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| In this photo you can see 7 people, and 4 of them are on the telephone. This rise in technology has also led to a rise in obesity levels among adolescents. Photo Courtesy of flickr.com - U.S. National Archives |
A study published in the Handbook of Children and Media reported that the average child
watches over 40,000 commercials per year, and a majority of these commercials are
food-based advertisements (Larwin). The
growing trend of obesity among adolescents has been an increasingly prominent
issue in the American public domain over the past decade. Obesity has recently become directly associated
with overindulgence in technology, including cell phones and the Internet, and
one study, Decreasing Excessive Media
Usage While Increasing Physical Activity, attempted to quantify that stereotype’s
validity by requiring participants to exercise to earn media usage. The Decreasing
Excessive Media Usage While Increasing Physical Activity study concluded
that increased exercise was an effective alternative that helped decrease
excessive media usage and could eventually lower obesity rates in adolescents, and
forcing adolescents to exercise to earn media usage was an effective tool to
test this theory.
In the past, many different studies attempted to
create a link between rates of obesity and technology use, specifically television
viewing, but none have yet to account for the rise of cell phone and the
Internet use. The Decreasing Excessive Media Usage While Increasing Physical Activity study
attempted to combine techniques found in several studies conducted by Jason
& Johnson in the 1990s which attempted to lower media exposure through participating
in alternate activities, and also the 1999 study conducted by Jason &
Brackshaw that tried to specifically focus exercise as the target activity to
replace media use (Larwin). The end
result was a single-subject experiment where the subject was required to earn
cell phone and Internet usage through specific physical exercise activities.
A fourteen year old adolescent female who was
advised by both her physician and counselor to exercise more often to replace
excessive media usage and eventually lower her obesity level was the subject of
the study. A seven week behavior change
program was created for the subject so that the weight level changes were
solely dependent on exercise amounts rather than dietary practices. Rather than
allowing any form of physical activity as an alternative, the study specified
the Bowflex TreadClimber as the target behavior that would be measured in miles
walked (Larwin). The procedure of the experiment
also required one of the parents to serve as a coach and another research assistant
to assist in implementing the program and recording data.
A three phase treatment procedure was used for the
seven week experiment to help determine the separate effects of cell phone
versus Internet reinforcement. Since the
participant was working to earn her usage, the first two weeks were used as a baseline
stage to monitor physical activity data without motivation. The next third and fourth weeks were known as
the Phase 1 treatment stage, where the subject’s exercise amounts were rewarded
with Internet usage, and not cell phone use.
The final three weeks fell under the Phase 2 treatment stage, where the
subject exercised solely for the gain of time for cell phone usage. For each mile exercised on the Bowflex
TreadClimber, the subject earned an exact amount of time she could then spend
on using whatever treatment technology was being measured. In addition, an increasing required distance
of walking was added to maintain the motivation of the subject as well as an
increased difficulty to the target behavior.
Results of the experiment were found by comparing
the number of miles walked, speed of walking (mph), and the subject’s BMC
between the baseline and two phases of treatment. During the 14-day baseline period, the
subject never willingly used the TreadClimber, not even once. However, the Phase 1 data found that the
subject used the TreadClimber all fourteen days and that the subject walked
around .98 miles per day. The Phase 2
data showed an even greater in exercise increase than Phase 1, with the participant
walking an average of 1.81 miles per day over the 21-day period. Each Phase had a target exercise goal per day,
with Phase 1 at a 1 mile goal and Phase 2 at a 1.5 mile goal. The subject hit the Phase 1 goal 11 of the 14
days, and the participant even exceeded the goal twice and fell short
once. In regards to Phase 2, the subject
actually hit the 1.5 mile per day goal 9 days, was above the criterion 10 days,
and fell below only 2 times.
The speed of walking was one of the other data
points being compared for the experiment, and a consistently constant speed was
found. During the Phase 1 treatment, the
subject began walking around 3.0 miles per hour, and eventually the subject hit
3.5 mph on average over the rest of Phase 1.
The Phase 2 results followed an increasing swing, with an average of
3.67 mph over the three week period, around the same average speed yet slightly
higher due to a larger sample time period.
The final physical piece of data compared was the BMC, which decreased
3.2 lbs/in over the 7 week period.
The final, and arguably most important, statistic of
note for the experiment was the mean daily usage of non-homework-related
Internet and cell phone in minutes. The baseline
figures for the experiment were 38.64 minutes for Internet use and 63.21 minutes
for cell phone use. During the Phase 1
stage, the minutes dropped to 25.07 minutes for Internet and 41.71 minutes for
the cell phone. Finally, in the Phase 2
stage, the Internet use dropped down to 10.95 minutes and the cell phone
dropped to 31.56 minutes. The significance
of these numbers is that the overall usage decrease over the 7 week experiment
for both cell phone and Internet time.
Note that while each Phase focused on a specific activity to be
reinforced, the other activity was freely available for use. With this in mind, an overall decreased use
in both of the media forms exemplifies a lowering in excessive technology usage
while also adding physical activity levels, as well as lowering the BMC in the
individual, showing a lowered obesity level.
The Decreasing
Excessive Media Usage While Increasing Physical Activity study clearly
exhibits the idea that increased exercise is an effective alternative to excessive
technology usage, and that obesity levels can effectively be lowered in the
process. Using a single-subject design
to the study, the researchers were able to generate a very structured and
reliable experiment that was effective in both recording data and enabling this
same data to lead to a reasonable conclusion.
The three phase study helped show that substituting physical activity for
media usage is a possible solution for the childhood obesity issue, and that it
is an available option in the search for healthy lifestyles for adolescents.
Work Cited
Larwin, Karen H., and David A. Larwin. "Decreasing
Excessive Media Usage While Increasing Physical Activity : A Single-Subject
Research Study." Behavior Modification. Behavior Modication, 10
June 2008. Thurs. 29 Mar 2012. <http://bmo.sagepub.com/content/32/6/938>.
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