Teach the kids to Ride

Get Your Kid Off the Tablet. This post does intend to get into the science of why a sedentary lifestyle is terribly unhealthy, and why those negative health effects can and will be exacerbated by too much exposure to technology, but let’s start with an anecdote.

Have you at least once, in the past week, been out in public, and seen a child absorbed by a phone or tablet?

We can only assume the answer is not just yes, but that this has happened to you multiple times.

Let’s go deeper. How many times have you seen parents pacify their children by distracting them with technology?

This problem is deeply rooted in our society, and has far-reaching deleterious effects that you might not have even considered.

For our part, we’re fighting this anathema because we encourage a healthy lifestyle. While you don’t need to be a dedicated adherent to unicycle riding to reap the benefits of physical fitness, it certainly doesn’t hurt.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle paired with overexposure to technology.

The Negative Effects of Too Much Technology Exposure

If you can excuse the hyperbole, overexposure to technology is absolutely disastrous for a child’s health as well as development. Overall, overexposure is so patently bad that it’s actually difficult to know where to start.

But let’s start here. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, overexposure to technology in children (specifically a higher frequency of internet use) was determined, based on a review of several studies, to decrease verbal intelligence and reduce brain volume after a few years.

The same review found that overexposure to television was correlated with a higher incidence of negative body image in children, which must necessarily have a negative effect on self-esteem.

On the cognitive note, overexposure to technology and the internet (which includes social media) harms a student’s attention span. It also increases depressive symptoms in children and teens, particularly those that are at highest risk to begin with.

This might sound like a stretch, but according to some sources, indulging in excessive consumption of media or games through the internet actually increases the likelihood of following a diet that is bad for the health, doubling down on the issue.

Unsurprisingly, increased use of technology and media through technology also has a net negative effect on children’s social development. In other words, too much technology doesn’t only physically harm their health, it makes it harder for them to learn how to appropriately interact with peers and develop relationships.

On a similar note, another study found that excessive screen time harmed a child’s development in other ways, adversely affecting executive functioning, language processing, and more.

And, as for a sedentary lifestyle, that it’s unhealthy, well, that’s foregone. Among the numerous negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle, which is correlated to increased technology use and media consumption are:

• Higher risk of obesity
• Muscle atrophy
• Increased risk of musculoskeletal issues as a loss of bone density
• Decreased immune function
• Decreased circulation
• Higher risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol and diabetes
• Increased risk of depression or anxiety

It’s important to note that there are many other dangerous side effects of an excessively sedentary lifestyle; this is just a snapshot but it paints a picture of the risks.

Which offers all the more reason to go adjust the bike seatpost clamp on your unicycle, get back in the saddle, and get moving.

The Benefits of Learning to Ride a Unicycle

We’ve written about this before, but there are numerous benefits associated with learning to ride a unicycle.

If you’ve never ridden one, you might be surprised to learn that:

• Riding a unicycle is excellent exercise, generally.
• It can make you a better bike rider (good news for cyclists).
• It’s good training for other athletic activities.
• Learning to ride can improve your ability to approach and learn new complex skills.
• It may even have cognitive benefits.
• And it’s a load of fun on top of that.

We won’t beat the topic to a pulp here. We’ve published about it in the past; for more information and a complete breakdown of the benefits, see our previous post, Five Great Reasons to Get Yourself a Unicycle for Mountain Riding.

But It Gets Better: The General Benefits of Physical Activity

You likely already know there are innumerable far-reaching benefits of increasing physical activity, especially for young kids, but here’s your refresher:

• Increased physical activity in kids improves attention and memory.
• It reduces the risk of anxiety, depression, and other similar mentalities.
• It strengthens bones and muscles which is critical especially for young children who are still growing.
• It helps improve metabolic function.
• It improves motor skills and cognitive function, especially in young children.
• Reduces the risk of chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and more.
• Increased physical activity can improve social health and well-being in addition to individual health outcomes.

This list is not comprehensive but suffice it to say, plenty of studies and sources have been devoted to the topic of physical health and cognitive and social well-being.

In other words, whether you get the kid off the tablet and teach him or her to ride a unicycle or just get him or her off the tablet to go outside hardly matters. What matters is that you find something to keep those kids active.  

Whether You Need Parts, Safety Gear, or a New Ride, We’re Your Source

As you can see, there’s no shortage of reasons to decrease your kids’ screen time. We can help with the next steps. Explore our odd bikes and unicycles, parts like pedals and bike seatpost clamps, and unicycle safety gear. We have everything you need to indulge in a new passion for unicycle riding.

Naturally, we’d like to see you get a new generation of riders into unicycling, but all the same, what matters more to us is that you raise a generation of healthy kids. Power down the phone or tablet and get out there!