July 21, 2004
On a population level, the authors estimate that 17 percent of overweight, 15 percent of poor fitness, 15 percent of elevated cholesterol, and 17 percent of current smoking in 26-year-olds could be attributed to watching more than 2 hours per day of television during childhood and adolescence.
They are trying desperately to lay the blame for lifestyle choices, conciously made by a cognizant being, on an inanimate object. It's simply ridiculous. There is no corresponding study of children who do not watch television, so we have no way to evaluate the validity of the numbers given. Not to mention, all other factors in the child's life would have to be equal - same types of diet, same availability of exercise, that sort of thing.
Think about it this way... if you took away television from these overweight , out of shape kids, it does not necessarily translate into them going outside to play. They might just find something else sedentary to fill their time so they don't have to exert themselves. They could still end up with high cholesterol even if they become very active. They could even start smoking, even if they are a bookworm and never glance at a television.
I'm not saying you should plop a kid in front of a television and everything will be cool. I do think kids need to get up and get out and do things. I just think that all the money for a ridiculous study such as this (and many others that focus on 1 itty bitty part of a person's entire life) could be better spent.
Update.... Just had a thought (and no it was not painful). Could it possibly be, might it be just conceivable... High cholesterol, a tendency toward being overweight, a predisposition to smoking - these things are the actual CAUSE of excessive television watching? Hmmm...
Posted by: Teresa in
Science
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01:06 PM
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I'm just amazed at the money that gets thrown away on these studies. For cryin' out loud...we gotta have a study for this, a study for that.
You hit it on the head - it's a lifestyle choice. Trust me. My sister's kids, if there's no TV they find something else - inside, seditary to do.
Posted by: Tammi at July 21, 2004 04:19 PM (Xm18O)
"...a likely explanation for these findings is that dietary and other lifestyle habits learned in childhood and influenced by television continue into adulthood. Ultimately, parents must reclaim from television the responsibility for educating and entertaining their young children."
Hard to argue with that, methinks.
Posted by: Jack at July 21, 2004 09:58 PM (7GUn3)
The point I was trying to make - and no I didn't do it well since I tend to just fire off a post without going over all of the fine points - is that they haven't really proven cause and effect. We may not even have the science to do it yet since we don't really know why some people have high cholesterol, etc.
It may be true that television watching contributes to all the problems listed, OTOH it may be that television watching is a side effect activity BECAUSE of the physiology that leads to these physical problems. And yet no studies that I know of, ever focus on the problem in that direction.
If you think about it from that direction - it's going to be difficult to impossible to change the behavior, because you aren't changing the root problem. Everyone wants to look at television as the culprit in bad health, which means they don't look for other problems. And that's what truly annoys me about studies like this.
Posted by: Teresa at July 22, 2004 05:30 AM (nAfYo)
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