Childhood obesity has recently turned out to be a growing epidemic in most parts of the world; one of the highest growing stages of obesity in the United States is during the stage of childhood. One of the leading contributing factors to this issue is the media, the internet and video games to name but a few. In accordance to a one year research on childhood obesity that was conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation of Menlo Park in the United States and Europe, the study conclude that childhood obesity is largely contributed by how much time the child spends on the screen, this can be by either watching television or the internet. The main point about the effect the internet has is that children spend an average of six hours on the screens; this is more time than the child spends on other activities except when sleeping (Kaiser Family Foundation 6).
Children who are between the age of 5 and 15 use a lot of time in several types of media, this is an approximate time of 44 hours in a week they are either in front of television, a computer and playing game screens than any other doings in their lives apart from sleeping. This has negative impacts on the child as they do not get time to have physical activities like playing around the neighborhood or riding bicycles and such, these are activities which help the child to be active and thus avoid being obese. In the past days, video games were more practical and outdoors. The second negative impact is how fast foods are advertised on the media every now and then. For every ten adverts in a day, two of them are on fast foods and thus attracts the child who is stuck on the screen (Sumner 45). I personally think that the internet has a lot of informative information that is necessary for children; however, on the obesity issue, the media is one of the major factors to be blamed.
The information on this research was gathered via interviews that were conducted on children aged between the age of five and fifteen and as well as some information from their parents on their activities. Questionnaires were also issued in different learning institutions and randomly picked children were required to fill in them on aspects such as their favorite adverts on the media and how these children spent their free time (Sumner 15). Facts were also acquired from recognized research institutions such as the Kaiser Family Foundation (KSF) of Menlo Park and the National Blood and Heart Institute.
In this research, I used the quantitative methodology of research; this was because the research was based on measuring of variables and verification of the theory on the contribution of the internet to childhood obesity. My target population as said above on the paper was children who were aged between the age of 5 and 15. This is based on the fact that children of this age are usually addicted to the media as they do not have much to do other than school. It is also vital to note that this is the age group whereby their growth hormone is at the peak. Parents and guardians need to ensure that they reduce the time that their children spend indoors and encourage them to been physically active. It is a fact has a child who is obese in his/her childhood is likely to be obese at adult hood (Sumner 45). The issue of obesity is such as a crucial issue as it decreases the quality of life in an individual.
Works Cited
Sumner Peters. International Development Studies: Theories and Methods in Research and Practice. New Delhi: Sage Publishers, 2008. Print.
Kaiser Family Foundation. The role of media in childhood obesity. Washington, 2004. Print
