Television_and_Video_Games

Television and Video Games: Are they connected to childhood obesity' Laura Carranza COM/172 October 6, 2011 Nancy Justiss Television and Video Games: Are they connected to childhood obesity' Children in today’s society are obese because of the increased use of television watching and playing video games, fast food commercials on television, and that parents do not enforce healthy eating habits for their children. Not all video games are bad; the Wii Fit has been promoting exercise and family togetherness to obese children and adults. One reason children are obese is that children tend to stay inside and play video games and watch television for hours on end, rather than stepping outside and enjoying themselves or exercising. The second reason children in today’s society are becoming more obese than they used to be is because of the fast food commercials that are advertised during their children’s programs, such as commercials for a Mc Donald’s happy meal. The final reason for obesity in children is that children’s parents have focus on their own lives, such as working to support their family and are not able to provide or encourage healthy eating habits for their children. Even though video games can be a negative influence for children to sit and play video games all day there are some video games that do have the benefit of exercise. Childhood Obesity Increased Because of Television and Video Games Childhood obesity has increased in today’s society because of the increased amount of time that children watch television and play video games each day. Research directed by the Annenberg Public Policy Center and the Kaiser Family Foundation established that children spend, on average, three to four hours per day watching television. When other “screen media,” such as videogames and computers, are factored into media use time, the number climbs closer to five to seven hours per day. It is also said that children spend more time watching television than they do any other action besides sleeping (AB, 2010). Video Games and Too Much Television Cause Children not to Exercise Some can say that the over use of video games can promote staying inside and not exercising. For some children video games serve as an outlet to fill in free time that they have. Children tend to be immobile when they play video games, which in turn cause children to obtain weight. Overweight children are more inactive and have fewer friends and may find themselves with more free time on their hands. This implies that the use of video games is a result of obesity. Obese children tend to use video games as an outlet for companionship. At times it is not the fault of the child that they are playing video games, but it is the fault of the parents who use video games as a reward or as a distraction so they are able to finishing up what they are doing. For some children that are not getting much needed attention from their parents tend to use video games as an outlet to a fantasy world where the child can be someone he is not and will then receive the attention from the video games that he craves from his parents. Children are becoming obese because they have too much time on their hands and tend to watch more television than they should. According to Chernin (2009) “In addition to affecting the type of foods children eat, television has an impact on how much food they consume. Kids tend to eat more food while watching TV than during other activities. Researchers have proposed that watching TV interferes with our bodies’ signals that we’re full. In other words, children become so engrossed in what they’re watching that they don’t realize they’ve had enough to eat” p. 30). Childhood Obesity and Fast Food Commercials Children in society are obese because of the increased fast food commercials televised during the programs that he or she watches. One reason that could prove that fast food commercials are to blame for obese children is that in a study taken in Pediatrics for Parents (Chernin, 2009) in one-year our children watch 7600 fast food commercials, which is roughly 50 hours. By children watching this many commercials in one year there is an increase in the preference of the advertised food. Fast Food Commercials Targeted Toward Children Unhealthy fast food commercials that children watch are influential to them and are making them want to eat unhealthy food. For instance a child see’s a commercial of a happy meal at Mc Donald’s that emphasizes that fact that he or she will get a toy with his or her meal, this will make children want to eat the happy meal to get the toy. McDonald’s has done a masterful job when it comes to advertising. They are using characters that children know and love to sell its unhealthy fast food. Among others, McDonald’s has employed Winnie-the-Pooh, 101 Dalmatians, Nemo, Furby, Tarzan, and Beanie Babies to sell its Happy Meals (“The Fast Food Trap: How Commercialism Creates Overweight Children,” 2003). A ban on these commercials would reduce the number of obese young children by 18%, and the number of obese older kids by 14%, researchers found (“Fast Food TV Ads Linked to Child Obesity, Study Finds,” 2008). In today’s television commercials Carl’s Jr. directs their advertising toward a different demographic young teenage and college teenage men with trendy and sexualized imagery and messages that target men's supposed desire for large, meat-filled burgers and rich, satisfying food. According to Wikipedia (n.d.), “In 2005, for example, Carls' Jr. debuted a controversial ad featuring a bikini-clad Paris Hilton writhing sensuously on an expensive Bentley luxury car while enjoying a large burger. The ad provoked outrage from a number of groups, but Carl's Jr. sales climbed impressively” (para. 4). Children want these unhealthy foods, which is causing them to become overweight and less energetic. Junk Food in Commercials and Schools Junk food is advertised in schools and commercials, which make children want the food more than if they didn’t see them advertised. The Coca Cola and Pepsi companies bought the advertising rights to promote their soda’s through the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone movie (“The Fast Food Trap: How Commercialism Creates Overweight Children,” 2003). Product placement has served as a perfect outlet for junk food companies to advertise their foods and drinks to children because children are watching his or her favorite characters in commercials eating junk food it is making children want to eat the food advertised in the commercials. When the movie E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial featured E.T. eating Reese’s Pieces, sales of the candy shot up 65% (“The Fast Food Trap: How Commercialism Creates Overweight Children,” 2003). Parents No Longer Enforce Healthy Eating Habits Children in today’s society are obese because their parents are no longer enforcing healthy eating habits for their children. Parents are the people who enforce the rules in the household, so they are the people who buy the food their children eat, such as unhealthy snacks. The adults in the child’s life are the bread winners of the family which means he or she is not able to cook a healthy balanced meal. By the parents having to work it is more likely that food will be eaten more than two times a week. Unfortunately, if the parents are obese, it is more likely that their child will be overweight. Another reason children are becoming obese is that their parents are obese, which means that obesity can be hereditary. With parents having a hectic work schedule he or she is mostly likely to sit and vegetate than go outside and work out. This means that adults are not going to teach their children to go outside and play or encourage them to play video games that do promote exercise. Benefits to Video Games Even though some video games can promote laziness there are some that can promote health and fitness. The Wii Fit is one of the video games out right now that promotes fitness for the player. With the Wii Fit the player uses a hand-held controller that can relay the player’s actual movements or use pressure sensitive balance boards where a player must change position to control his or her screen character. The simulation game is designed to get the player standing, twisting, throwing, and punching. According to Hancock (2008) “A study in the journal Pediatrics in January 2007 tested two groups of children, 15 of normal weight and 10 who were mildly obese. Both groups of children were tested in a variety of states: sitting and watching TV, playing a traditional video game, playing two active exergames, and watching TV while walking on a treadmill. What researchers found was that although watching TV and playing traditional video games burned the same amount of energy, exergaming that involved ball catching burned three times as many calories in both groups. Walking on the treadmill while watching TV also tripled caloric burning in the leaner children, but it increased five times in the mildly obese group. The heaviest energy burner for both groups was an exergame that involved dancing. The obese group burned over six times more energy dancing than sitting and watching TV ” (p. 78). The Nintendo's Wii Fit can combine yoga, strength training, balance and aerobics. The game can be used to promote physical activities for adults and children. The Wii Fit promotes exercise to the player, and it is more likely for the player to increase his or her energy. Since the Wii Fit is in proximity, rather than going to the gym, there is a likelihood that the child will be more active because it is easier for the child to get to the game console. Not only is the Wii Fit a good exercising tool, but it promotes family togetherness instead of the whole family sitting down in front of the television being lazy and just watching it the Wii Fit has multiple players so the whole family can join in on the fun. Conclusion Children in today’s society are obese because of the increased use of television watching and playing video games, fast food commercials on television, and that parents do not enforce healthy eating habits for their children. Not all video games are bad; the Wii Fit has been promoting exercise and family togetherness to obese children and adults. Watching more than two hours of television and playing video games, which led to sitting down for more than two hours, can increase the chances of children becoming obese. Fast food commercials that promote unhealthy foods are one cause of children becoming obese. Parents are no longer enforcing healthy eating habits for their children. Not all video games are a bad influence for children becoming obese; there is the Wii Fit that promotes exercising and family togetherness. With the provided information can the blame be put on fast food commercials or unhealthy snack food manufacturers or does the blame come down to the parents' References AB, J. (2010, September). Children's Television Viewing and Childhood Obesity. Periodic Annals, 39(9), 569-73. Chernin, A (2009, Summer). Television Viewing and Childhood Overweight: Evidence and Explanations. Pediatrics for Parents, 25(7/8), 29-31. Fast Food TV Ads Linked to Child Obesity, Study Finds. (2008, November). Associated Press, (), Retrieved from http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,455028,00.html Hancock, M. (2008, September). Say "Wii" to Weight Loss. Alive: Canada's Natural Health & Wellness Magazine, (311), 78-81 The Fast Food Trap: How Commercialism Creates Overweight Children. (2003, October). Commercial Alert, (), . Retrieved from http://www.commercialalert.org/issues/health/childhood-obesity/the-fast-food-trap-how-commercialism-creates-overweight-children