The focus thus far has been the role that television viewing, particularly food advertisements, plays in childrenвЂ™s food preferences, consumption patterns, and health outcomes ( McGinnis et al., 2006). 8-to 18-year-old youth spending on average 7.5 hours each day using media ( Rideout et al., 2010), it is timely for policy makers and social scientists to consider media a primary target in pediatric obesity prevention.

Given the pervasiveness of digital media in childrenвЂ™s daily lives, with U.S. Both pathways can lead to an imbalance in energy in which more calories are consumed than expended, thereby resulting in weight gain, which can lead to overweight and obese youth. The second pathway involves the sedentary behavior that often accompanies media experiences ( Vandewater & Cummings, 2008). One pathway to obesity involves the marketing of foods and beverages that are high in calories and low in nutritional value ( McGinnis, Gootman, & Kraak, 2006). Moreover, 80% of overweight adolescents become obese adults ( Whitaker, Wright, Pepe, Seidel, & Dietz, 1997), which dramatically increases the risks for lethal chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and certain cancers ( WHO, 2011a).Дigital media, a major pastime of children and adolescents ( Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010), are implicated in this epidemic in at least two ways. Overweight and obese youth are expected to have shorter life spans than their parents, suffering from major health problems including type 2 diabetes and hypertension ( Koplan, Liverman, & Kraak, 2005). In the United States alone, one third of all children and adolescents are now overweight or obese ( Ogden, Carroll, Curtin, Lamb, & Flegal, 2010). Rates of pediatric overweight and obesity exceed 20% in at least 30 countries worldwide, including the United States, Canada, Kuwait, New Zealand, and China ( IASO, 2011). Globally, 43 million overweight children under age 5 now join the 1.5 billion overweight and 500 million obese adults ( World Health Organization, 2011a). Policy makers, social scientists, and the public are increasingly concerned by obesity rates, a worldwide epidemic that is rapidly spreading throughout the developed world that casts a long shadow on the future of children and youth.

Throughout the article, we discuss the role of public policy to encourage the development and use of health-promoting digital games as an innovative, effective tool to combat the pediatric obesity crisis. Theoretical explanations including the food marketing defense model, persuasion knowledge model, and social cognitive theory are used to explain the influence of gaming on young playersвЂ™ health. Using the popular digital gaming platforms advergames (online games that market branded products) and exergames (video games that involves gross motor activity for play) as exemplars, the following article provides an analysis of the negative and positive health impacts of digital gaming as they relate specifically to overweight and obesity outcomes for children and adolescents. However, exposure to nonnutritious food and beverage advertisements combined with the use of stationary media create a conflict between entertainment and public health. Children and adolescents in developed countries are heavily immersed in digital media, creating an inexpensive, far-reaching marketing opportunity for the food industry and the gaming industry.

Play free nabisco games