Wednesday 2 April 2014

Screen Time


Nowadays, we can see that new gadgets are launched every month. I’m not surprise when I see almost every people play their smart phones or tablets in a subway every morning, including children. It’s very common today that young children own mobile phone or tablets. They spend more time on screen: playing games, chatting with friends, surfing on the Internet and watching movie. Therefore, this can cause bad health for children.

It's not exercise, but at least kids can't eat potato chips while gaming on phones. 
According to NPR news article “Why Playing Minecraft Might Be More Healthful For Kids Than TV”, the researcher from the University of Michigan said that when children watch TV, they see many advertisement about food, and tend to eat junk food and drink soda. Although playing computer is healthier than watching television, both of them can cause obesity and high blood pressure in children.

We all know that using computer or watching television too much is not good for not only children, but also adults. From this article, doctors say “children shouldn’t log more than two hour a day of screen time” In the past, I think most children can do that; not spend more than two hours, but now I think more than half of children spend time on screen excessively. For example, at school, teachers use instructional media such as e-book, Internet and video. During the way to home, especially in BTS and MRT, there are small televisions for advertising. Moreover, children have to do homework and maybe learn on the Internet. From all of these, we can see that children have to spend time on screen more than two hours a day.


From this article, it says play game on computer or mobile phone is healthier than watching TV because it doesn’t cause physical problem: obesity. But I think a computer game can cause serious mental problem. When we watch TV, there is a time to break, we don’t watch all day. For example, when we watch movie, if that movie ends, we normally finish watching too. On the other hand, when we play computer game, we will play continuously until we’re bored. I think this take more time than watching TV. Moreover, some games are violent and can make us addict. I saw news about people died because of computer games, but I’ve never seen people died because of TV. So, I think computer game is not more healthful than TV.
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Reference
Singh M. Why Playing Minecraft Might Be More Healthful For Kids Than TV. (2014, March 28).  NPR Your Health. Retrieved on April 2, 2014 from http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/03/28/295692162/why-playing-minecraft-might-be-healthier-for-kids-than-tv

5 comments:

  1. I wonder: Do violent video games or movies make people violent?
    I don't think so, but what to others think?

    I often watch violent films. I think they are fun, but I've never an urge to start committing similar acts of violence. That a film or game is violent, even extremely violent, does not seem a good reason to ban it.

    Now that I think of it, much classic literature and other art is also extremely violent. Must we ban Shakespeare's Macbeth because of the violence in it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn't want to ban them. As you said, the violent film or novel is fun. But I don't like violent game. The first time I saw my friend played this, I have a headache. I think these violent games can make stress because a player will find the way to defeat opponents. Actually, I have bad attitude toward violent online games.

      Delete
    2. Kloy,
      thanks for the reply. I didn't think you wanted to ban them, but some people do. I disagree with them, and it was what your post made me think of.

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    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. I think playing the games which contains violent theme is one of the factor that lead the players to act violently.

    According to Shaban "Playing War: How the Military Uses Video Games" (2013) the U.S military had invested in game-online industry (he calls military-entertainment complex) and finally introduced war-like game; for example, War Play. This game was described as a king of method education (para. 4) which players can learn how to use M-79 appropriately.

    But what lies behind the education's purpose, I think we should says that it's about how to kill others effectively. "others/targets" in this term is already mentioned in the games; for example, the Arab, the Vietnam, and so on. This kind of game actually crate and reproduce the atmosphere of violence in society.

    Shaban, H. Playing War: How the Military Uses Video Games.The Atlantic Technology. (2013, October 10) Retrieved 2014, April 3 from http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/playing-war-how-the-military-uses-video-games/280486/

    ReplyDelete

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