While a lot of our site is dedicated to protecting your personal computer, managing your on-line identity, and using the internet to your advantage, we have yet to tackle in depth a growing issue in the on-line world: the impact of internet technologies on your health.
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A new study has shown that children and teens in the United States are engaged with ‘media’ for an average of seven hours per day, yes, seven hours (adults are probably not that far behind), and that this is having a dramatic impact on their bodies and, more importantly, their brains and behaviors.
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The term ‘media’ is used broadly in the Journal of Pediatrics study, but the bulk of it refers to new media, the Internet, cell phones and personal computers. Strong correlations between obesity, early adolescent sexual activity and proneness to violence were suggested.
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It is common knowledge that over-computer use leads to poor physical health, but never before has such a strong correlation been made between new media and behavior. It goes to show that the content of new media is shaping us as much as we are shaping it. While to me this study is merely pointing out the obvious, what we can learn from this is that disengagement with new media, or a vacation from the internet, is not only good for the body, it is also good for the mind. Moreover, it shows the power of new technologies and how they shape our societies. I am not much of a Marxist dialectic materialist (if you know your German philosophy), but in light of these great thinkers I can say that this is a pretty clear-cut example of the material world shaping the world of thoughts.
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