Technology advances so fast that people in society rely more and more on them. Smartphones, laptops, TVs, and many other devices consume a person’s hours in a day. Technology-supported mass production has been identified as the main cause of obesity, which has triggered people’s interest in whether the consumption of processed food is the main contributor or the exposed and unbalanced use of technology. And technology. Therefore, the relevance can be determined, but not many people may be interested in it.
This topic is important because health is considered an important aspect of society. Being healthy not only means not getting sick, but also means living happily, keeping the body stable and tough. Obesity is one of the diseases with the highest mortality rate. When asking a person what killed more people, sharks are still obese, people usually choose sharks.
In addition, the question of whether excessive use of media and technology will lead to obesity is controversial because of limited experimental research on the subject. As technology advances and obesity increases, there are many conflicting views on this issue. Obviously in the past few decades. On the one hand, people say that easy access to food and people’s laziness lead to an increase in obesity; however, others believe that the increase in obesity is due to excessive use of social media and video games on mobile phones and computers.
From the first point of view, it is generally believed that the causes of obesity are laziness and inactivity. Social media applications or video games are time-consuming during adolescence. Youth activities are completely unbalanced, because the time they spend on mobile phones or computers is the most important time in their free time. In contrast, teenagers can use mobile phones almost anytime and anywhere. This can usually be seen in restaurants, on sidewalks and in queues. This behavior also changes the behavior of the human body: the body adapts to the environment associated with inactivity or physical activity, and produces excess fat as the body gets more food. Generally speaking, teenagers spend about 3-5 hours a day on mobile phones and computers in their leisure time. The first task—spending 3-5 hours a day on the phone, computer, or TV—involves the U.S. Department of Health in community interaction. They issued a decree to reduce the length of TV time.In addition, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends playing video games or watching TV for no more than 2 hours a day.
In addition, the influence of social media has a significant impact on the prospects of young people. Young people are easily influenced and often look for respectable role models. Basically, these can be characters in movies or video games. There are always ads on paper, social media apps and the web. Video games and movies also have unrealistic roles, but from the perspective of teenagers, they want to be such people. These platforms often receive recommendations from different companies, which may or may not contain junk food. For example, a movie character might eat a bag of potato chips in a hurry or go to McDonald’s. Research shows that these platforms promote high-calorie foods and beverages that have contributed to the increase in type 2 diabetes, obesity, and diabetes in the past few decades. Each annual Super Bowl advertisement is a concrete example. During the celebrations, families from all over the world gathered to watch the Super Bowl, but the impact of advertising on teenagers was easily shaken.For example, they may subconsciously associate joy and family gathering emotions with Wendy’s fresh fast-food burgers.
In addition, in the past, when the technology was not so advanced, the daily activities of teenagers were sports, going to the park, and physically interacting with others. Teenagers see happiness as a key factor in deciding what to do in their free time. He used to hang out with friends to play sports, but now he can play with friends, play video games or spend time on social media. This usually leads to the so-called “drinking” aspect of social media. Since YouTube and Netflix are video-based, one video may lead to the next video that YouTube is interested in and the next episode in the Netflix series. The behavior of “overeating” will result in reduced sleep because you will spend more free time and extend it to rest. Shorter rest and sleep periods can lead to busy mornings and make people rely on prepared foods instead of a complete, healthy breakfast of fruits and vegetables. This can lead to obesity, as the consumption of high-calorie foods increases as healthier foods are replaced by fast, easily available foods.
On the other hand, people believe that overuse of media has no effect on obesity; for example, the concept of gamers is usually extreme: gamers are seen as fat players or ultra-thin players. There is no image of a person between the extremes described. It can be found that because the eating habits and lifestyles of some gamers are different from those of other gamers, there is a misunderstanding that the time spent on playing video games and multimedia is the real cause of obesity. Studies have shown that there is a weak correlation between obesity rates and media or video game use. 4 Although this may indicate that the overall trends of these two variables over time are positively correlated, it does not mean that there is a causal relationship, but a double-direction ambiguity when there is no variable to call the other. There is limited empirical evidence supporting the claim that media and video game use leads to obesity.
In addition, there are criticisms of the accuracy and understanding of data analysis. There are many ways to analyze obesity data. Researchers usually take a simplified approach, focusing only on whether people spend a lot of time in the media or spend a few hours playing and chatting. As your body mass index (BMI). Other factors such as socioeconomic status, diet, habits and exercise have been ignored. People who spend 3-5 hours or more on social networks and video games can also see similar behavior. They all have similar diets or habits, leading to overweight or obesity. These may be confusing variables that the research ignores. In addition, new statistical modeling methods have been implemented. AMOS and MINITAB are softwares that use Taguchi’s method to improve data analysis by considering many different factors and focusing on optimizing variables.This type of data analysis takes into account socioeconomic status, diet, and habits, resulting in more reliable data, results, and conclusions.
In order to refute the supporting evidence for the opposite view, when social media and platforms prove that unhealthy and high-calorie foods cause obesity, social media can also help prevent obesity. It often appears in movies and social media platforms. People who understand the importance of maintaining a healthy body can follow the diet and lifestyle habits of people who are in good physical condition and healthy. Role models can be a healthy lifestyle, so people who use social media for a long time can observe and change their mindset. Research shows that appearance-related problems are common5. Stigmatization often occurs because it is easy to judge another person and no one can point it out. However, those who follow and subscribe to healthy and appropriate social media platforms can incorporate healthier habits into their daily lives, thereby improving their physical health and avoiding obesity.
In addition, the supporting evidence from either side of the argument is reasonable. The quality of the evidence for the “yes” argument suggests that research shows how and why obesity is caused by unbalanced recreational use. However, in the reductionist approach, the “no” side believes that previous studies that did not use Taguchi’s method did not determine the optimization factors. In addition, the argument for “no” discourages the investigation of “yes”. For example, social media and role models in sponsored movies or advertisements are bad examples; however, young people want to be role models for them both physically and mentally. Yes, the evidence is also misunderstood. The behavior of “overeating” leads to a healthy breakfast being replaced by high-calorie foods. This means that excessive use of media is an intermediate step leading to the consumption of high-calorie foods that lead to obesity.
To sum up, the one side has more empirical research, but the objection is much better. The most striking point is that excessive use of media and video games does not lead to obesity.