The Effects of Television on Obesity In today's world, society relies heavily on technology for daily life. Everywhere, from the alarm clock that wakes us up in the morning to the phones we use to talk to each other. Social media is part of technology. I know I separate myself from social media by just watching television. I watch television for about three hours a day. I counted the number of commercials during a half-hour show. There were twenty-one commercials and sixteen of them contained some type of food. In an hour-long show, I counted thirty commercials and, once again, sixteen had some sort of reference to food and there was only one that contained exercise. I'm not saying this is true of every TV show. This just goes to show that even advertisements, from dating to car commercials, have some reference to food. In a car ad, the couple in the car reflected on having eaten terrible food at a restaurant they went to, but the ad was about a car. Another example would be a commercial promoting a dating site, and in the background, there are people who were "together because of the site" and eating. Having these statistics does not mean that children and teenagers watch all the channels where these commercials are broadcast, but they see many of them while watching television. I am addressing parents directly so that they understand how much advertising children and teenagers see and what effect it has on them. Food advertising has increased obesity rates in children and adolescents. It is up to parents to change the number of commercials their children see while watching television.Children and teenagers watch televisionI have worked with children in the past and, from that experience,...... middle of paper.... ...Brown, Jane D. and Piotr S. Bobkowski. “Older and Newer Media: Usage Patterns and Effects on Adolescent Health and Well-Being.” Journal of Adolescent Research (Blackwell Publishing Limited) 21.1 (2011): 95-113. Premier of academic research. Network. February 28, 2013.Daniel, Kylie. “Celebrity Influences on Adolescents Through Advertising” Yahoo! Inc., 2013. Web. April 28, 2013 Facts for Families. “Obesity in Children and Adolescents” American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 79 (2011). Network. April 28, 2013. Nestlé, Marion. “Food Marketing and Childhood Obesity: A Policy Question.” The New England Journal of Medicine, June 15, 2006. Web. March 10, 2013 Powell, Lisa M., Glen Szczypka, Frank J. Chaloupka. Trends in exposure to television food advertising among children and adolescents in the United States. 164-9 JAMA Pediatrics, September 2010. Web. March 10, 2013