RAY AND JAT
ELECTRONIC MEDIA AND CHILDREN
children to be more antisocial; resulting in their
becoming socially isolated which, in turn, attracts
them to more violent media(16). To optimize
children’s social development and long term mental
health, parents, teachers, and pediatricians should
discourage the viewing of violent television
programs.
foods, food purchasing, and food consumption(28).
Indeed, studies show that TV viewing is inversely
associated with intake of fruits and vegetables,
which receive little air time despite their potential to
promote health in various ways and protect against
weight gain(29).
Epstein, et al.(30) conducted a randomized trial
and found that reducing television viewing and
computer use may have an important role in
preventing obesity and in lowering BMI in young
children, and these changes may be related more to
changes in energy intake than to changes in physical
activity.
MEDIA AND CHILDHOOD OBESITY
Dietz and Gortmaker(21) reported that each
additional hour of TV viewing per week increased
the risk of obesity by 2%. The experimental study by
Robinson found strong evidence of a causal link
between TV viewing and children being
overweight(22). In India, this association has also
been emphasized (23).
In the absence of regulations restricting food
advertising aimed at children, reduction in television
viewing is a promising approach to reducing excess
energy intake.
Stettler, et al.(24) showed a significant association between electronic game use and obesity,
with nearly a 2-fold increased risk of obesity for
every hour spent playing electronic games daily. An
inverse relationship between time spent using video
games and daily physical activity has also been
observed(25). Thus, if playing of video games is
used as a substitute for regular physical activity, the
positive association between game play and obesity
is certainly plausible; however, if it is used to replace
time spent watching television or simply resting,
video game play can serve to more positively affect
energy expenditure. Thus, although video game play
should not be considered a sedentary activity, it
should in no way be considered a substitute for
regular physical activities that significantly stress the
metabolic pathways required for the enhancement of
cardiovascular conditioning.
MEDIA AND EATING DISORDERS
The print media promotes an unrealistically thin
body ideal that, in turn, is at least partially
responsible for promoting eating disorders. One
prospective study of thin ideal-promoting media use
in young adolescent girls found that decreases in
magazine reading over 16 months was associated
with decrease in eating disordered symptoms(31).
Van den Berg, et al.(32) found that frequent reading
of magazine articles about dieting/weight loss
strongly predicted unhealthy weight control
behaviors in adolescent girls, but not boys, 5 years
later.
Field, et al.(33) observed that the majority of the
preadolescent and adolescent girls in their schoolbased study were unhappy with their body weight
and shape. This discontentment was strongly related
to the frequency of reading fashion maga-zines. The
frequency of reading fashion magazines was
positively associated with the prevalence of having
dieted and exercised to lose weight and to improve
body shape
The mechanism of effect of TV exposure on
overweight risk is undoubtedly multifactorial. It
appears to operate independently from reduced
physical activity. Excessive TV exposure may
instead operate through the extensive advertising
messages for unhealthy foods targeted at very young
children or from a tendency of children to snack
while watching TV(26). A randomized controlled
trial found that increasing screen time resulted in
reduced energy expenditure and increased energy
intake(27). There is asso ciation between exposure to
advertisements and children’s requests for specific
INDIAN PEDIATRICS
The results suggest that the print media aimed at
young girls could serve a public health role by
refraining from relying on models that are severely
underweight and printing more articles on the
benefits of physical activity.
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VOLUME 47__JULY 17, 2010