For the first current event I have chosen a recent article called “Not All Screens Are Equal When It Comes to Obesity Risk: TV May Have Greatest Effect” written by Bonnie Rochman.
The article focuses on how TV contributes to overweight in comparison to other forms of media such as video games.
Here is the link to the website:
A
study by Pediatrics found some
surprising differences among televisions, computers and other tools such as
smartphones and iPads and their relationship to obesity of children.
The
result of the study was that only television and especially, paying the most attention to
its programs are associated with heavier children.
In
another study of young adolescents several shocking results were found,
14-year-old boys who claimed to pay the most of their attention to what was actually
screened on television weighed 14.2 lb., which is more than boys who claimed
paying the least attention. Moreover, for girls, the weight was
13.5 lb.
The
next study was conducted by Boston Children’s Hospital and it took a look at
what kinds of media 91 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 15 use the most
and how they use them. Researchers also recorded the height and weight of the respondents and calculated their BMI – body mass
index. The result they found was that the adolescents spent more than three
hours daily watching television, which is more time than they spent with any
other tool/screen. Also, the teenagers who paid the most attention to the
programs on TV had the highest BMI. On the other hand, paying the same
attention to computer or video games was not connected to weight gain.
This
article also supports the point I made in the essay, that the product placement
plays an important role in television programs. Children and adolescents are
constantly surrounded with advertising for unhealthy food and beverages - they are attracted to pay attention to what is on the screen, while
their hands are free to allow them to munch.
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