WHAT the...??!! Watching tons of TV and Internet is BAD for your kids health? Who knew?
The Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health just published a study that looked at nearly 30 years of research on how television, music, movies and other media affect the lives of children and adolescents.
Can you guess the results?
They found an "array of negative health effects linked to greater use." Specifically, it found strong connections between the amount of media exposure and problems of childhood obesity, tobacco use, early sexual behavior, increased drug and alcohol use, low academic achievement and my personal favorite, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).
In all, 173 research studies were injected, inspected, detected, infected, neglected, and selected (for all you old-timers, guess that homage and win a prize) and brought together in what is the first comprehensive view of the subject. 'Bout time, eh?
According to the report, the average American sprung-from-the-loins darling spends a whopping 45-plus hours a week ...that's nearly 7 hours a DAY:
1) Watching TV: mostly 'reality' and MTV ...uh where's the MUSIC vid?
2) On The Internet: porn and useless garbage like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
3) Playing Video Games: like "Car Theft & Rape Bitches IV", "Soul-Death Gurgle 9", and Weii -fake activity)
4) On Their Cellphones: like, who wants to talk when there's unlimited texts, duh!
5) Listening to Music: gotta have that 24/7 to drown out any 'thoughts' whatever they are ...whatEVER!
6) At The Movies: good ones, like "Disturbia" and "Staple My Own Penis to My Leg III"
7) Scanning Magazines: last on the list of course ...'cause they require ...READING!.
By comparison, children spend 30 hours a week in school, and just 17 hours a week with their parents, which may be a good thing considering some of the parents out there.
"We need to factor that in as we consider our social policies and as parents think about how they raise their kids," said lead researcher Ezekiel J. Emanuel, referring to the results of the study. YA THINK!!?? "We tend not to think of this as a health issue, and it is a health issue."
YES, IT IS. A growing young body and developing mind requires PHYSICAL ACTIVITY. Guess what you get when you combine endless hours of MINDLESS, FASCINATED attention, no MOVEMENT, all washed down with a 32oz Big Gulp of HIGH OCTANE-CAFFEINE BOOSTED HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP?
How about a DULL mind that can't concentrate, a FAT body that can't move, and enough pent-up, spastic ENERGY to burn down a large metropolis. Of course, you can come up with an easy-to-dispense name for it, "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder" so that you can easily dispense RITALIN or some other mind-numbing drug. My remedy? Have Johnny dig a ditch, fill it in, read Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self-Reliance" dig the ditch and fill it in again, read, repeat. I'm not kidding.
These kids needs to EXPEND energy to the point of EXHAUSTION so that they can learn how much more they can push themselves in every way. Plus, only then does the body/mind RELAX enough to be present in life. True for us adults, too.
"It's as important (knowing what media your kid is watching) as going to their parent-teacher conferences or going over their report cards," says James P. Steyer, chief executive of Common Sense Media, publisher of the study. I say it might even be as important as equating this media-garbage with your kid hanging out with "Moondoggy Rico" at the corner who says' he's, "just a friend."
Steyer continues, "You have to know what Facebook is, and YouTube and MySpace and Twitter are, even though you grew up with 'Gilligan's Island' and 'All in the Family.' "
I didn't watch too much 'Gilligan' (I'm a "Maryanne" guy, "Ginger" was too HM ..probably tells a lot about me) but did love Lear's 'Family' ..at least WAY more than parent-teacher night. For the first 6-8 years of their lives, I didn't allow my girls ANY TV at all. And luckily didn't have to worry about The Internet and it's iSpawn, back then, either. They read ...a LOT. They're pretty smart young adults now. I call them to fix my compu-problems.
But it's not only visual media. The idea of running around plugged into non-stop acoustical wallpaper NEVER made sense to me; why run outdoors if you can't HEAR the outdoors, even in an urban environment? I just love it when some putz jogger with an ear-full of "Eye of the Tiger" steps off the curb without looking and I have to risk a head-on with oncoming traffic because he DIDN'T HEAR ME!
Plus, these mini ear-speakers cranked up to '11' and only millimeters from the ear-drum are doing permanent damage to these kids ears. It may be problematic of a lack of communication between parent and child: the kid is tuning out by turning on the iPod. A concerned parent may want to find out why.
Media just didn't figure that much until phones went tonal, turned into faxes, then beepers, then mobile phones the size of a WWII walkie -talkies, then Al Gore invented the Internet so that we moved quickly from cumbersome desktops to laptops ...and now the line between cell and computer is blurred as Crackberrys and iPhones rule the world. I must admit, I teared up when my 'personal' text from the President-Elect on election night thanked ME for supporting him seconds after Ohio went Blue ...signed simply, 'Barak.'
But it's not just the TIME spent on this stuff; researchers found it notable how much CONTENT mattered. "Our kids are sponges, and we really need to remember they learn from their environment," said coauthor Cary P. Gross, professor at Yale School of Medicine. Children "pick up character traits and behaviors" from those they watch or hear," he said. In probing childhood obesity, for example, researchers found 73 studies over the past three decades, with 86 percent showing a negative association with media exposure. Kudos to those those "Hot Pocket" and "Crystal Light" marketing geniuses.
Unfortunately, for many people of limited means, media is the cheapest babysitter available. But even for them, it's no excuse for not parenting ...this is about the kids HEALTH. This lack of media supervision is really a type of child-abuse, and the data proves it.
As in ALL health-related issues, regardless of age, one's consciousness plays a vital role in sickness. What you don't know, can KILL you. Educating your kids and YOURSELF and putting WELLNESS STRATEGIES TO DE-STRESS in place in your lives will make the difference, because all ILLNESS comes from DIS-EASE.
Your Unplugged, Media-Balanced, Creating a Nuisance Health Nut,Dr Lou
Lifetime Wellness Chiropractic 333 S Beverly Dr Beverly Hills, CA 90212
310-282-7100 www.drLou.org drfabale@gmail.com
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