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ESSAY
Introduction
Obesity is documented as one of the major outcomes of frequent exposure to digital media. Numerous explorative readings find associations among screen media contact and augmented dangers of obesity (Robinson et al., p. 97, 2017). The technological revolution has utterly transformed nearly every facet of our civilization over the past few decades, from the way we socialize to the way we work and all the things in between. The most noticeable difference is concerning children, the disturbing change in the way that they play and intermingle with each as compared to previous generations. Children's exposure to technology in such a young age is a serious debate as children cannot contemplate the consequences of it. For instance, a kid cannot know what obesity is and how harmful it can be. Though technology does offer numerous constructive benefits for education, it also has numerous detrimental effects on child quality of life and growth.
This essay will discuss a couple of harmful aspects of technology on young kids regarding their age and obesity being the most severe and prevalent negative aspect of technology; causing severe trouble to children's health around the world.
Discussion
Technology exposure at a very young age can affect the way children think and feel. Since technology is packed of stimuli and usually necessitates paying devotion to many diverse things at a time, children who play several games or devote much of their time on tech-savvy devices tend to have a reduced amount of aptitude to concentration than children who do not use technology frequently. Exposure to technology can also disturb the way children process information that is because when they are exposed to technology all the times; they tend to think only superficially and do not mature the capacity to think analytically or be original when learning new ideas. Technology also alters the way children intermingle with others, resulting in massive influences on their emotional and mental and welfare. If children exposure to technology at early ages is restricted, then these effects can be countered significantly as they would have matured enough.
When used excessively, all sorts of technology can have harmful effects on children that can have grave concerns as they mature. One of the most harmful effects of technology we can notice is obesity because of the way that children are spending their time nowadays. They do not get much exercise as they used. This is mainly because of technology such as laptops, mobile smartphones, and TV that encourages them to be sitting, physically inactive instead of going out and playing with other children. Lacks of physical movements have increased the child obesity rates radically in just a couple of decades. Many schools in the country and parents have taken steps to change this by encouraging organized physical activities both in and out of the school (Plowman et al., 2010).
Most of the youth in the United States are considered fat or overweight, making obesity in children the prominent health distress for parents in the U.S. most of the children worldwide spends most of their time watching TV, surfing the Internet, socializing on social websites or playing games every day. Though it is easy to turn to digital devices as it assists parents in keeping their children engaged, too much of such activities and exposure to screens may very well implant harmful habits that continue into maturity.
There are numerous influences which are backing to juvenile obesity. The way of life, family history and emotional aspects all govern the mental and physical health of a child. For instance, the children of obese parents are frequently obese as well. Two major reasons that cause childhood obesity in the contemporary world is:
Consumption of junk food
Technology making the children lethargic
An augmented contact with technology goes hand in hand with a decline in physical activities. Children that devote most of their time watching TV or using computers, they expend less time outdoors in physical activities such as running around and burning off their calories. With the passage of time, combined with more snacking or fast food, this can lead to substantial weight gain.
Utilizing time outdoors has a massive number of constructive effects on children physical health. Outdoor activities and physical movements provide children with sunlight exposure, which provisions body with Vitamin D. This exposure greatly helps in fighting infections and retains healthy skin and bones. Also, consistent contact with sunlight aids in keeping sleep cycle ordered by prompting the body's assembly of melatonin. Moreover, to not getting an adequate workout, many children do not experience the advantages of expending time in the open when they are severely dependent on technology for amusement. Besides, sleep is also bothered by the damaging blue light of screens; when these children are wide-open to such displays in the evening time because of the dominance of the melatonin, a hormone which controls the sleep cycle (Calamaro et al., 2012, pp. 276-282). This makes it increasingly troublesome for a child’s physique to efficiently prepare to be ready for a fine sleep and also results in obesity. If children are closely monitored and made to use technology wisely and they are engaged in outdoor activities more, especially at a young age, the problem will be solved to a greater extent.
Conclusions
To conclude, technology can seriously damage children's physical and mental health if not supervised thought to exercise balance in its usage. The misuse of technology or digital devices results in an inactive and harmful manner of life. Because of such physical idleness and inactive manner of life, there is amplified jeopardy of high obesity rate, particularly in children. Increased juvenile obesity is considered as one of the major reasons for diabetes, heart issues, and numerous long-lasting health illnesses. Thus, it is extremely imperative to stay active physically. As debated earlier, the majority of the wellbeing issues triggered by obesity are reversible with increased physical movements. Also, problems like deteriorated social relationships and weakness in critical thinking and focus can be avoided to a greater extent if children in young are only allowed restricted and constructive use of technology. Till maturity, all children should be granted limited and balanced use of above-mentioned technology or digital devices such as smartphones, computers, andipads, etc.
Works Cited
Calamaro, Christina J., et al. "Wired at a young age: the effect of caffeine and technology on sleep duration and body mass index in school-aged children." Journal of Pediatric Health Care 26.4 (2012): 276-282.
Glendinning, C., et al. "Technology‐dependent children in the community: definitions, numbers, and costs 1." Child: care, health and development 27.4 (2001): 321-334.
Plowman, Lydia, Christine Stephen, and Joanna McPake. Growing up with technology: Young children learning in a digital world. Routledge, 2010.
Robinson, Thomas N., et al. "Screen media exposure and obesity in children and adolescents." Pediatrics140.Supplement 2 (2017): 97-101.
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