Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Physical Points

Reading about how much screen time a child should be able to watch makes me want to get up and do something active. I mean that your brain is affected by too much screen time. That is true according to Marie Winn. Winn is known for books on drugs and since the television is called the plug-in drug she wrote a book about every aspect of the TV.  The book is titled The Plug-In Drug and the chapter that I'm going to focus on is about the effects that it has on the human body. She talks about the physical effects on children. In fact the whole chapter is just about children’s health. I agree with Winn when she says "I blame it on all of the 'educational' shows and how kids are learning from what they are seeing on the screen." There are more and more education devices that are trying to teach children their ABC's and 123's. Also how to get along and play nicely with others are more educational shows' main points. That is where the problem comes in. The best way to learn how to work nice with one another is to play a game or read a book together. Not only will you be teaching your children the facts that they will need for the rest of their life, but it will also raise their metabolism. Metabolism is the amount of activity that you can handle without getting overly tired. It also affects your metabolic rate. The metabolic rate is a state that a body goes into when he or she is asleep. Children of all ages go into a low metabolic rate when they are watching the TV, playing a video game, watching a movie, talking on the phone too long, or on a computer. That makes you gain weight and want to be less active for the rest of the day. It also can make you tired, grumpy, or angry toward everyone from the interruption from your screen, also known as your awake nap. That is why it is not good for children to have screen time right before they go to sleep. There are some other health issues that Winn states in her book as well. They are having lower back pain, sleeping disorders and they could end up with diabetes for the lack of exercise. The lower back pain is from sitting too long and your tail bone begins to hurt. Not all of the time you sit up while watching TV, sometimes children like to lay on the couch. Sleeping disorders can come from something that they saw that makes them scared therefore they do not want to go to sleep. Also the sleeping disorders are linked to the metabolic rate as well. The diabetes is linked to the lack of exercise that the child would be having. Winn says it best "Don't have a screen for a babysitter, pass time, or a relaxer to fall to sleep and you will have well behaved kids who go to sleep on time." I like that statement because I see that in my own life with my younger siblings. If they get permission to stay up later than normal to watch a show that is on TV, they tend to stay up one or two hours after the show is over due to the metabolic rate disorder. The following post is about the reaction of children when they have a screen in front of them.

Winn, Marie. "A Changed State of Consciousness." 1977. The Plug-In Drug:
     Television, Computers, and Family Life. 25th Anniversary ed. New York:
     Penguin Group, 2002. 16-25. Print.

2 comments:

  1. I hear on the radio about how Americans are becomming more overweight than they ever have. This should wake up the parents who use the tv or video games to pass time. also yes it has somthing to do with how much running time they do along with eating habbits that are healthy. but you have brought up a good point on way some kids look the way that they do.

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  2. people are overweigh because they over eat, have water build up and wemon have had children. at the same time people are to skinny from not eating enough, keepind food down, exersing too much, and having surgery to get rid of extra body fat. Children are no different and nither is hollywood. just the other day on of the mothers at church told me that her daughter told her that her legs are to fat. this child is 8 and weigh 65lbs at most. there is no way that she could even have anything on her legs let alone fat one. and the hollywood thing demi lavato and mary-kate olson have both gone to rehab for too thin and other things as well. If i did not just prove a point i don't know what will.

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