Once
a year someone, somewhere finds the time to release a study on the topic of increasing child obesity levels. The study
invariably points the finger at some form of popular media and it just so happens that this time around video games are
taking the blame. The
Manchester Evening News picked up on a recent study on this subject and labelled it quite dramatically as a
"health alert". The article highlights an irrational fear that "our future generations will be computer and electronic whizz kids, but too overweight and lazy to move out of the confines of their hi-tech, globally-wired bedrooms." Apparently since the 1970's, the presents that kids choose for Christmas have evolved from presents involving physical activity (like spacehoppers and chopper bicycles) to less active presents like video games and dolls. As a result the average weight of children and young adults is spiralling out of control.
Forgive us for being a little unphased by this "health alert". Since when is it news that kids prefer games over outdoor activities? More importantly, how are today's "hi-tech" games any more or less physical than the most popular toys of the 70's? According to The Toy Retailers Association, the most popular toys of the 70's ranged from toy guns and dolls to Lego and the Mastermind board game. Those toys hardly inspire thoughts of children spending Christmas Day in the great outdoors on their choppers and spacehoppers.
The reality of the situation (which mainstream and local media doesn't seem to like reporting) is that children's eating habits and exercise patterns are dependent on the lifestyle that they are taught by their parents. Surely the fact that kids are eating less healthily and doing less exercise is a sign of parental neglect, rather than evidence that game publishers and advertisers want to fatten up the kids. Not once does this article address the real issue of parental responsibility. But then again, we can hardly see "Parent feeds kid junk food, kid gets fat" hitting the headlines.
