Parlor Spider...Step In, Little Fly

Insightful thoughts and/or rants from atop the soapbox from one who wishes to share the "right" opinion with everyone.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Map My...Oh Wait, I Have A Call...

In research that will shock, well, nobody, in a study completed at Kent State University and published recently in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, smart phones came under a degree of criticism for lessening activity levels among college students.
OK, for one thing, college students are hardly noted for an overabundance of physical exertion at any time before, say, midnight on a Thursday.
Secondly, this demographic has become something of a lightning rod for criticism concerning the amount of time it spends interacting in cyberspace as opposed to, say, talking to someone or actually doing homework.
So, it should come as no serious "holy cow" moment that a study of college students' cardiovascular endurance and BMI showed significant decreases/increases when paired with time spent in cyberspace (apparently, no weightlessness in cyberspace).
here's the skinny: researchers at Kent State University in Ohio studied 305 college students to compare fitness standards with the amount of time spent with tech devices. One might think that such things, especially phones with "Map My Walk/Run/Bike" applications might encourage students to stay fit as they recorded progress. Not so much. social media, sites like Pinterist, and online games were by far the choice for interruptions to a workout.
Students were divided into three groups:
1. Low users (90 minutes or less a day spent using the smart phone).
2. Moderate users (5 hours or so per day)
3. Heavy users (14 hours per day spent using a smart phone)!!:0

In part two of the study, 49 subjects were chosen at random from among the three predetermined groups, and surprise of surprises, heavy phone users were far more inclined to sedentary activities, had poorer cardiovascular health and higher BMI ratios than did the low or moderate users.
I know...some shock.
Another example of research proving what we surmised already.
The study did not account for the number of head injuries suffered by college students walking into things while focusing totally on their phones.
Now THAT would be a study I would like to read!

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