to argument, because she will lose credibility throughout the rest of the paper. Included in the unhealthy stimulations was a couple of Reid 3 sentences on the ideal body shape of characters is thin. Thin and tall almost always equals a positive hero, and fat equates funny. Even though this might be true in many ways, but how does this relate to the topic there are not studies or facts to back up that children even think this deeply when watching television. I feel this was a personal lets inform about the ideal body type, which isn't corresponding to the flow of content of programs watched by children. Caroli could have had good intentions for stating about body image, but without her elaborating nor included statistics to show further correlation it leaves the reader confuse as to what her goal is . Caroli states a lot of facts that are cited from experts and beneficial to her overall claim, but doesn't back it up with supporting claims that would help strengthen her argument. Lastly, in respond to content correlation she mentions a study done on including health information in shows, soap operas' scripts and entertainment programs could be efficient in terms of raising awareness of specific health. The research study would be very helpful to the environment, but once again no statistical data is shown for us to determine if this study is effective enough to petition something like this to happen; studies need to be credited more to make the points stronger, believable and trusted. Caroli seems to fall short in building reliability by not providing a massive amount of support after stating a reason to support her main thesis. Shockingly a motivational proof, an urge for the audience to meet an identified need, was entered into the text when referring to slimming product and how that could be the second route taken if correct dietary solutions are not successful. By taking a weight loss pill for a certain amount of days you will be irresistible to yourself and others. When writing this essay, Caroli keeps in mind her relationship to the reader and how she is there to inform of the latest studies about how television and its different tangents correspond to obesity to make us believe too much television is the main cause of obesity. The appeal of pathos is used less frequently then logos and ethos, but is very affective to women and men with the experience of loosing weight by attempting the second step slimming product method mentioned previously. Although the essay presented its claim and was supported with facts, data or statistical information it could have been more comprehensive. There were some facts and stats that were included in this Reid 4 article that served a purpose, but didn’t seem needed to support and make the claim of the essay. Therefore, in order for the author to proceed on the right foot she should consider revising and narrowing down the information to focus on the more relevant areas to the thesis and main claims. The results of a revision would make the argument stronger and less perplex for the reader to comprehend. Including results from previous studies that correlated to her thesis was beneficial, but the use of statistics and facts lacked the most when presenting her case studies. Included in the case studies should have been more positive outcomes with comparing correlations against one another to show the increase or decrease of outcome, without important facts the reader has no way of telling if the studies are accurate enough to believe her overall belief that obesity is caused by television . The argument as a whole used logos, ethos and pathos which helped to serve the article’s purpose of stating her claim and defending her thesis. Reid 5 Work Cited Caroli, M. “International Journal of Obesity- Abstract of Article: Role of Television in Childhood Obesity Prevention.” Nature Publishing Group: Science Journals, Jobs, and Information. 2004. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. .