[ACME Discuss List] SMART Program to Prevent Obesity / Recommended by Public Health Agency of Canada

Mon Jun 27 20:36:49 EDT 2011

Interesting thread.  Jacques Brodeur's original post was about a program designed to limit TV AND video game (and presumably the equally sedentary computer socializing) watching by youth   This very limited approach to limiting TV watching morphed into a broader rejection of TV by Deborah D. Hall, and rather brave comment on the possible utility of TV David Kleeman.  This was seconded and expanded upon by Jessica Z. Brown. There are at least two reasons people put forth for discouraging watching TV.  One is that watching TV (and several other psychologically seductive, highly sedentary pursuits such as video-gaming) contribute to an unhealthy life pattern lacking in sufficient exercise.  There are other reasons as well, such as copmpulsive eating while watching, and the social isolation that solitary watching can generate.  The second general reason put forth for not watching TV is that it is a mind-numbing cultural wasteland, and time spent watching TV detracts from time better spent doing more fullfilling activities.    It is useful during debates over TV watching to keep these two different reasons (and others I may not have mentioned) clearly in mind.  
---------- Original Message ----------
From: "Jessica Z. Brown" <curtjes at swbell.net>
To: "Teacher2011DH at gmail.com" <Teacher2011DH at gmail.com>, acmediscuss at list.acmecoalition.org
Subject: Re: [ACME Discuss List] SMART Program to Prevent Obesity / Recommended by Public Health Agency of Canada
Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2011 06:37:44 -0700 (PDT)

I have to agree with David....100%

And, as a media educator, I find� familiarizing� myself with� each of the mass communications channels gives me a better understanding of the codes and conventions of each, and an appreciation for the dramatic as well as nuanced differences between/among them.

And, absolutely.... tv production has the ability to unleash powerful storytelling.�� I'm constantly amazed by the on-going experimentation with innovative� formats, dialogues, production techniques that tv can provide to perpetuate some powerful examples of good storytelling.� .

And I say RADIO is wonderful...for different reasons.� In the classroom, especially,� It's the comparison that's impt.�� 

Glad to re-visit this subject from time-to-time!

Thanks,

Jessica Z. Brown
President
Gateway Media Literacy Partners, Inc.
www.gmlpstl.org
�

--- On Sun, 6/26/11, David Kleeman <dkleeman at atgonline.org> wrote:

From: David Kleeman <dkleeman at atgonline.org>
Subject: Re: [ACME Discuss List] SMART Program to Prevent Obesity / Recommended by Public Health Agency of Canada
To: "Teacher2011DH at gmail.com" <Teacher2011DH at gmail.com>, "acmediscuss at list.acmecoalition.org" <acmediscuss at list.acmecoalition.org>
Date: Sunday, June 26, 2011, 2:40 PM

Deborah,

Perhaps you meant to write only to Mr. Brodeur and not the entire list, but since you have, I'll take the opportunity to pose a question in reply.� My question relates to a theme that I often feel underlies message here, so I pose it to all on the ACME board, not you personally.

The suggestion of your message is that not watching TV for several years is a righteous achievement.� I wonder - and more important I fear for what it means for educating kids as media literate citizens - why we attribute moral failing to time spent with TV, as a generic platform. Would you as proudly state that you never read newspapers, or haven't used the Internet for 2-3 years?

What of the important content that comes to us via TV? In the event of a national moment of importance (e.g., a 9/11, a major election, a natural disaster), would you not turn on the TV in order to preserve your conscientious objector status?� Would you rather skip a favorite sports team playing for the championship than turn on the television?� TV carries exceptional storytelling, and not just on public or non-commercial cable; do you avoid these only because of the device on which they enter the home (and, IMHO, TV productions online are still TV).

Every year or so, a similar issue of moral superiority in being anti-TV arises here as someone praises the TV-B-Gone - the remote on/off switch that enables one person to decide for everyone around that a television in a public space is annoying.

I have no objection to any person choosing not to own or watch a television.� My problem is with holding up one's personal decision as better than others'.� So, I ask in all seriousness, how does a group devoted to media education expect to educate young people to make informed and thoughtful use of the media in which they are immersed - even to reduce, as Canada's program recommends, but by making more conscious choices - with a "turn it all off" message?

David Kleeman

Sent from my iPad

David W Kleeman
President
American Center for Children and Media
5400 N St. Louis Ave
Chicago, IL 60625
773-509-5510 (o) / 312-371-4921 (m)

On Jun 26, 2011, at 7:33 AM, "Deborah D. Hall" <teacher2011dh at gmail.com> wrote:

> Bonjour Mr Brodeur,
> Thanks for the websites. I don't have direct use for this data in my
> classroom...but, you might find it interesting that I personally have
> not watched any TV in the past 2-3 years.
> Deborah D. Hall
> 
> On 6/25/11, jbrodeur at edupax.org <jbrodeur at edupax.org> wrote:
>> Hello to you ACME members and friends,
>> Some of us consider media education as (only) the share of knowledge
>> about screens.
>> Most of us think (know) that education is a mix of knowledge and action.
>> The Public Health Agency of Canada recommends the use of a mix of media
>> awareness + screen time reduction as a way to improve young people's
>> health.
>> PHAC published a list of best practices to prevent obesity on its Portal
>> for Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention.
>> Here's what they write about SMART (acronym of Student Media Awareness
>> to Reduce Television).
>> http://cbpp-pcpe.phac-aspc.gc.ca/intervention/84/view-eng.html
>> I hope it can be helpful to most of you and your students.
>> Jacques Brodeur, Edupax, jbrodeur at edupax.org
>> <> http://edupax.org <> http://screenoverdoseconf.edupax.org <>
>> http://jacbro13.com/colloques/c2-4maia.php <>
>> Founding Member of ACME
>> 
>> SMART is a school-based program to prevent obesity in children through
>> the reduction of time spent in front of the TV : watching
>> programs/movies/videos, or playing video games.
>> It is thought that these behaviours will be subconciously replaced by
>> more active activities by the child.
>> The intervention involved approximately 18 in-class lessons (30- to
>> 50-minute each) taught by the classroom teacher over the course of the
>> school year.
>> In addition to the lessons, the children participated in a 10-day
>> television turn-off.
>> After the turn-off, children were encouraged to follow a 7 hour/week
>> television budget.
>> To encourage this, each household received an electronic television time
>> manager.
>> When compared to a control group, the intervention was found to decrease
>> BMI, triceps skinfold thickness, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip
>> ratio.
>> The intervention also significantly decreased children's television
>> viewing (by approximately one-third), video viewing and video game use.
>> Finally, the intervention also had effects on eating behaviours, such as
>> eating meals in a room with the television turned on and servings of
>> high-fat foods consumed.
>> More: http://cbpp-pcpe.phac-aspc.gc.ca/intervention/84/view-eng.html
>> 
>> *For additional information about the intervention:
>> *To order program materials:
>> The Stanford Health Promotion Resource Center: Student Media Awareness
>> to Reduce Television (S.M.A.R.T.)
>> http://hprc.stanford.edu/pages/store/itemDetail.asp?169
>> *For systematic reviews which include article/report:
>> *H Thomas, D Ciliska, S Micucci, J Wilson-Abra and M Dobbins (2004)
>> Effectiveness of physical activity enhancement and obesity prevention
>> prevention programs in children and youth. Health
>> Canada.<http://old.hamilton.ca/phcs/ephpp/Research/Summary/2004/HealthyWeightsFull2004.pdf>
>> http://old.hamilton.ca/phcs/ephpp/Research/Summary/2004/HealthyWeightsFull2004.pdf*
>> For site where document is available:
>> *TN Robinson (1999) Reducing Children's Television Viewing to Prevent
>> Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Trial. JAMA 282(16): 1561-1567.z
>> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10546696*
>> For document references or commentaries:
>> *KEN Effective school-based physical activity interventions
>> http://www.sic.cancer.ca/manitoba/prevention/mb-knowledge%20exchange%20network/~/media/CCS/Manitoba/Files%20List/English%20files%20heading/pdf%20not%20in%20publications%20section/KEN%20-%20Children%20School-based%20Physical%20Activity_567321677.ashx
>> <http://www.sic.cancer.ca/manitoba/prevention/mb-knowledge%20exchange%20network/%7E/media/CCS/Manitoba/Files%20List/English%20files%20heading/pdf%20not%20in%20publications%20section/KEN%20-%20Children%20School-based%20Physical%20Activity_567321677.ashx>
>> 
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