Teen Health and Media Consumption

As every 21st-century parent knows, trying to keep our kids away from media is a lost cause. The internet, social networking sites, and cellular gadgets are indispensable aspects of youth culture, and trying to cut our kids off from these things is like trying to tell a teenager of the 1960s that she can’t listen to rock-and-roll music. As a parent, you can try to protect your children from modern developments, but you can’t fight the juggernaut.
That being said, although parents probably can’t completely stop their children’s media consumption, what we can do is limit how much they consume. And in fact, according to a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, there are direct connections between media consumption and the childhood obesity epidemic that has been sweeping the developed world in recent years.
There are a few main reasons for this connection:
1. Lack of exercise: When kids are consuming media, they usually do so in a sedentary state. There are a few forms of media consumption that can be done when physically active (e.g., Nintendo Wii, or exercising with an MP3 player), but by and large, most media consumption is done in a seated position, even among children.
2. Advertisements: Programming oriented at teens and children often features a lot of commercials for snacks and sugary beverages that are unhealthy.
3. Non-nutritious foods: When kids are consuming media, they tend to snack on unhealthy foods such as chips and soda.
In light of all this, what can parents do? According to separate guidelines released by U.S., Canadian, and Australian health authorities, children should be limited to 60 minutes of media consumption per day. This seems to be the magic number—kids who consume less than 60 minutes are usually in good shape, while those who consume more get progressively more overweight.
Of course, most parents would read this and think it’s insane. Many kids consume over 60 minutes of media before they even go to school in the morning, and it’s easy to imagine that limiting them to this amount would result in boredom and probably lots of whining.
But here’s the thing: If you’re a parent, think back to what you did when you were a child. Sure, you probably watched a fair amount of television, but most people currently in their late 20s, 30s, and 40s can remember spending hours upon hours outside when they were children. And when we weren’t outside, many of us were perfectly content to read books. This isn’t true for most modern kids.
Of course, times change, and we can’t expect our kids to be exactly like we were. But the fact is that, while kids may balk at the idea of consuming only 60 minutes of media per day, young people are highly adaptable. They may complain at first, but after a few weeks they will find other ways to entertain themselves.