Session 11: Media Health Hazards?
Childhood and teen obesity levels have risen substantially in the last 30 years. The 2009 U.S. NIH studies reported by Harris and Bargh do not definitively prove direct causal effects between TV watching and obesity (also called adiposity, I just learned). However, the write-up concluded by suggesting that parents “restrict the amount of commercial television that their children watch, beginning at an early age.” Restricting TV watching reduces children’s exposure to unhealthy messages on television, and appears to be the most direct means to reduce unhealthy diet (Harris). Limiting TV also gets kids off the couch. Since this study, Michelle Obama has been passionate about children’s health. Her website encourages healthy eating and physical activity: Letsmove.gov.
In the Harris writeup, media literacy was regarded as a great tool against advertisements for unhealthy eating. The research correlated parents’ critical involvement with children’s TV viewing to a decrease in the consumption of unhealthy foods. Parents can devalue television and media for children at a young age. This helps kids prefer other activities as they age.
The study also showed that humans are prone to eat things that they consider tasty, but that environment can help determine what is tasty. “Humans possess an innate preference for sweet, high-fat and salty foods, and a reluctance to try unfamiliar foods. However, “repeated exposure increases liking of disliked foods and information that a new food tastes good, increased willingness to try the food.” To translate, parents that consistently provide healthy eating choices at home will help children begin liking those healthy foods.
One interesting study showed that children preferred food that was packaged in McDonalds wrappers, even if it wasn’t McDonalds food. Ah, the power of media.
Sternheimer, through Chapter 8 of Connecting Social Problems, again points away from media as the key cause of obesity. She suggests that children in poverty have less supervision and turn to the television and food for comfort. The poor don’t have access to public parks and extra curricular activities. But the poor are only 20% of the US population. Rich kids and middle class children are also overweight.
For me, the most damning sentence was Sternhehimer’s on page 211: Ironically, the rise of feminism coincided with increased attention to weight.” The rise of feminism has also coincided with the great rise of childhood obesity. When both parents work, who is watching the children? Who is sitting with them to decipher the messages of media? Who is helping them get outside and move their bodies, instead of watching hours of TV, alone and unsupervised? Could the feminist devaluation of homemaking and childcare be a leading cause of childhood obesity and eating disorders today?
