The bad news, according to our friends down the road in Santa Monica at the Milken Institute, is that it can make you fat:
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Waistlines
of the World: The Effect of Information and Communications
Technology on Obesity
Summary:
Information and communications technologies
have improved living standards around the world. But the increased amount of
time that people devote to using computers, watching TV and playing video
games- so-called "screen time" -is a significant factor in the global
rise of obesity.
In Waistlines of the World: the Effect of Information and
Communications Technology on Obesity,Institute researchers establish a
direct connection between spikes in technology adoption and subsequent
increases in obesity rates. The report charts the dramatic rise in obesity in
27 OECD countries.
The human and economic cost for the increasing weight of the world
is high. Obesity in particular, and being overweight in general , are triggers
for disability and many chronic diseases, with obesity being the fifth leading
cause of death worldwide. In the United States, the medical-cost burden due to
obesity climbed to 9.1 percent of annual medical spending in 2006, from 6.5
percent in 1998.
The causes for the obesity bulge are various, but the Milken
Institute researchers chart the effect that the worldwide transition toward an
information-based economy has had on work habits and lifestyle.
The good news? The study also found that in countries with high
ICT investment rates, a 1 percent increase in the number of physically active
people can prevent a 0.2 percent rise in obesity. The report makes
recommendations for strategic solutions, and provides information about a
number of programs and policies that governments, corporations, and non-profit
groups around the world have pioneered to keep obesity in check.
Download the paper at
(But maybe you should print it out rather than read it online.)
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