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Children, Television and Obesity

            Television has a huge influence on children. Over the past decades, more and more young children are sitting in front of the television for extended periods of time, and the increasing obsession with TV has been found to be directly related to weight gain. In 2003, a longitudinal study that followed children from preschool to adolescence was conducted by the Framingham Child's study. They concluded that children who watched more than three hours of television a day, on average, had gained more weight than children who watch less than an hour and a half a day. This is detrimental to the development of obesity in America. .
             Television is also less aimed toward family programming now than it was twenty years ago. More children are subjected to adult content which could influence their behavior later in life. An article written by Alcohol Health and Research World concluded that adolescents who were subjected to commercials advertising alcohol were more likely to start underage drinking than those who were not. The amount of television and what children are exposed to has a lot to do with their health and who they will be later in life. One thing that has dramatically changed the world in the last few years is the World Wide Web. People have all the information they could ever need right at their fingertips which is not necessarily a good thing, especially when some children are able to dictate what they do on their computers. .
             Children may not realize that what they do behind a computer screen really can have devastating consequences. There are 18% of children who use chat rooms, video chat, and other methods of message. All of those children is more liable to encounter a child predator who seeks to create a relationship with an unsuspecting juvenile. Another negative effect the internet may have is that the information an adolescent may view might be falsified. The information on the Internet is uncontrolled and there is no way to check its reliability or how acceptable references are.


Essays Related to Children, Television and Obesity

1. Childhood Obesity

... , food consumption in front of the television, food advertising, or a combination of them all that promotes obesity (Finan, 14). Obviously, obesity is lowest among children who watch less television and greater for those who watch more television. Everyday millions of children sit in front of the television. Barney baby sits children everyday. The sedentary forms of entertainment available to children today are slowly killing them. Children and teens are exposed to hundreds of ... food commercials. Sitting and watching these commercials promotes snacking, and snacking promotes obesity (C...

  • Word Count: 1330
  • Approx Pages: 5

2. Causes of Childhood Obesity

... in our country have fast food restaurants within the cafeteria which is a major result of the obesity epidemic here in the United States. Finally, another cause of childhood obesity is the availability of technologic devices and children's addiction with gaming and watching television. In 2013 the CDC website reported that children between the ages of 8-18 "spend an average of 7.5 hours a day using entertainment media, including ... television, computers, video games, cell phones, and movies"( Childhood Obesity Causes & Consequences 2013, para 4). Roughly half were spent viewing ... ...

  • Word Count: 842
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. Contributing Factors of Childhood Obesity

... of childhood obesity are multi-factorial. Obesity in children is caused by a lack of physical activity, unhealthy eating habits, media and marketing campaigns, adverse family conditions, stress and the availability of technology. Most Americans agree that childhood obesity is more prevalent today than ever before. If you look into the bedroom of an average American child you find video games, a computer, usually a television and possibly some ... replaced with games being played on the Play Station, Xbox or Wii. It is estimated that children in the United States are spending at least twe...

  • Word Count: 1726
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Obesity In Children

... local McDonalds, or stuffing themselves with potato chips, ice cream and cookies during long sessions of television watching. As time progresses, our children are becoming less active and healthy, and more into television's couch potatoes, mindlessly eating whatever junk food is accessible. Obesity is defined as an excessive accumulation of body fat. Obesity is present when the total body weight is more than ... twenty-five percent fat in boys, and more than thirty-two percent fat ... with friends, kids now play inside. The favorite games they play now include a hand-held controller atta...

  • Word Count: 2601
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Has Bibliography

5. Childhood and Adolescent Obesity

... a computer and it's during these times that children snack more on foods dense in sugar consuming larger than average portion sizes. With this sedentary activity comes the role of television advertisements for energy and sugar filled foods that influence children and parents to make unhealthy choices when it comes to food consumption which can lead to weight gain and obesity. The ... environmental factors are considered those factors that are constantly around the child or children and influence their food consumption and physical activity or lack thereof. There ... the benefits are wor...

  • Word Count: 2886
  • Approx Pages: 12
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. Why Have Obesity Trends Increased in the United States?

... our health. The Center for the Advancement of Health found in one of its studies that the amount of time spent watching TV has been strongly associated with weight gain and obesity. The Cincinnati Children's Medical Center concluded from one of its recent studies {where are the source citations or footnotes here?} that ... . This is a clear indication that children and possible adults are watching too much television and are deteriorating their health as result of television's encouragement of physical inactivity. Television viewing promotes sedimentary behavior which allows for a build ...

  • Word Count: 2360
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. The Obesity Epidemic

... as to why obesity is a major problem in the United States is because of poor nutritional advertisements targeting young children, and people being uneducated on nutritional facts and exercise. People lacking the resources to inform themselves on issue, such as money to buy nutritional food, are at a greater risk to the epidemic. At a young age, children are targeted by television advertisements for ... numerous products: toys, movies, and, of course, food. At such a vulnerable age, children are very easy to manipulate. Companies use child friendly characters, to target children, in order...

  • Word Count: 2276
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Obesity

... Americans alone spend 80-100 billion dollars on weight-loss tactics annually. However, about one-third of the America's population is extremely over-weight and out of that one out of seven children ages 6-17 is considered obese. Obesity in teens has also sky rocketed over the last century. According to the health department's Healthy People 2000 standards, one out of five ... high in fat and calories. Researches have found that inactivity is most likely to blame. Weight control involves balancing food intake with the energy burned in everyday activities. Although diet is a factor, low le...

  • Word Count: 1414
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Obesity: Who's to Blame?

... TV is marketed toward children. Advertisements for junk food and fast-food increases the desire for these type of unhealthy foods. Most people can agree that childhood obesity is a problem. Further research done by Strasburger shows that media is a major contributor to the obesity epidemic. Four specific causes found by him are first, time spent in front of the television means less time that ... research found that 80 percent of all advertisements for children's programs are for snacks or fast-foods. Third, people often snack while watching programs on TV. The fourth cause is that watch...

  • Word Count: 1794
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

10. The American Epidemic of Obesity

... the same. As explained by Gere (1998, p. 20) "In growing children, in whom weight and height are both changing (and at different rates), the definition of obesity is inherently more complicated". Although no universally agreed on standard exists for assessing overweight and obesity in children and adolescents, there is a growing consensus that BMI should be adopted as an ... decades in the United States, activity associated with work and home life has declined over the same period. Sedentary behavior and "inactivity," such as watching television and playing video/computer games, also are...

  • Word Count: 1512
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

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