February 19, 2009

TV, Internet, and Your Brain

So, confession time. I'm a Luddite.

No, Crabby, that's not a new religion! I mean I am reluctant to adopt a lot of the new technological 'advancements' out there. I'm so un-cool that I don't even have cable TV. I finally got around to configuring the digital converter so that I could get my local TV news fix in the morning.

Geez. I am not impressed. Even with an electronic antenna to amplify the signal, I am getting about half the channels on my 'fixed' TV that I was getting with the old analog signals. Bah humbug. I figure if war breaks out in my small town, someone will mention it to me.
cat
more animals

Besides, watching TV is bad for you. People can watch TV while they work out, but they rarely do.

Watching TV lowers physical activity. Well, that seems fairly self-evident. Many people watch television while eating dinner or relaxing after work. The trouble is, once people start watching television, they're less likely to get up on the treadmill and start exercising while they watch. I'm still trying to find a study that conclusively proves that the gravitational field around a couch increases as a direct result of a person flopping down on the couch and picking up a remote. I've seen enough anecdotal evidence to make it clear that something happens.

Watching TV makes teenagers more likely to eat fast food. A study that followed about 2000 teenagers and concluded that "high-school kids who watched more than five hours of television per day had a lower intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and calcium-rich foods; and higher intakes of snack foods, fried foods, fast food, sugar-sweetened beverages, and trans fats five years later."

cat
more


To balance this out, I thought it would be fair to include a couple of studies showing how hanging out on the Internet can be bad for you too. I mean, you're sitting still in both cases. But apparently there is a severe lack of studies being undertaken on this subject.

There are studies showing that people can become addicted to the Internet. One researcher claims that up to "10% of all Internet users are afflicted with Internet Addiction Disorder." Hmph. Seems a bit high. Apparently people who cause or suffer from Empty Nest syndrome are more likely to be susceptible to this addiction, i.e. people in their teenage years or in their mid-50s.

Maybe sitting and looking at the computer screen isn't so bad, healthwise. If nothing else, the act of writing burns more calories than watching television does. A 120-pound person burns approximately 55 calories an hour just sitting and watching television. The same person would burn approximately 100 calories by sitting and typing. (Totally spurious Anecdotal evidence suggests that when typing comments on a Cranky Fitness blog, the average person burns 3,325 calories an hour.)

Besides, the Internet provides all kinds of useful information. Some people rely on sources like Daily Kos. Me, I rely on XKCD to tell me the real scoop.



If you had to choose between TV and the Internet, which would you choose?


44 comments:

  1. internet, you can watch tv on your laptop. It's the best of both worlds. :)

    Yes, my name is Elizabeth, and I have a problem.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Definitely the Internet! One, I earn money off of it with my on-line shops. And two, I have lots of friends and family who live long-distances from me. And three, my diet blog helps to keep me motivated. I'd hate to lose any of those things!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I woulld probably say the internet at this point. I do a lot of business online and you can watch videos on the internet, granted not as good as TV but still ok. Love both though.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Internet addiction? Bah humbug!

    Probably not fair to say you're a luddite though. After all, you do run your own blog... No simple technological task.

    My wife and I have started leaving the television turned off most nights. We're working on the 'net and talking.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Choose? Grr! Argh!

    I do my banking online, search for recipes, shop at amazon, email friends and family...I wouldn't say that I'm addicted, but I'm definitely reliant on the Internet.

    But I love TV! And I do watch TV while walking on my treadmill. Do DVDs count as TV? Cause it's true that you can watch some TV online now and it's getting to be more common, so as long as I could still have my DVD sets of TV shows to watch while on the treadmill, I supposed I'd be ok...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Internet. Hands down. It does all that a tv does and then some.

    Yes, I am one of the 10% who are addicted. How could you tell? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Since the Internet, I watch much less TV. I like the interactive nature, and the great people I get to know. It's the real reality display, sort of :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Really easy question. Internet.

    The TV is mostly background noise for me.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The internet. I watch TV shows on hulu. (Hi I'm Tricia and I'm an addict).

    ReplyDelete
  10. Back in August of 2000, I saw a commercial on tv that disgusted me so much (political campaign ad) that I felt like I had just eaten garbage. Only, instead of putting the garbage in my mouth, I had put it in my brain.

    I decided at that moment that I could not watch any more. I gave up tv.

    I figure if the world ends, someone will inform me.

    I could also find out from the internet, which is where I read news headlines.

    My computer desk is set for me to stand at it anyway, so I don't just sit and get lost surfing.

    I could just as easily live without the kids coming in to tell me the latest zingers from Spongebob or Zack and Cody.

    Internet. Hands down.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hahah! I lovelovelove XKCD. And seeing as I don't watch TV but I have not just one, but two jobs that require me to be on the Internet for hours a day, I think you have your answer! Give it up for the addicts!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh the internet wins hands down over television for me. On the internet I can find intelligent conversations, entertaining blobs...err, blogs, and expand my horizons.
    There is rarely anything on television anymore that holds my interest.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Internet. but I have just been contemplating giving up my cable TV and I .JUST.CAN'T.DO.IT!

    addict.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I just read a book on Internet addiction recently..it made a compelling point about how some people are mesmerized on a deep level about the sheer amount of information they can encounter online, and therefore they just keep going on and on surfing. I guess the same can be true for channel surfing for that matter. Both can be addictive for some people. Nonetheless I'd choose the internet over TV, esp. since we an access TV broadcasts online :-)

    ReplyDelete
  15. It's an awful choice to have to make. I survived most of my life without Internet (and other stuff that wasn't invented yet) but we don't need TV either.
    I'd have to go with Internet. It makes me feel as though I have a social life.

    ReplyDelete
  16. A resounding cry of "Internet!" from over here.

    I can't sit still long enough to watch TV but put me in front of a computer and I'm glued. (It's my job too so that's not altogether a bad thing).

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hands down, the internet. I actually didn't watch all that much television until I became one of the unemployed masses (yay economy!) but I've *always* found time for the internet. Friends and interactivity make the internet far superior to something as passive as television. And from reading the preceding comments on this post I'm going to call it: Internetz for the Win!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm deathly afraid that if I get laid off I will develop an unhealthy addiction to soap operas :(

    I suppose for research purposes I should poll people who aren't actually on a computer to see what their preference would be. Nah. I like this method much better.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Definitely internet. In fact, the only tv show I would miss if our tv went away would be Jeopardy. Still haven't found a place to watch that online.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Internet, of course. I mean, I'm here.
    I got an internet connection in 1994, and in April 1996 I moved, and put my tv in the closet until I could decide where to put it. In July 1996 the Olympics came and went (there's an exercise motivator from tv!) and the tv was still in the closet. In 1997 I moved again, removed the tv from the closet and gave it away.

    Then in 2001 I got a laptop that could play DVDs. Now I watch tv again, but only from my netflix account, without commercials and at my time, not theirs.

    "once people start watching television, they're less likely to get up on the treadmill and start exercising while they watch"--unfortunately for the Luddites, this is equally true of reading books....

    Mary Anne in Kentucky

    ReplyDelete
  21. Oh damn. I hadn't thought of that.
    Still, turning the pages uses up more calories than pressing the buttons on a remote.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I'm a Luddite, too! Let's MAKE it a religion, shall we? I purposely am not getting a digital converter because I couldn't think of anything on the eight channels I get that I would truly miss. Not now that I can Hulu The Biggest Loser and watch Lost online. Although watching these on the Internet surely doesn't cause weight loss, at least I don't have to watch junk food commercials that normalize pigging out while viewing.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Shooooot. Anymore, the TV and internets are one and the same. And we've got our computer wired to our TV through the PS3. It's sick.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Internet, for sure!

    You can get TV on the internet now. If I had to give up my TV, I would get a bigger monitor. Is that cheating?

    ReplyDelete
  25. If I have to choose one, it's definitely going to be the internet. I spend far more time entertaining myself on the computer than I ever do watching television and the programs I do enjoy can easily be watched on the computer, even if it means waiting one more day. I would be bored with only television in the house, though the house would actually be cleaner than it usually is.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Oh golly, yeah, the internet. It can be whatever you want it to be, but the TV you can only yell at, which doesn't do much good.

    Don't get me started. I believe the education crisis in this country is PRIMARILY due to the ubiquity of television. Let alone class size, teacher quality and parental involvement: get rid of TV and scores would automatically go up. Oh, and video games too. [Full disclosure: I grew up with no TV until I was almost thirteen, except what I saw at my relatives' houses, etc.]

    ReplyDelete
  27. My only problem with that study about how teens who watch five hours of tv per day are more likely to be less diet conscious as adults is this: any kid who has parents who allow them to watch five hours of tv a day (with school, how would they have the time?!), is probably also not teaching them the things they should know about how to feed themselves properly.

    I think if I had to choose, I would take the internet over the tv. As other people have pointed out, you can always watch tv through the net. Or is that cheating?

    ReplyDelete
  28. i can live without tv - i did it in college for my first three years. even then, i only bought a tv as basically a textbook for a broadcast news class because depending on your role in class that day, you had to record and log the 6am newscast.

    internet, though? never. i can't seem to break my internet addiction and always travel with mr. laptop.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I vote for the internet as well, and god bless Al Gore for inventing it.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Heh, we killed our TV years ago. I don't miss it. Living without the internet on the other hand - heresy! (Yes, I fit into one of the mentioned age ranges.) I think this reply just burned about 37 calories or so?

    ReplyDelete
  31. Easy: the internets. I only watch TV while using the treadmill.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Internet. Definitely. I'm not a big TVer...I find it will suck away my time, and I'm too likely to eat mindlessly in front of it.

    ReplyDelete
  33. So it's probably wrong that I have a TV up here beside my computer and am often doing both at the same time, eh? Ah well. Like most everyone else, I'd choose Internet over TV. My PEOPLE are all out here!

    ReplyDelete
  34. Internet. Definitely, definitely internet. Most of the shows I really like stream online, anyway. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  35. You know, my husband and I just canceled our cable last month because it's such a time sucker! We're so much more productive without it AND we get to have really great conversations. Go figure!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Definitely internet. Whatever I want to watch I can download or stream. And then there are the blogs and other great procrastination devices...

    ReplyDelete
  37. I work on a pc all day. The last thing I want to do when I get home is click more mouse! Call me old-fashioned, call me lazy, call me addicted -- I need TV. Food Network, A&E, and ESPN. I'm a happy girl.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Definitely - the Internet is absorbing TV more and more each day so Internet is my choice all the way!! LOVE the pic of the cat watching his stories! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  39. Hehe I heart XKCD.

    I prefer the Internet. If it were up to me, I wouldn't have cable- that's the roommates nagging. I pretty much never watch tv but I'm on the computer CONSTANTLY. It's a bad bad addiction.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Definitely internet for me. I get all my info online, and it's how I stay in touch with family (husband is retired from the Navy so I live far from all my family and friends).

    ReplyDelete
  41. I spend WAY more time on the internet than the tv now; so I actually have a higher percentage of stupid wasted time online. When I watch tv, it's on purpose, and it's often pretty high-quality shows or dvds.

    I'd actually probably be better off giving up the web than TV--but would never do it--too addicted!

    ReplyDelete
  42. Internet! I've been on a TV fast since 1992.

    ReplyDelete
  43. That's an evil question, Merry! Although you can watch movies and tv on your laptop, I would hate to hunt down all my shows. lol. Lazy bad girl, but a lot of them are nerdy - does that count? No? Dang. I, too, like Elizabeth and others have a problem!

    I have no idea which I'd chose. Sad, isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  44. How would I shop if I didn't have the internet? LOL

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting, Cranky Fitness readers are the BEST!

Subscribe to comments via RSS

(Note: Older Comment Threads Are Moderated)