Couch Potato Syndrome: Inactivity in new generations

Foto: courtesy of  www.buzzfeed.com

A few days ago I read a note about the “Easy Bake Oven”. Do you remember it? That orange artifact (at least in MY days) that cooked cakes and cookies by the strength of a 100 watts light bulb. It turns out that the Hasbro Company decided to eliminate in its new redesign that characteristic that made the toy so special. 

The news took me back to my childhood years when kids used to have fun playing kitchen or playing hide and seek, or board games. We used to pitch a tent INSIDE our houses, sometimes mom’s sheets being the victims. We even used the living room or bedroom furniture!

We were in the streets, running from place to place, and if it rained, it was part of the fun. Do you remember having wars with our friends with practically anything we could throw without killing each other? MANY times I got in trouble for making a mess on the street after throwing those seeds that grows in bunches on palm trees, had to get a broom and clean the stuff up…what’s happened to all of that?

What IS a couch potato? 

Ah, the famous couch potato. The term used to describe that individual that only does one thing: sit on his/her sofa all day watching TV or playing video games. Usually we tend to imagine this person still wearing pajamas at noon and possibly with a bowl of cereal in his/her hands…he’s a potato, doesn’t do anything productive. There are MANY young adults (and fully grown adults, sad to say…) that suffer from this “syndrome”, but I’m worried about the next generation.

With the “birth” of the Wii, Playstation, among others, we hardly see kids enjoying that liberty that we loved so much. Not because they’re “imprisoned”, but because technology is at a level that it strives to SIMULATE reality so it’s no longer necessary to LIVE it. Ironic, isn’t it?Now you can be out of your house without being out of your house. However, in many instances these advances cause the Couch Potato Syndrome.

Don’t get me wrong, I love all these technological advances, but we can’t ignore the benefits that playing OUTSIDE, and letting go of the remote control…video game controller…iPad… or iPhone, have for children. According to the website, http://charlinastewart.suite101.com, outdoor games:

• Help with the battle against obesity in children and teenagers
• Strengthens their bones, muscles and lungs
• Building sand castles, playing with their friends and/or exploring nature promote the ability to reason and logical thinking
• It motivates them to take risks, exercises their imagination, it helps them explore their interests and determine what they like to do
• It helps them develop social skills necessary for maintaining healthy relationships throughout their lives
• It turns them into happy kids that will in turn become stable adults

So, let’s turn off the TV, the Wii, the Playstation, whatever, once in a while and let’s get OUT of the house. Let’s play hopscotch, hide and seek, let’s jump rope. Let’s go to the beach, let’s ride a bicycle. Because human contact under the warm sun is more rewarding and hopeful, than the coldness of images on an electronic device.