How to Fight Childhood Obesity by Cutting Down Digital Device Usage
Keely is 15 pounds overweight. His mom wants him to do some exercise so he goes for a walk every evening. But it just has a “Humble Beginning” till he reaches the bench of a nearby park and sits till it gets dark as by then he has almost reached the “Final Mile“ of his mobile based game “Tomb Raider: Walk Through”!
It is not just about Keely, there are so many kids doing exactly the same. Kids of the day love playing games but not the ones that involve any physical work. Instead, they prefer playing video games on computers or handhelds like a pocket PC or smart phone.
Ella has quite a similar story. Though she doesn’t play games much, her physical activities have turned out to be zero as she’s always text messaging to her friends. So, she always finds a place to settle down to send her next text with her total concentration on the cell phone screen. She tries to do this even when out-of-the-doors.
She believes that everyone does the same. Even when she’s sitting face-to-face with her friends or out on a picnic with them, they always find a reason to send text messages to each other. She regrets not doing any exercise or participating in sports as she is growing heavier day by day but still continues to spend most of her leisure text chatting or browsing the Internet through her cell phone instead of participating in any physical activity.
Is Technology making Kids Obese?
Earlier it was TV that influenced kids to sit for longer hours avoiding physical activities. This was one of the reasons why TV viewers were called “couch potatoes”! Then, computer entered the arena which had even more influence on the kids as they could play best of the video games, watch movies, surf the Internet.
And now, the smart phones and other handheld devices are doing the same. They are making our kids
You may think that handhelds give our kids the freedom to walk or get involved in more physical activities. Pretty true, but a serious gamer will not like to concentrate on something else other than the game. This makes most kids to sit or settle down anywhere and play games.
Again, while the user is text messaging or browsing the Internet or simply playing any game on the handheld, his or her activeness goes to the back burner and even if the person is doing any physical activity like walking the street or strolling in the park, the speed gets pretty sluggish compared to somebody who is focusing on the walk or the stroll.
Some childhood obesity experts believe that overweight issues among the adolescents have much to do with gaming addictions, and limitless smart phone usage other than TV viewing and fast-food eating habits.
A recent study has found that obesity issues among the teenagers have almost tripled to what they were in 1970.And as the physical education classes in schools have been reduced to meet the academic needs, kids of the day are hardly doing anything that requires physical endurance. Together with bad food habits and technology involving more ‘seat time’, kids are gaining all that loosely hanging fat.
Obesity leads to various health disorders like
- Liver & gall bladder disorder
Apart from the various health issues, it has several other troubles like an obese teen will have more likelihood of being bullied or made fun of compared to a thinner child; obese kids are less likely to have more friends and have chances of treated as a social outcast by peers leading to low self-esteem and poor self-confidence.
Getting involved in physical activities, participating in sports and eating healthy and nutritious food are the best ways to fight obesity. An obese person needs to burn more calories to get slimmer and stay fitter. As per a physical education trainer, one needs at least 30 minutes of exercise or physical work to stay fit and make a balance between the calories taken and burned.
How can Cutting Down Time Spent on Electronic Devices Help?
An electronic device whether it is a TV set or a laptop or one of the portable ones like a pocket PC or a smart phone, will always increase the “seat time” of our kids. They’ll sit for long hours to play games, interact with others, and browse the Internet or simply to watch a movie which will make them lethargic and less active leading to an imbalance between calories gained and calories burned.
Thus, it is important to cut down the time spent on these devices and utilize the same in sports or some other activities that keep kids moving such as bike riding, dance, swimming, martial arts, or simply a walk in a nearby park.
How to Stop Kids from becoming Digital Device Addict and Make them Spend Time in Physical Activities?
- Set Time for Digital Device Usage
When you’ll have time set for digital device usage, your child will save a lot of time for other creative things which can then be utilized in physical activities or outing that will burn more calories. So, make sure your kid doesn’t keep texting all the day and brings out time for face-to-face conversation and a family-walk in the evening.
- Use Cell Phone Monitoring Software
So, you sent your child for a walk or bike riding but how can you be sure that he really walked a couple of miles or had fun riding the bike? What if your child does exactly what Keely does: he goes out in the park but sits on a bench to finish his video game on the smart phone or tablet? You’ll never get to know if you’ll not accompany your child and accompanying your child always is not that possible, is it?
Using mobile monitoring software works well. It tracks every cell phone activity of your child and helps you restrict the activities that you don’t want him to get involved in. Your mobile monitoring technology will keep a track of the games that your child downloads or plays online; text he sends or receives; the sites he spends his time on; calls made or received and chatting done on various chat messengers. It will also give you the power to stop it all by blocking the activities. Now, when your child won’t get to play the video games online or download them on the phone, he’ll be keen enough to go for a bike ride!
Most of the modern cell phone tracking apps work as GPS tracking software and they let you know about the location of your child. So, if he says that he really went 3 miles down the road biking but sits at the neighbor’s living room playing Nintendo with his best buddy, you’ll know the truth!
- Participate in Sports with your Kids
Kids generally follow their parents and family in doing things. So, if you go Church every Sunday, the chances of your son’s attending the mass are more. Similarly, when he will find you participating in sports, going for morning walk or a calorie burning jog, he’ll like to do the same. Besides, you can plan family sports and go biking together, this will be so much fun and you’ll have a better bond with your child too!
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