The Kasier Family Foundation Shedding Some Light

A new Kaiser Family Foundation study shows that kids imitate what they see on TV. If kids witness polite behavior, then they behave politely. If kids witness aggressive behavior, they act aggressively.

Well, Duh! If kids are inside glued to the idiot box, how else are they going to learn social interaction? Certainly not from their parents who are too busy doing whatever it is parents do when they ignore their children and dismiss it as “Oh, I let Johnny watch TV. I know where he is, It keeps him out of trouble, - you know, you can never be too safe these days.” It’s no secret that humans, as social animals, learn social behavior through socializing.

If someone never socializes, that person won’t know how to do it. Thank G-d we have the electronic baby sitter to show people how to act. Unless the idiot box is broadcasting violence of course. It’s too bad this is the last season of “Friends.” I’m sure there are thousands of adolescents out there that could benefit from the quirky lessons taught to us each week by the quirky gang.

The study also says it is uncertain of the impact from raising a generation of couch potato consumers. Again, Duh! Kids that are couch potato consumers will be adult couch potato consumers. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 15% of children are obese. That’s a lot of fat ass kids sitting around being bombarded with commercials for fudge covered chocolate cookies in between ads for Coco Puffs and X-boxes. The only exercise those kids probably get is to and from the kitchen so they can stuff their cherubic little faces and change the game cartridge on their video game consoles.

I’ll tell the Kaiser Family Foundation what the impact of raising a generation of couch potato consumers will be. There’s going to be a generation of couch potato adults. The behaviors we learn as kids is a pretty good indicator of how we’ll act as adults barring some life altering event such as a religious conversion or winning the Lotto. With 1 in 55 adults now being 100 lbs or more overweight, I seriously doubt the extra weight was put on “after I hit 30 and my metabolism slowed down.” According to the CDC there are a whole lot of health issues related to being a fat ass:

High blood pressure, hypertension
High blood cholesterol, dyslipidemia
Type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetes
Insulin resistance, glucose intolerance
Hyperinsulinemia
Coronary heart disease
Angina pectoris
Congestive heart failure
Stroke
Gallstones
Cholescystitis and cholelithiasis
Gout
Osteoarthritis
Obstructive sleep apnea and respiratory problems
Some types of cancer (such as endometrial, breast, prostate, and colon)
Complications of pregnancy
Poor female reproductive health (such as menstrual irregularities, infertility, irregular ovulation)
Bladder control problems (such as stress incontinence)
Uric acid nephrolithiasis
Psychological disorders (such as depression, eating disorders, distorted body image, and low self esteem).

I can’t wait to squeeze into a train seat during my work commute next to the obese guy with bladder control problems. And to think, it all could have been prevented had his stupid parents realized “Maybe little Johnny shouldn’t watch so much TV.”

Stupidity seems to be the real issue here. I simply don’t understand how parents, or anyone for that matter doesn’t realize that eating McSupersized portions of fried food while watching 8 hours of TV a day after toiling behind either a school or office desk can be healthy. Never fear! TV is here! Despite no proof that TV helps develop the brain, i.e., makes people smarter, the Kaiser study says 60% of parents believe that educational TV and computers benefit their kids. Now there’s a thought. Rather than actively engaging a subject through reading or first hand experience, all a child has to do is sit in front of a screen (preferably over 32 in. so daddy can enjoy the game this weekend) and absorb the wisdom being broadcast through osmosis. But wait! Computers are interactive. For some reason, I’m going to speculate that learning problem solving skills through inductive reasoning and trial and error is a tad different that guessing the correct multiple choice answer from some program with a cute cartoon icon designed to keep Johnny’s attention.

Almost half of all children in the Kaiser study had a television in their bedroom. Nearly two-thirds of the kids lived in a home where a television was on at least half the time, even if no one was watching. In homes with such heavy TV usage, kids spent less time reading or playing outside. The future sure does look bright.

The good news is not all parents are mesmerized by the bright moving pictures coming out of the magic box. The article in which I learned about the Kaiser study quoted one parent as saying while she lets her kids watch TV, she draws the line at letting them have a TV in their rooms.

Maybe there’s hope after all.

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