Technology and Obesity

The U. S. obesity rate should alarm all of us. Technology gets a bum rap as a primary cause, but whether it’s the fast food, stress, culture, depression, isolation, or whatever… it’s in the classroom. Technology educators are natural problem solvers and we can help. It’s time to plug in a physical activity component when teaching with technology. Let’s hear it for Geocaching. The trend toward smaller, portable devices should help, too. A lot of schools are putting in Dance Dance Revolution. (If you can’t beat it, automate it.) West Virginia and Hawaii have a statewide programs for DDR. Of course, physical education teachers have embraced technology, but that’s not enough. What about teachers who spend most of their days indoors with kids and computers? We need a revolution in the proportion of sit/screen time to physical activity, right through grade 12.