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A Childhood Epidemic
During the early 1930’s, a Utah farm boy named Philo Farnsworth worked on his electron scanning tube. His invention would fuel a huge technological advancement and the television was soon born. It is possible Farnsworth could have predicted the popularity of his invention, but the degree to which it has saturated modern day society is amazing. Television has found its way into all aspects of American culture, and the number of households without a television is drastically small. Far from it roots, as a means to transport visual news and information, the television has become the center of family entertainment. While chronic television viewing impacts everyone, a closer look at the affects on children is disturbing. Childhood Obesity, psychological health and social skills are being compromised by a childhood epidemic, television addiction.
Childhood obesity is at the front of most parents’ minds. It covers the pages of parenting magazines and regularly broadcasts on the nightly news. The correlation between overweight children and how much television is included in their diet is undeniable. Instead of coming home from school and rushing through homework to ride bikes, or run around with the neighbors, children are turning on the television. After-school sports and weekend activities are being replaced by hours of television and video games. Parents, tired from a full days work, are quick to turn on the television to pacify active children. Television is not only robbing physical activity, but it is contributing to mindless eating. Children are not focused on why or what they are eating and often eat their way through a bag of unhealthy snacks over the course of an hour show. Parents are also contributing by giving snack after snack to their sedentary children. Family dinners have migrated from around the table to in front of the television where conversation is replaced with silent absorption.
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