Has Technological Innovations help cause obesity on America's youth?

 When a parent buys a child a TV, a burger from McDonald’s, or even a new video game, they don’t think that the item they just bought, could be destroying their beloved child’s’ life. As they play their video game or watch TV while their snacking on their burger they are having an inactive time. That’s when the body uses no calories that are coming from the greasy burger the child is eating along with the other foods he/she has eaten today. With the technological advancements in television, gaming systems, and even foods that you buy on the quick, obesity is easier to achieve than ever before. Technological innovations help cause obesity among the American youth by; the advancement in gaming systems/ video games, fast-food restaurants supplying, easy-to-get, non-nutritious, inexpensive foods, and the decreasing cost of televisions along with the time adolescents spend viewing them.

All over America parents are buying their loved ones gaming systems thinking that it will be a great, fun toy to play with. They thought only of the present, the idea that this, now harmless toy could help ruin their child’s health. The overall sales of gaming systems totaled at $447 million U.S. dollars this year (Yoskowitz par.5)! The gaming systems come from different companies and each company is trying to stay in the lead with the newest toy. Just recently the following were sold: Nintendo DS- 608,000 systems, PlayStation 3- 225,000 systems, and Xbox 360- 205,000 systems (Yoskowitz par.6). When children play these video games, they are suffering from inactivity. When a child is experiencing inactivity their bodies are not burning calories and those calories turn into fat.

         The calories a child should intake a day range from 1000-3000 depending on your age, weight, and height. A balanced diet should allow 3 meals a day with a healthy snack in between. When you purchase a fast-food item, that meal has been packed with preservatives and extra fat to give the food a taste. When you eat the food from these fast-food restaurants you are, consuming about 200 extra calories in a serving then needed. These high-fat, high-calorie foods are found at every corner all over America in what we call fast-food restaurants. McDonald’s, Arby’s, Krystal, Sonic, Wendy’s, and Chick-fil-a are just a few of the names of the places people love to eat (“ Most Popular Fast-Food Restaurants”par.2 and 3). Why do people like the food? The restaurants that claim they make great food fast are really serving you addictive, processed, meat by-products (Weight, a Teenage Concern pg. 32). Have you ever driven down the road and seen a sign that says, “100% beef ”, those signs are just starting to appear. Does this mean that they didn’t serve that real beef before? 

When eating on that non-nutritious snack, called junk food many people like to sit in front of a television, playing videogames or watching their favorite show. In between the show there are commercials advertising everything from cars to restaurants to websites. But these aren’t the only things advertised; the newest and coolest foods are shown on the television too. When children watch these advertisements they are exposed to unhealthy food and are more likely to ask for these items. This is because the companies selling the products use persuasive techniques. These commercials usually show children having extreme fun with their product. TV commercials aren’t the only thing parents should worry about. On average most children watch twenty-four hours of television in a week, that is a whole day that your child hasn’t exercised (Weight, a Teenage Concern pg.31)! When you or your child watch TV the excitement of the program messes with your energy levels making you tired, when you really haven’t done anything at all (Weight, a Teenage Concern pg.32).

Games and game systems all over the US cause inactivity to all who play them. This leads to no calorie burning and eventually helps to cause obesity. Though video games help cause obesity, television, junk food commercials, and fast food also help cause the tragedy that has struck 20 percent of all America’s youth (Poussaint par.1). Technological innovations help cause obesity among the American youth by; the advancement in gaming systems/ video games, fast-food restaurants supplying, easy-to-get, non-nutritious, inexpensive foods, and the decreasing cost of televisions along with the time adolescents spend viewing them.