The problem in this case is whether or not that researchers have been able to establish a correlational relationship between watching TV and shortening one's life. Researchers only did this study over time and they were unable to keep the environment constant, as it keeps changing and could result to an average life span decrease in a certain country; which has little to no correlation between the amount of type watching TV. This study isn't a representative of the whole population and it claims that "after the age of 25 watching 60 minutes of television is like smoking two cigarettes", and can be only limited to those who are Australian and are 25 years old or older. The findings could also have been some biological change within a person when they reach 25 years or older or it could be due to the fact that more pressure is put onto people of this age. It should also be noted that there are different types of televisions, LCD, LED, plasma and these TVs all have different amount of radiation that is emitted. TVs containing a cathode ray tube produce a good amount of electromagnetic radiation while the LCD TVs product much less . In our what we define are our universe, electromagnetic waves are a whole spectrum of wavelengths, where humans can only see a little part of-visible light, wavelengths which are higher or lower than that of visible light isn't unable to be seen by the naked eye. These types of EM waves are travelling all throughout our environment and remain undetected and travel at the speed of light (3.00x108 m/s). Most notably gamma radiation, which is produced through the radioactive decay can travel through most substances and only stopped by high density objects such as lead; just like radiation produced by televisions these are invisible to the naked eye.
Although there is mention that TV causes lack of activity, it doesn't address that TV is also a source of media that could encourage people to try certain things; as seen by the pioneer Jack LaLanne who inspired his viewers to work out as "he laid the groundwork for others to have exercise programs…it has bloomed from that black and white program into a very color enterprise" Arnold Schwarzenegger 1990. In society there are also people who watch an hour or more of TV and also exercise several days a week, and should by calculation of life-span, passed away from too much time spent in front of a TV. The only aspect of this study that is undeniable is that fact that television will have an effect towards shortening one's lifespan although one cannot be sure for certain exactly how much it will shorten. If television really causes for people to shorten their life by 22 minutes per hour, then what would that say about those who sit in front of computers for most of their days?
In my opinion, it seems that watching TV has little effect on shortening a person's life-span and holds no significance. What cannot be argued against is that the EM radiation that comes from TV does have an effect and although it cannot be seen under normal circumstances don't mean that it is something that doesn't exist. This experiment is making too bold of a claim that these two factors have a relationship when they truly do not.
Similar issues like this one also claim that children who watch too much TV may actually have a higher possibility of developing health problems. There seems to be little data to prove that these children wouldn't have developed aggressive behavior even without watching TV. Another article mentions that "a person who watches an average of six hours of TV a day would live on average 4.8 years les than someone who watches none" and this raises the question of whether those who don't own TV and therefore cant watch them, live in the exact same environmental, social and economical statues as those who own them.
Reference:
http://www.epa.gov/radtown/tv-computer.html
http://www.emwatch.com/DomAppl.htm
I like how you discuss the issue that this study is not applicable outside of Australia, and that perhaps the effect of watching TV may solely be from factors like lack of activity. I feel that an article like this doesn't deserve the title "an hour of TV can shorten your life by 22 minutes" if it doesn't isolate extraneous variables, and focus only on the effect of merely watching TV.
ReplyDeleteI also like how you mention that it is not the act of watching TV that shortens life, it is the radiation that the TV emits that shortens life. However, I dislike this, and articles like this, in that it is not an empirical study. There are too many extraneous variables in play to accurately discern that the radiation emitted from TV takes away 22 minutes of life per one hour of viewing. It could be more, it could be less, it could even be something completely different. But the only thing we know for certain at this point in time, is that radiation is potentially dangerous to our well being.
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ReplyDeleteThe controversial argument in this article is whether or not there is a correlational relationship between watching television and shortening one’s life. The research explains this phenomenon by noting the fact that different types of televisions radiate different amount of radiations and rays that travel in our environment at the speed of light (3.00x108m/s) which results a damage in human beings health condition. Personally, this main argument is not strong enough to say that the television can be a deadly weapon to a person’s life spam. First, fate is unpredictable; simply by manipulating an observational experimental method for a year and drawing conclusions from that short amount of time is not enough evidence to predict one’s living rate. Also, another obvious extraneous variable in this article is that no one can be certain on exactly how much the radiation from television will damage one’s health. Next, it is impossible to conduct an experiment on this due to the ethics involved. This is because purposefully collecting participants to sit in front of the television for over a year and measuring their level of health deteriorate is like asking them to commit suicide. Even though it is a well known fact that too much television can damage certain body parts, for instance, eyes, and maybe psychological disorders like obsession of television; however, too many variables are capable of doubting the reliability of the Australian researcher’s study investigating the damage of television on health.
ReplyDeleteThis article is clearly questionable and raises an issue of the correlation between tv watching and lifespan. As stated in the blog post, the research lacks valid evidence in supporting their claim that watching tv shortens one's life. This research makes it sound as if watching tv is the sole cause of a shortened lifespan, when in fact other factor may have contributed to it, such as the lack of activity. It is of course that watching tv may cause harmful effects such as obesity, increased violent behavior, and other physical and mental health problems. These are all effects that may eventually lead to a shortened life span; however, the direct correlation between watching tv and lifespan should be questioned. Also, if watching tv really does pose such threat to human life, shouldn't this activity be highly discouraged? However, manufacturers and companies continue to produce and promote this product, for watching tv is a medium of both entertainment and education. It is fair to say that watching tv brings both positive and negative effects to one's life, but so does a lot of other activities such as using computers and other electronics. Therefore, it is probably most important that one knows how to make good and healthy use of these applications and also learns the tips to a more balance and healthier life.
ReplyDeleteI like how you really balanced both sides of the argument and attacked the points made in the article with counter arguments. This was especially apparent in the argument that watching TV may limit your amount of physical activity, because people become lazy on the couch. This brought up the point that some types of TV can motivate you to be active. For example, there are many movies or TV shows that promote healthy lifestyles and exercise. Also, there are many exercise DVD’s that assist you in the process of building or toning your muscle.
ReplyDeleteOverall (agreeing with you), I fail to see the connection between the amount of TV someone watches and their life expectancy. There are many flaws in the research study such as limitations in population size, extraneous variables, etc. The subjects studied in this particular experiment were Australians, and so there could be a possible limitation of ethnicity/race. Also, there are many other factors that may have influenced their health, and therefore shortened their life expectancy. Lastly, we must take into account that not every bit of radiation that we are exposed to come from our TV’s. Our cell phones, computers, and other electronic devices also contribute to the amount of radiation we are exposed to daily.
The question addressed here should also be the difference between causation and correlation. Does TV cause life to be shortened, or are the two merely correlated? This question is addressed in the issue of whether or not vaccine shots cause dangerous and negative consequences on human health. For example, in October 2009, 14 year old Natalie Morton died shortly after being given the vaccine that protects against cervical cancer. The vaccine was encouraged to be given to all British girls between ages 12 and 18 since September 2008. However, seeing as Natalie turned pale, stopped breathing, and tragically passed away almost immediately after being given the vaccine, it was logically assumed that the causation of her death lied within the vaccine itself. However, using biological testing, it was found that the true causation lied within an undiscovered tumor. Going back to the current issue, does the TV directly impact human health, or is it coincidence? For example, could it be that sitting down for extended periods of time, rather than watching TV, is what affects the length of human life?
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, although the statement may be general in assuming that TV affects human health, shortening life, what evidence do you have stating that TV has little effect? Also, is it possible to use biological evidence to support your claims? However, I think it’s important you addressed the fact that the article’s argument has very little research or data supporting the author’s claims. For now, I think it’s difficult to determine whether or not watching TV has a negative impact.