With the rise of streaming services and the prevalence of video games, contemporary children spend a significant amount of time on screens and less time engaging in physical activity. Although I agree that physical activity is vital, I do not think it and screen time are mutually exclusive; I therefore disagree that we need to eradicate screens fully to keep our children healthy. In this essay, I will discuss this issue using examples to support arguments and demonstrate points.
On the one hand, screen time can lead to an overall decline in physical health. When children pass hours frozen, watching a video, they harm their bodies and their minds. For example, doctors agree that children who spend more than the average amount of time on screens per day without moving are more likely to be obese than children who spend below average time watching screens. Therefore, minimizing static screen time is indeed a worthy goal.
However, this does not mean that the only way to do this is by getting rid of screens. Recently, programmers have developed a variety of applications that encourage children to move. By training them to dance, perform martial arts, or do calisthenics, these screen-based activities actually encourage movement. In fact, it has been noted that, on average, using such applications burn more calories per day than a game of kickball. Encouraging children to use their screen time on such applications would therefore give them the best of both worlds.
To sum up, although a sedentary lifestyle has clear dangers, screen use is not necessarily an indication that children will burden our health system; by using screens to promote, rather than replace, physical activity, we can prevent widespread health issues due to lack of movement. To this end, parents should consider encouraging children to use movement-based apps.
With the rise of streaming services and the prevalence of video games, contemporary
children
spend a significant amount of
time
on
screens
and less
time
engaging in
physical
activity
. Although I
agree
that
physical
activity
is vital, I do not
think
it and
screen
time
are
mutually
exclusive; I
therefore
disagree that we need to eradicate
screens
fully
to
keep
our
children
healthy. In this essay, I will discuss this issue using examples to support arguments and demonstrate points.
On the one hand,
screen
time
can lead to an
overall
decline in
physical
health. When
children
pass hours frozen, watching a video, they harm their bodies and their minds.
For example
, doctors
agree
that
children
who spend more than the average amount of
time
on
screens
per day without moving are more likely to be obese than
children
who spend below average
time
watching
screens
.
Therefore
, minimizing static
screen
time
is
indeed
a worthy goal.
However
, this does not mean that the
only
way to do this is by getting rid of
screens
. Recently, programmers have developed a variety of applications that encourage
children
to
move
. By training them to dance, perform martial arts, or do calisthenics, these screen-based
activities
actually encourage movement. In fact, it has
been noted
that, on average, using such applications burn more calories per day than a game of kickball. Encouraging
children
to
use
their
screen
time
on such applications would
therefore
give them the best of both worlds.
To sum up, although a sedentary lifestyle has
clear
dangers
,
screen
use
is not
necessarily
an indication that
children
will burden our health system; by using
screens
to promote,
rather
than replace,
physical
activity
, we can
prevent
widespread health issues due to lack of movement. To this
end
, parents should consider encouraging
children
to
use
movement-based apps.