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Take a Walk on the Healthy Side

Sitting down in my office on a recent morning, I found a pleasant surprise in my inbox. A colleague had forwarded a story that was circling the world on the wire services. I was glad to see that the article, a quick summary of a new study I help author about a possible link between screen time and obesity, was getting global attention.

The study, a collaboration among researchers at Iowa State University and the National Institute on Media and the Family, assessed recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Measuring the physical activity and screen time of 709 children ages 7-12, we found an alarming discrepancy between the kids who followed the guidelines and those who didn't. According to the AAP, to maintain a healthy amount of activity boys should take at least 11,000 steps per day, while girls should take 13,000. In addition, the AAP recommends parents limit screen time to under two hours per day for children. When we looked at the results we found that the kids who didn't get enough exercise and spent more than two hours in front of screens were three to four times more likely to be overweight than the kids who made healthy choices. Those results will soon appear in the Journal of Pediatrics.

I'm particularly proud of this new study because it marks another major achievement for Switch®, a program developed by at the National Institute on Media on the Family. Switch is the first program to give parents the tools to address all three major contributing factors to childhood obesity: activity level, diet, and screen time. And now the program is collecting valuable data, helping us understand the media-health connection.

The Switch study should silence those who doubt screen time is a risk factor for childhood obesity. One of the largest studies of its kind, the research demonstrates that weather or not screen time is the cause of a child's obesity, he's certainly much more likely to gain weight if he starts spending dozens of hours a week watching TV and playing video games.

So like I said, I was pleased with myself as I read my email that morning. Then I noticed a new message, another news story forwarded by a colleague. The report from Mediaweek concerned a trade group called the Virtual Worlds Management (VWM). According to the story, while adult-friendly virtual worlds like Second Life and Warcraft get most of the press, the industry's biggest growth is in sites targeted at kids. VWM says there are more than 100 virtual worlds aimed at kids, and the number is growing.

I've written about these sites before. And by now most parents understand the dangers, including scams, predators, and cyberbullying, that such sites pose, even if, most of the time, they're perfectly safe. That morning at my desk the VWM story put the Switch study in perspective. With enticing new media popping up every day, it's only going to become more difficult for parents to help kids make healthy choices.

Discouraged for a moment, I decided to heed good advice. I got up from my screen, went out into the sun, and took a short walk.

David Walsh, Ph.D. is the founder of the MediaWise Movement, a program of the National Institute on Media and the Family (www.mediawise.org). His latest book, No: Why Kids - of All Ages - Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It (Free Press) is available in bookstores.