2011 Active Healthy Kids Report

Technology throughout the past 30-40 years has become more advanced and accessible than ever. The television specifically has developed extremely since its beginning. What started off as a single camera caption, has developed into a full fledge worldwide availability. Within the United States, the TV is a normal everyday object common in households, hotels, schools, and even restaurants. There are approximately 118.4 million household in the United States that own a television set ( The Number of TV Households in the United States from season 2000-2001 to season 2016-2017 (in millions)).However, the increased amount of time spent watching TV has had a tremendous impact on people, especially kids. The differences in generations throughout the development of the TV has led to many questions, all revolving around whether or not the televisions has had a good or negative impact pertaining to children. Time spent watching television affects the brain, ability to learn, and skill levels in different areas (source. In the book “Last Child in The Woods,” Richard Louv discusses how children in the 1940’s would watch out the window at the scenery and have conversations, while children now sit and watch a movie on a flip-down video screen without knowledge to the outside world (Louv 16-17).

The average American child watches 20 hours of television per week, that is 5,000 hours before first grade. Most children between the ages of 3-6 years old can even turn on the television and start a DVD by themselves. I am guilty of allowing my children more TV time then they should have, but I guess that is because I enjoy watching it myself. There are many hidden messages in children’s shows that I was oblivious to until now. For instance, in the show “Rugrats” Charlotte Pickles, Angelica’s mom never had time for her, always on the phone and working. Ethnic stereotyping is another message sent in Speedy Gonzalez’s cousin Slow Poke Rodriguez which is lazy, slow, and dim witted. Morality is also affected by these shows. Most every little boy

Numerous studies have concluded that the content and amount of television programming watched by individuals – especially by children - has a direct result on the behavior of that individual. The behavior affected by television viewing can be anything from a desire for a certain food or material good to violent distemper (Zuckerman 1985.) Recently, more and more woman have given up their traditional role of raising their children opting instead to work during the day and leave their children to take care of themselves. Unfortunately, many children find that spending countless hours in front of the television to be a worthwhile way to entertain themselves. Most parents tell their children never to talk to strangers, but what they fail to realize is that every day their children are subject to the messages and ideas of strangers on the television. In fact, a study concluded that an average American by the age of 18 has spent more time watching television than they have spent in school; this study also went on the state that children spend more time watching television than any other activity besides sleeping. This may explain why an additional study revealed that if a child was told something by his or her parents and then viewed on television something that contradicted what the parents had said, four times out of five the child opted to believe the

These problems can be connected to television because in the modern age screens sap away the majority of Americans’ time, leading to the neglect of exercise and an absence of stimulating brain activity; this is best reiterated in the quote, “A report released by research firm ChildWise suggests that…children spend more time in front of a screen in one day than they spend exercising in the entire week” (Thomas 2011 n.p). The first way that television can negatively impact American health is that it has been proven to be a prominent reason for the rise of obesity. “Researchers…found children who watched just one hour of television a day were 50 to 60 percent more likely to be overweight and 58 to 73 percent more likely to be obese, compared to kids who watched less than an hour” (Olson 2015 n.p). With weight issues, however, Americans are at higher risks to develop even worse problems such as cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, prediabetes, diabetes, bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, cancer, osteoarthritis, stroke, multiple myeloma, and Hodgkin’s lymphoma (CDC 2015 n.p). Along with physical health complications come mental difficulties that can be traced back to television as well. According to the latest scientific studies done by neuroscientists in Japan, “Brain imaging (MRI) shows anatomical changes inside children’s brains after prolonged TV

Through the easy accessibility of technology, the media is able to have a detrimental effect on the young people in America. According to Tiffany Rush- Wilson, Skills Development Coordinator of Counseling Programs at Walden University, the media places a greater emphasis on having the perfect body and looking thin in today’s society. This in turn causes obese children to feel negative about themselves which leads them to eat even more (Rush-Wilson 3). Technological advances have also promoted laziness through gaming systems like the Xbox. The glorification of sitting on a sofa firing pixelated guns at pixelated soldiers has been added to the list of hobbies enjoyed by children in the twenty first century. The television has also been linked to childhood obesity. Tom Robinson from the Division of General Pediatrics and Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention uses an experiment to show the positive correlation between the two factors:

Our advisory was invited again to volunteer at YMCA since we did such a successful and fun job last time for the Healthy Kids Day event in April. For this community service, we helped set up a talent show they were hosting. This show was where kids had been preparing for weeks to this day. The kids got to sing, dance, and just mess around. While the kids were partying, the volunteers were at stations where the kids could create things. One station was for crafting with pencils, one was for creating grape caterpillars, and the last one was for serving people popcorn and drinks which was the one I worked at. The kids were very hungry because four pounds of popcorn was all gone before the show started. Four pounds is a lot especially since popcorn

Television ads are arguably the most influential form of advertisement for fast food chains considering the fact that there 115.6 million TV homes in the United States, and over half of these homes have at least three TV’s. Today’s children spend on average of 44.5 hours a week in front of some type of screen whether its computer, TV or cellphone. More than any other activity in their lives other than sleeping (American Physiological Association). It has been discovered that children under the age of eight have difficulties telling apart programming and advertising and do not understand the persuasive techniques used on them, making them the main target for fast food companies. By incorporating famous people in TV commercials, people of all ages are tricked into thinking that if they copy the actions of the famous than it is acceptable to give

In Growing Up With Television: Cultivation Process, Morgan, Shanahan and Signorielli assert that “long-term exposure to television tends to cultivate the image of a relatively mean and dangerous world (Morgan et al., 2009).” Rooted in the amount of time spent consuming content, the mean world syndrome is central to Gerber’s Cultivation Theory, or Effect. The theory states that they are viewing habits range from light to medium to heavy. Although subjective, the amount of time spent consuming content is a key component of cultivation effect. Morgan et al., noted that “the relative difference in viewing levels are more important than the specific amount of viewing (Morgan et al, 2009).”

(Benjamin, G. C.,2008). This researcher stated that many children who live close to school are not walking to school or using their bicycle, instead they are relying on parents to take them to school. Parents are relying on automobiles to take their children to school. Benjamin Georges also stated that the lack of access to fresh foods has lead to childhood obesity and health disparities in low income communities. The American Public Health Association along with other partners are raising awareness on children's health and the relationship it has to the environment. The change they talk about is working together as a community in creating healthier environments.

Some negative health outcomes are attributed to television. There is that of becoming the “couch potato”, many of us base television around our lives, and some of us get lazy and spend too much time watching television which can result in health problems. Not only is watching too much TV and being sedentary a bad thing, but the overwhelming amount of advertising and marketing that we see on television causes an increase in intake of a range of unhealthy products. Each hour per day increases the risk of developing diabetes by 3.4%. A variety of other potential behavioral and physical effects exist such as poorer social relationships, less

This view is supported by Webster-Stratton who described television as “rendering children passive” and referred to research indicating that excessive exposure to television and computers “place children at risk for harmful effects on their physical, social and psychological development”. As a way of mitigating this, she suggests watching television or computer games with the child in order to address any issues that might arise or to identify inappropriate content (2006, p234-236).

When it comes to advertising on the television makes children obsessed with wanting to eat fast food on a daily basis. According to the text, “product preferences affect children's product purchase requests and these requests influence parents' purchasing decisions”. This shows that by showing advertisements, the children are amused by how advertisements are, so the parents get convinced to buy their kids that fast food. Another example from the text is, “it’s not just that TV watching encourages youngsters to be less physically active, but it also exposes them to food advertisements that contribute to develop poor eating

Television can affect learning and school performance if it exceeds the time kids need for their crucial for healthy physical and mental development. Most of children's free time, especially during the early development years, should be spent in activities such as playing, reading, exploring nature, learning about music or participating in sports. Research has shown that children's exposure to television during the preschool years is predictive of academic outcomes during adolescence. The most notable lesson about this

A major research concern for behavioral psychologists and sociologists today circles an integral part of the American family routine and life. Something that has become so inset into homes that it would be rare to find one without it. Research has shown a hidden danger lurking in our homes, and the origin may surprise you. Television has been around since the early 1950’s but behaviorists have just recently begun to start studying the effects these machines may have on children, social interaction and families. Research has begun to show negative consequences of television on children’s development and socialization proving that it does reduce and affect social interaction.

There is no doubt that when it comes to American youth television is one of the biggest influences by far. Many parents would love to say that their child does not watch that much TV but in reality they are spending a lot of time watching television or using media in some way. “The study by the Kaiser Family foundation shows that children ages 2-8 spend an average of 5 ½ hours a day “consuming media” kids 8 and older spend even more time in front of the tube nearly 6 ¾ hours a day” (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005 ). Astonishingly, more time is being spent with media then doing homework, studying or even spending time with family. A child’s retention of what