Childhood Obesity And Its Effects On The United States Today

Introduction With the recently documented increases in prevalence’s dating as late back as to 1980, pediatric obesity now represents one of the most pressing nutritional problems facing children in the United States today. International population studies report comparable rates of increase, so that if current trends remain unchecked, childhood obesity is likely to challenge worldwide public health. Substantial consequences to physical and mental health, both short and long term, must be anticipated. Unfortunately, there is no uniform definition of childhood obesity. Childhood obesity has been variously described by absolute weight , triceps skinfolds , weight-for-height percentiles, percent of ideal body weight and, most recently, by body mass index (BMI weight in kg=height in meters squared). Although these measures reflect slightly different aspects of body composition or body size, they are moderately well correlated with body fat, even in growing children. In addition to the lack of consistency in the anthropometric measure , the degree of obesity varies from study to study; however, for the majority of studies, a BMI greater than either the 85th or 95th percentile, or a weight-for-height greater than 120% of ideal was considered obese. Although for most children, complications of childhood obesity do not become apparent for decades, the metabolic consequences of obesity may be already evident in young children. Even a young child, if severely obese, can suffer seriousShow MoreRelatedWhy has Childhood Obesity Become a Paramount Problem in the United States?1609 Words   |  7 Pages According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, â€Å"Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years,† (â€Å"Childhood Obesity Facts†). The monumental question that researchers seem to be asking is why the increase now? Childhood obesity has become a paramount problem in the United States in recent years due to various social, biological and technological factors that ultimately requires immediate assistance in order to promote a healthierRead MoreA Brief Note On Fighting Against Childhood Obesity1504 Words   |  7 PagesNCOF: Fighting Against Childhood Obesity In 2006, about 15% of all children and teens, ages 6-19, were obese (Eberstadt 45). How do you maintain a healthy weight? A healthy weight is reached by balancing the number of calories you eat with the number of calories you use. Weight gain occurs when the number of calories you eat is greater than the number of calories you use (Beliefnet 1). The National Childhood Obesity Foundation (NCOF), is working to eliminate childhood obesity by promoting physicalRead MoreChildhood Obesity Is A Common Problem1652 Words   |  7 Pages Childhood obesity is a medical condition of being overweight or obese. This condition has continued to grow and increase over the past five decades. In the US alone there are more than three million cases per year. For one to be obese it means that the individual is significantly overweight for their age and height. The way to tell if someone is obese or overweight is by a BMI, which stands for body mass index. Being overweight is defined as having a BMI th at is at or above the 85th percentile toRead MorePrevalence Of Overweight And Obesity Essay1249 Words   |  5 PagesThe aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of overweight/obesity among parents of children entering childhood obesity treatment and to evaluate changes in the parents’ weight during their child’s treatment (Trier, 2016). The study included the parents of 1,125 children and adolescents (aged 3-22) who were enrolled in a children obesity treatment program. They began by taking the heights and weights of the children and the BMI scores were calculated. After 2.5 years of treatment, theRead MoreA Child s Silent Killer1266 Words   |  6 Pagessweeping over the U.S. today. This ailment can cause numerous types of cancer and is drastically increasing in incidence. The individuals affected are our children and adolescents. No this â€Å"disease† is not untreatable, it is not contagious and there is no chemo involved yet it continues to gro w. Why? When asked to present a problem and a solution, what bigger a problem and easier a solution than the underrated concern of childhood obesity in the United States. Childhood obesity is a serious, life threateningRead MoreObesity And The United States1430 Words   |  6 PagesAccording to an article, â€Å"Obesity in Children†, published through the medicine health website, the issue on childhood obesity in the United States has increased within recent years. â€Å"Today, nearly a third of youths are overweight or obese. That’s more than 23 million children and teenagers,† (Childhood Obesity in the United States). Obesity can eventually lead to different and more serious health issues. Fast food restaurants attract the attention of our younger generation and are some of the mainRead MoreChildhood Obesity : A Epidemic Of Today s Youth1108 Words   |  5 PagesChildhood Obesity Have you ever been told to clean your plate because there are starving kids in Africa? This is a phrase you probably heard from your mother during childhood. With the difference ,in portion control, on the go meals, and lack of exercise in today,s youth, this question can cause a child to be a statistic of childhood obesity. Childhood obesity is one of the United States most leading medical epidemic of today’s youth. According to the Center for Disease Control, seventeen percentRead MoreEssay about Childhood Obesity in African American Children1306 Words   |  6 PagesChildhood obesity is a consequential medical condition that effects the youth and adolescence of society. This disorder creates health problems that were once only seen in adults, such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Although childhood obesity is a world wide issue, the percentage of overweight children differs, especially throughout the United States. Today, the greatest population suffering from th is disease are African American children who reside in the southern part of the countryRead MoreThe Effects Of Processed Food On Obesity1490 Words   |  6 Pages The Effects of Processed Food on Obesity Larry Liu Westview High School Everyday in America the average citizen consumes three to five pounds of food each day (Andrew). The question is â€Å"What exactly are they eating?† The most common food an American consumes is processed food. At least 70 percent of our calories we intake come from processed foods (Warner, 2013, XV). Yes, processed foods are convenient. However, people tend to overlook how much sugar, sodium, and chemicals are inRead MoreThe Role Of The Government On Childhood Obesity Essay1321 Words   |  6 PagesPreventing Childhood Obesity Specific Purpose Statement: To invite my audience to determine the role of the government in preventing childhood obesity. Thesis: With the number of obese children increasing, the government has to step in to reduce this number, but there are people who argue that it is not the government’s role to intervene in the way people raise their children. Introduction I. Attention Getter: According to healthiergeneration.org â€Å"1 in 3 children are overweight or obese in the United States

Author Albert Hirschman Essay Example For Students

Author Albert Hirschman Essay In his work Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, author Albert Hirschman presents a way of understanding individual choice within an institution or organization. Hirschman gives the argument that many aspects of perfectly competitive markets are also applicable to the American political system. His primary interest involves studying what happens when firms, organizations, and states dysfunction, decline, and under-perform and how they receive feedback and correct their errors over time. Thus, this work looks in detail at individuals who are dissatisfied and the choices that they have available. Hirschman cites two basic options that are accessible to displeased employees, consumers, voters, and political candidates: voice or exit. In the former case, the discontent individual expresses his concerns or dissatisfactions to those around him (superiors, colleagues, employees) in order to effect change. In the latter case, the individual simply decides to take his business elsewhere. There are, however, two subcategories of this option: (1) silent exit, in which this said individual does not voice complaints before or after his exit, and (2) exit with voice, in which he expresses his dissatisfaction before and/or after his exit. The two main options are often key choices in a political crisis. This fact is demonstrated in the case of Senator James Jeffords, who switched political parties in May of 2001 from Republican to Independent and thus shifted the balance of power in the United States Congress, an event with many extensive and significant implications. Senator Jeffords case is one of an incomplete exit with a marginal amount of voice both before and after his decision. Jeffords states that he expressed his objections with the new budget and education spending to President Bush throughout the first year of his term. However, he did not make his discontentment known clearly or vehemently enough: in his piece My Declaration of Independence, he cites only a few specific instances in which he explicitly voiced his complaints to a superior. Despite the instances in which he informed the President of his concerns (that he would be a one-term President if he did not move beyond his Conservative Republican base on many issues) and told a CNN reporter of his qualms with the size of the tax cut, Jeffords did not use a strong enough voice until the spring of 2001. By this time, budget talks were well underway and it was almost time to vote on this issue. Thus, he reserved his voice until it was virtually too late for it to be effective. It must be noted, however, that Senator Jeffords does allude to several instances (Republican meetings and more private settings) in which his voiced concerns were either ignored or looked upon with mockery, disbelief, and condescension. These reactions do indeed give validity to his frustration and disillusionment. However, even in light of such causes for dissatisfaction, it was only after his departure from the Republican Party that he truly and publicly expressed his dissatisfaction and expounded upon the reasons behind it. It is now clear that along with his disagreement with the tax cut and education spending, he was also upset with removal of money from the budget for health programs. It is only now that he cites disagreement on other fundamental issues such as: choice, direction of the judiciary, tax and spending decision, missile defense, energy and the environment, and a host of other. This failure to elucidate such disparities discredits his efforts and implies that he could indeed have used a stronger voice before deciding to give up and defect to another political party; an act that many view as disloyal to not only the Republicans but to the state of Vermont as well.

Lack Of Communication In The Organization ACMA †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Lack Of Communication In The Organization ACMA. Answer: Introduction ACMA is an organization holding its travel Call Centre and internet-based activities in both domestic and international market. The organization is aiming to expand its business in the global market but it is facing issues in the staff management. ACMA found that due to lack of communication, the organization is unable to compete in the global market. The purpose of this is to provide staff communication issues faced by the organization in its working. As ACMA has existing 300 members working with them and further they are expecting to broader their base by recruiting 100 more employees and creating a team of 400 employees in the organization. For that purpose ACMA needs to resolve their internal issues and then aim to expand their business. Communication is regarded as the best tool which initiate positive environment in workplace and increases the efficiencies of employees of the organization. It also helps in improving the conditions present in the internal process of the organiza tion. Apart from that communication also helps the organization to get to know about the issues present in the workplace and rectify them effectively. Further it is the duty of the manager to initiate good flow of communication in the organization so that the activities are initiated with ease (Kirilova, and Angouri 2017). The below-mentioned task discusses the framework of communication, its importance in the organization and model which helps in flow of communication. Lastly, recommendations are given to the line manger by the organizational development team to communicate efficiently. Further details about the task are discussed below. Framework of communication Effective communication is a tool which helps the management to perform their regular day to day activities efficiently. The job and responsibilities of the employees are adequately fulfilled in the organization with the help of communication tool. It acts as a foundation to the planning process of the organization. It also plays a key role in the success of the company in the global world. A healthy workplace is an organization where there is a positive environment and positive environment is enhanced by effective communication in the organization. An organization where the employees effectively communicate with each and with the higher level authority can be said that it has good workplace environment. Additionally, there are two types of communication process initiated in businesses which are explained below: Bottom-up communication: this type of communication flows from the subordinates to superiors of the organization. With this method, the employer easily gets to know the needs and requirements of the organization. Due to this process, the employer modifies their policies according to the workplace requirements of employees (Cappelli, and Tavis 2016). Top-down communication: this type of communication flows from the top management of the organization to the lower level management of the organization. This shows that the employer issues their statement to the employees and they employees follow accordingly. With the type of communication, the instructions are properly conveyed to the employees in the organization without any misconception among them. Importance of effective communication Talking about the communication issue in the organization, it shall be noted that communication plays an effective role in determining the workplace management of the organization. Further, the growth of the organization is also enhanced with this process. And, the importance of communication in ACMA is discussed below: Motivation: communication helps in increasing the level of trust among employees in the workplace. It shall be noted that as communication helps in clarifying the confusion among employees due to which the employees are insisted to trust the organization. Trust also helps in increasing the level of motivation of employees and employees being the greatest asset help the company in gaining their desired goals. So, it shall be noted that better the communication, more trust on company and generation of more efficient work in the organization (Kouzes, and Posner 2014). Clarity of work: communication process helps in getting better clarity in work and clarity helps the organization in receiving the desired objectives by the company. if the employees in the organization just perform the task without having any clarification that why is done and how to do it, then the outcomes of that task will not come according to expectations but if the ask is performed under the guidance of employer who is providing details information about the task to the employee. Then it shall be noted that the employee will definitely achieve the targets and achieve success. Also lack of clarification give rise to confusion and confusion give rise to negativity in the organization. Negativity initiates bad workplace management in the organization. Thus, proper communication enhances good work in the organization along with good workplace management as well. Communication is one or the feature which helps the organization in recruitment and selection process as well. Considering to a situation, like there is an effective flow of communication the organization due to which all employees enjoy working in the ACMA organization. Resulting to which, the employees will display a good brand image of the company in the market. As goodwill of the company is circulated in the market due to which all prospective people present in the society aims to become a part of the organization due to which more and more people will join the organization resulting in growth of ACMA in the global business. Enhance teamwork: the process of communication enhances teamwork in the organization. As communication helps in building a team due to which the employee get to know each other work together efficiently. This process also helps in reduction in repetition of work. As all the employees know their jobs and work collectively due to work which repeated work is reduced and efficiency in the organization is increased. Teamwork also helps the organization in creating good workplace environment as well (Osborne, and Hammoud 2017). Co-ordination: co-ordination and teamwork work hand in hand as if there is effective teamwork in the organization there co-ordinated activities are initiated in the management process. Also, communication also initiates co-ordination between different levels of management. The activities happening in the organization are co-ordinated from the top level to lower level of management. Thus, it shall be noted that adequate communication helps to increase the coordination among different level of management. Deduction of delays: it shall be noted that communication process helps the organization in increasing the flow of work and eliminates the repetition of work due to which the time period is taken to complete one trade cycle reduces. This process acts as an achievement for the organization as delays in work is reduced and efficiency in work is increased. Model of communication The Aristotle model shall be looked after by the organization while looking at the communication framework. This model states that speaker is the most important person in the organization who holds efficient communication skills as well. The process goes like, the speaker provides speech to the audience and then the speech is directed to the audience after which they act according to the directions given. Thus in way the message is conveyed and work is work is done by the employees. In the organization ACMA, this model of communication shall be used but it shall be implemented vice versa like the speaker shall provide his speech and the audience shall work accordingly. And then in case if the audience feels confusion regarding some issue then they shall convey their message to the speaker. Then speaker shall act according to the requirement of the employees of the organization. In this way, only efficient communication skills will get enhanced in the organization. It shall be noted t hat both the manager and the employee shall into consideration the words communicated by them, they shall also aim to implement such activities in favor of each other. Then only organization will gain competence in the target market (Holmes, and Stubbe 2015). Recommendations to management of ACMA The fact shall be noted that it is important for the organization to implement activities which assist communication in organization and reduces staff issues. The managers of the organization shall implement various activities to support communication in the organization. Further, some of the recommendations are given to the managers of the organization which can help them to resolve their issues and initiate expansion. Transmission of clear message through manager: the managers of the organization are the leader who leads the whole team and he is also partially responsible for the outcomes of work done by the team. So he shall circulate message in the organization in such a way that it is understandable to all the employees in the organization. The message circulated shall be simple clear and shall hold deep meaning in it. This type of message reduces confusion and disputes among employees and increases clarity in the work. All these effects combine to increase the efficiency in the work of employees. Customer values: the managers shall aim to focus on the values and thinking of customers. As if the manager will initiate activities which is according to the values of then the organization will gain the support of them resulting in the growth of ACMA. Further internal campaigns shall be initiated by the managers to support the employees with their work and guide them to perform better. The manager shall also work with employees in the work field and gain their confidence. This will increase their level of motivation and they will boost themselves to work better (Mackay 2013). Improvise leadership skills: the managers in the organization shall try to improvise their leadership skills because leader is the only person who motivates the team and makes them work in favor of the organization. So, if the leader is inefficient then his team will also not work effectively and produce output. The leader shall first initiate a plan and build a map to follow. Afterwards, he shall follow that plan and ask the team to do the same. Thus, if there is effective communication in the organization then the employees will follow the leader otherwise they will drop the plan in between. So, the leader shall develop a good relationship with employees and then motivate them to work better. Also, the leader shall try to involve in the activities of the team and initiate teamwork to create efficiencies. Focus on interaction more than information: the managers shall focus on interaction with the employees rather than information provided to them. Many times the employees receive information from other sources and they rely on them only and initiate activities accordingly. Instead of that, they shall interact with their team and then gain information by the way of personal interview and group discussions. Then will enhance the communication in the team and it will also help the employer to get to know about the issues faced by the organization (Nordbck, Myers, and McPhee 2017). Evaluating deviations: the managers shall aim to find out the deviations which are affecting the growth of the organization. as it is seen that communication is one of the major staff issues which is barring the growth of the organization, so the managers shall find out the cause of this inefficient communication and then aim to rectify it. They shall analyze both internal and external environment and then develop measure for the same. They shall also seek the acceptance of the employees on such measures. With their involvement in the discussion, the bond of the organization will become strong. Development of authoritative plan: the management shall decide and assign the duties to the employees in the organization which they are accountable. This will help them to look after the deviation easily. Also, author and responsibility help the employees to work better because they will be held liable for their work. Also, the manager shall decide the person to whom the employees shall be accountable and to whom they shall report in case of any issue. Thus, this delegation of authority and responsibility will somehow increase communication and develop the effectiveness of the organization in the global market (Scott 2017). Conclusion Thus, in the limelight of above-mentioned events, the fact that shall be noted is that it is important for the organization ACMA to develop communication in their management to reach target. Communication will reduce the staff issue and help them to achieve the expected goal. Also, the above-mentioned task explains the importance of communication in the organization further it also explains the recommendation given to the management in order to improve their communication skills. Lastly, the fact shall be noted that without effective communication no organization can gain the competitive edge in the target market. References Cappelli, P. and Tavis, A. 2016. The Performance Management Revolution. Harward Business Review, pp. 1-11 Holmes, J. and Stubbe, M., 2015. Power and politeness in the workplace: A sociolinguistic analysis of talk at work. Routledge. Kirilova, M. and Angouri, J., 2017. Workplace Communication Practices and Policies. InRoutledge Handbook of Migration and Language(pp. 540-557). Routledge. Kouzes, J.M. and Posner, B.Z., 2014. The student leadership challenge: Five practices for becoming an exemplary leader. John Wiley Sons. Mackay, H., 2013. Why don't people listen?. Macmillan Publishers Aus Nordbck, E.S., Myers, K.K. and McPhee, R.D., 2017. Workplace flexibility and communication flows: a structurational view.Journal of Applied Communication Research,45(4), pp.397-412. Osborne, S. and Hammoud, M.S., 2017. Effective Employee Engagement in the Workplace. International Journal of Applied Management and Technology, 16(1), p.4. Scott, C.R. ed., 2017.The International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication. Wiley.

IT Security and Landscape Technology †Free Samples for Students

Question: Discuss About The IT Security And Landscape Technology? Answer: Introducation A crisis is ongoing for the past few years related to the security of information technology in various industries. The development in technology has been equally countered by the growing rate of cyber crime and its quality. That is why, a complete security tool is never truly achieved that will provide total protection from all sorts of cyber threats. The cyber criminals seem to stay one-step ahead of those who fight against them. This is business , the developers always think of developing point protection tools that suites their competency. For example, a network developer emphasises security in the network level and develops a network security tool (Jaferian et al., 2014). Similarly, an applications security developer creates and deploys a security tool that protects a device in its application level. Lastly, the groups entitled for the security of computing devices like PC and mobile phones is concerned only with end-point protection and develop security tools accordingly. This has created a major problem as the customers fail to get what they need from the security providers. The incompatibility of the security tools among each other protecting various aspects of a device often provide the window required by the cyber attackers to breach the defence. In order to change this scenario the point of view of the security providers need to change and a holistic approach needs to be adopted like the merging of security and analytics through implementation of emerging promising technologies like Hadoop, advanced data security intelligence and cloud (Rahman, Hidayah Choo, 2015). IT Security Models and Access Controls The growing cyber threat in the present world of technology have raised the need for the implementation of more and more complex protection models and methods to the system. One of the basic process of protection is access control. The purpose of access control is to grant a specific individual some specific set of permissions that are required to gain access to a specific location of a device or any specific information (Jin, Krishnan Sandhu, 2012). A scenario can illustrate this where a person needs to open a door to a room, which is locked, and the individual do not have the key to it. Providing the key to the door of the room will allow that specific individual to unlock the door and gain access to the room. In the field of technology, this operation is achieved by providing the user with a username and password that the user will only know and that will grant access to the required information only to the user. There are four models of an access control, which are Mandatory Acc ess Control (MAC), Discretionary Access Control (DAC), Rule Based Access Control (RBAC or RB-RBAC) and Role Based Access Control (RBAC) (Jin, Krishnan Sandhu, 2012). The MAC provides the owner and the custodian only the management of the access control. There are two security models associated with MAC, namely, Bell-LaPadula and Biba. The DAC permits a user full control over any device owned by the user along with all the programs and components associated with the device. The RBAC allows a user access based on the role played by the user in an organisation. The RB-RBAC sets the access for the user dynamically based on the criteria defined by the system administrator. Apart from the four accesses, control models stated above there are two methods of access control known as logical and physical access control method (Almutairi et al., 2012). IT Security Threat and Risk Assessment The purpose of a threat and risk assessment is to give suggestions to a user that enhances the security of confidential information or content without affecting the functional aspects or usability of the system (Rausand, 2013). Risk assessment can be performed using both internal and external resources in an organisation. The key factors in assessment of threat and risk are as follows: Scope The scope allows an analyst to understand the gaps that need to be covered in a risk assessment. It recognises the vital aspects that need protection and the extent to which it is to be protected (Behnia, Rashid Chaudhry, 2012). Data Collection The process of collection of data includes acquiring all the existing procedures and policies and recognising those are missing or is unaccounted (Behnia, Rashid Chaudhry, 2012). Policy and Procedure Analysis The analysis and assessment of the current procedures and policies is performed to measure the compliance level within the organisation. Sources for compliance of policy that is can be used are ISO17799, BSI 7799 and ISO 15504 (Behnia, Rashid Chaudhry, 2012). Analysis of Vulnerability This method helps analyse the recognised information that is acquired and assess the sufficiency of the protection that is currently in operation and if any more safe guard is required (Behnia, Rashid Chaudhry, 2012). Threat Analysis Threat can be described any sort of harm that can cause interruption, tampering or destruction of any item or service that carries value. Analysis of threat involves the search and detection of such aspects and assessment is done to find possible solutions to such threats (Behnia, Rashid Chaudhry, 2012). Acceptable Risk Analysis The purpose of this sort of analysis is to recognise the protection that is currently being used and the validity of such safe guards. In case the safe guard is found to be insufficient for protection then it is identified as vulnerability (Behnia, Rashid Chaudhry, 2012). References Ab Rahman, N. H., Choo, K. K. R. (2015). A survey of information security incident handling in the cloud. Computers Security, 49, 45-69. Almutairi, A., Sarfraz, M., Basalamah, S., Aref, W., Ghafoor, A. (2012). A distributed access control architecture for cloud computing. IEEE software, 29(2), 36-44. Behnia, A., Rashid, R. A., Chaudhry, J. A. (2012). A survey of information security risk analysis methods. SmartCR, 2(1), 79-94. Jaferian, P., Hawkey, K., Sotirakopoulos, A., Velez-Rojas, M., Beznosov, K. (2014). Heuristics for evaluating IT security management tools. HumanComputer Interaction, 29(4), 311-350. Jin, X., Krishnan, R., Sandhu, R. S. (2012). A Unified Attribute-Based Access Control Model Covering DAC, MAC and RBAC. DBSec, 12, 41-55. Rausand, M. (2013). Risk assessment: theory, methods, and applications (Vol. 115). John Wiley Sons.

How to Write a Sample Greatest Achievement Essay

How to Write a Sample Greatest Achievement EssayIf you are writing a sample greatest accomplishment essay for your graduate school admissions, this article will be very helpful. There are many different steps that you can follow in order to be sure that you will be able to write the best statement possible. Knowing how to write a great statement can make a huge difference in your chances of getting into a top graduate school.The first thing that you need to do in order to write a great statement is to choose a topic that is very personal to you. If you are not very comfortable with this, then you can choose something else like 'My Greatest Achievement.'It's important to get into each paragraph before writing the essay. This will give you the time to brainstorm for a moment. This allows you to get into your own thoughts and emotions about your topic.Once you have brainstormed all of your own thoughts, you should then brainstorm and try to relate each paragraph to what you've already w ritten. Try to be as close to each paragraph as possible so that you are more likely to come up with a coherent idea. After you have written each paragraph, go back and edit the essay. You may want to take it and edit it a bit to make sure that you've chosen the best topic.Writing your essay is a very important part of the application process. Remember that you are required to give a compelling reason for why you deserve to be admitted into the school that you are applying to. The great thing about having a sample greatest accomplishment essay is that you can just copy the entire thing.When you take this approach, you can use the sample to your advantage in terms of making sure that the essay flows correctly. As long as you can still come up with a very compelling reason, then you will be much better off than if you hadn't gonethrough the trouble of writing the essay.If you have already written an essay on your topic, but want to make sure that it flows right, then you can always ta ke another angle. It's also important to make sure that you are looking at other sources when you write your essay. You should definitely look at books, magazines, and even the internet.Writing and editing your essay is certainly going to take some time. However, if you have chosen a good topic and you are able to come up with a great statement, then you should feel confident about completing your application. After all, you will be submitting it to many different schools and admissions officers, so you will want to make sure that you have the best opportunity possible to get into the school that you want to attend.

Are Video Games Influencing Our Children Essays -

Are Video Games Influencing Our Children? Video games were first introduced in the 1970s. By the end of that decade they had become a preferred childhood leisure activity, and adults responded with concern about the possible ill effects of the games on children. Early research on these effects was inconclusive. However, a resurgence in video game sales that began in the late 1980s after the introduction of the Nintendo system has renewed interest in examining the effects of video games. Some research suggests that playing video games may affect some children's physical functioning. Effects range from triggering epileptic seizures to causing heart rate and blood pressure changes. Serious adverse physical effects, however, are transient or limited to a small number of players. Research has also identified benefits associated with creative and pro-social uses of video games, as in physical rehabilitation and oncology (Funk, 1993). Proponents of video games suggest that they may be a friendly way of introducing children to computers, and may increase children's hand-eye co-ordination and attention to detail. VIDEO GAME USE BY CHILDREN Recent studies of television watching by children have included measures of the time children spend playing video games. In 1967, the average sixth-grader watched 2.8 hours of television per day. Data from 1983 indicated that sixth-graders watched 4.7 hours of television per day, and spent some additional time playing video games. A recent study (Funk, 1993) examined video game playing among 357 seventh and eighth grade students. The adolescents were asked to identify their preference among five categories of video games. The two most preferred categories were games that involved fantasy violence, preferred by almost 32% of subjects; and sports games, some of which contained violent sub-themes, which were preferred by more than 29%. Nearly 20% of the students expressed a preference for games with a general entertainment theme, while another 17% favored games that involved human violence. Fewer than 2% of the adolescents preferred games with educational content. The study found that approximately 36% of male students played video games at home for 1 to 2 hours per week; 29% played 3 to 6 hours; and 12 percent did not play at all. Among female students who played video games at home, approximately 42% played 1 to 2 hours and 15% played 3 to 6 hours per week. Nearly 37% of females did not play any video games. The balance of subjects played more than 6 hours per week. Results also indicated that 38% of males and 16% of females played 1 to 2 hours of video games per week in arcades; and that 53% of males and 81% of females did not play video games in arcades. RATING OF VIDEO GAME VIOLENCE Ratings of video game violence have developed as an extension of ratings of television violence. Among those organizations that have attempted to rate television violence, the National Coalition on Television Violence (NCTV) has also developed a system to rate the violent content of video games. The NCTV system contains ratings that range from XUnfit and XV (highly violent) to PG and G ratings. Between summer and Christmas of 1989, NCTV surveyed 176 Nintendo video games. Among the games surveyed, 11.4% received the XUnfit rating. Another 44.3% and 15.3% received the other violent ratings of XV and RV, respectively. A total of 20% of games received a PG or G rating (NCTV, 1990). The Sega company, which manufactures video games, has developed a system for rating its own games as appropriate for general, mature, or adult audiences, which it would like to see adopted by the video game industry as a whole. The Nintendo Company, in rating its games, follows standards modeled on the system used by the Motion Picture Association of America. A problem shared by those who rate violence in television and video games is that the definition of violence is necessarily subjective. Given this subjectivity, raters have attempted to assess antisocial violence more accurately by ranking violent acts according to severity, noting the context in which violent acts occur, and considering the overall message as pro- or anti- violence. However, the factor of context is typically missing in video games. There are no gray areas in the behavior of game characters, and

literary terms for Tragic Mythic Hero Units Flashcard

literary terms for Tragic Mythic Hero Units