physical activity

Technology Epidemic and Our Youth

Posted on by adrensf

Just take a look at the following facts and statistics taken via www.fitness.gov.

Physical Activity

  • Only one in three children are physically active every day.1
  • Children now spend more than seven and a half hours a day in front of a screen (e.g., TV, video games, computer).7
  • Only about one in five homes have parks within a half-mile, and about the same number have a fitness or recreation center within that distance.5
  • Only 6 states (Illinois, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York and Vermont) require physical education in every grade, K-12.22
  • Nearly one-third of high school students play video or computer games for 3 or more hours on an average school day.24
  • Resources can be found Here

I remember the days of being a kid, and the typical day was as follows: go to school, get home and finish homework, out the door to go play some pick up games of just about anything. Anything that involved being outside whether it was playing games, riding my bike, messing around in the creek, etc. In short, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY. Fast forward to now, and here is the typical summer day I hear: got up at about 11:00 a.m., played Xbox for about 3 hours, then came here (Adrenaline). I see 10 year old kids who can work an Ipad better than me but have no clue what kick ball or capture the flag is. Technology certainly has improved productivity in modern society, but has also made our youth LAZY AS HELL. It is truly an epidemic and it does not help that schools are beginning to remove their P.E. programs eliminating any chance for physical activity. My job as a strength and conditioning coach certainly is performance enhancement, but it is also to improve overall health via physical activity. Seeing these statistics and hearing most of the conversations from young athlete to athlete talking about video games is alarming to me. With that being said, parents and coaches (myself included) need to step up and make a difference. These statistics are simply unacceptable and simple play needs to be re-established as a major activity in the lives of our youth population. Lets make a change and, of course, STAY ACTIVE!