Shocking! Study Finds Gaming Makes You Fat, Nerdy
Posted 08/19/09 at 08:29:20 AM by Paul Lilly
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Oh boy, we can't wait to see the reaction to this one, so here goes. Take a good look at yourself in the mirror, and if need be, have your birth certificate handy. Do you see an overweight, 35-year-old depressed person staring back at you? if so, you qualify as an average gamer, says a new study.
Published in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Emory University, and Andrews University put their heads together to comb through survey data from 522 adults ranging in age from 19 to 90 and living in the Seattle-Tacoma area.
"Video-game players also reported lower extraversion, consistent with research on adolescents that linked video-game playing to a sedentary lifestyle and overweight status, and to mental-health concerns," the researchers noted.
The findings apply to both men and women, noting female gamers are at a higher risk of depression than women who do npt play videogames, while male gamers reported a higher BMI and more time spent surfing the Internet than men who don't play games.
The researchers admit the study isn't conclusive, but went on say that their findings "appear consistent with earlier research on adolescents."
"If you go to the opera, and
Submitted by POMF2K on Mon, 08/24/2009 - 11:50am
"If you go to the opera, and notice that the majority of opera-goers are
wealthy, it is not a proper conclusion that going to the opera makes
you wealthy."Well said.
The problem with this study is that even if there is a link between gaming and the stated conditions, you can't simply state that all gamers are fat and depressed or that gaming will make you fat and depressed. Maybe some of these people have been obese their whole lives, making them unpopular and thus introverted. Is it not understandable that these people might look to video games as a form of stimulation.
I have no doubt there is a link between gaming and these conditions, but I've yet to be convinced of a causal relationship.
Yet another example of the lack of any real information that can be extracted from quantitative research. It just shows a lack of intelligence that we place so much faith in silly numerical data.
"60 percent of the time, it works every time."
Another fail of correlation
Submitted by CombatLibrarian on Thu, 08/20/2009 - 5:51am
Another fail of correlation vs. causation.
If you go to the opera, and notice that the majority of opera-goers are wealthy, it is not a proper conclusion that going to the opera makes you wealthy.
I'm not saying there isn't anything to a possible connection, but a blind regurgitation of survey numbers with an implication that there's a causal relationship is just plain bad "science".
Submitted by JDK on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 1:50pm
Statistics also show that 5 out of 4 people have trouble with math.
Submitted by mattman059 on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 12:40pm
The amazing thing is that 72% of all statistics can be made up on the spot!
well yeah, but 64% of all
Submitted by nekollx on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 12:46pm
well yeah, but 64% of all people know that.
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
Yeah, if you need to find a
Submitted by I Jedi on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 10:57am
Yeah, if you need to find a place to find the fat, lazy gamers out there, then look no further than WoW.
Slackers
Submitted by zerokool on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 9:16am
Most gamers that they are talking about are probably Hardcore WOW players / FPS players. I'm 23 and am not overweight by any means even though I play games for about 2-4 hours every other night. When I'm not chillin with friends or having sex with my girl I'll jump online for a few hours. I think the kinds of people they are talking about become depressed due to lack of social and physical activites. If they are not getting laid and they are not outside exercising or engaging in social octivites offline then heck why wouldn't they be depressed???
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People should know when they have been conquired!
I fall into the same area as
Submitted by AntiHero on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 11:19am
I fall into the same area as you, in the lower part of that age sample. I am underweight, and i play ideo games for an average of 2 hours a night give or take (mostly take) but i play with real life friends who live near and far away from me. Also, blaming WoW is wrong. I played that game as much as any other shooter out there, and didn't waste time in it. When i played, i got stuff done, when i wasn't playing, i was doing something else.
I don't like Microsoft, I associate with it.
Submitted by Axeion on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 9:10am
1st its a study cited by msnbc so we counter that with one cited by cbs about how the video games hone the mind http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/28/tech/main555921.shtml .
2nd lets look at the study in question of Investigators from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Emory University and Andrews University analyzed survey data from 552 adults in the Seattle-Tacoma area....its info from a survey!its less than 1000 people an its target area is sufers from Seasonal Affective Disorder about 10% of the poulation acording to http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/helthrpt/stories/s230.htm.
we dont know the make up of the study just it was a survey in seatle tocoma area because internet use is up their.well gee surly that has nothing to do with the weather or any thing.they may watch or listen to tv while gameing an thus http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/03/science/sci-tv3 may contrubute to depression.
then again http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=22909 tears nice holes in msnbc conclusions as well as the cdc.
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing." — Robert E. Howard, The Tower of the Elephant (1933)
Does "gaming" include solitaire & peggle??
Submitted by Wildebeast on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 9:09am
I'm 36, introverted, a gamer (not casual), and single... [* Hello, ladies! *]
I also just lost about 50 pounds on the "Unemployed-so-cannot-afford-processed-convenience-foods-plus-I'm-not-that-good-a-cook Diet." Being a 160 pound weakling, I guess I'm in the minority. [ * Hello, ladies! *]
It's a good thing the study isn't conclusive, or I'd have to [once again] take offense at some bunch of overpaid pHds in lab coats making slightly better than random guesses ---this time apparently ignoring where people's heads are, in their study group...
IMHO, gaming is keeping more gamers FROM going "up in the tower with a rifle," than go up there (or to a mall), to "play for real..."
How many "gamers" do you know, in the 65-90 year-old range?? My parents do solitaire, and I guess they are over-weight too ---but that is from before the solitaire...
Every time I hear about one of these 60% bogus-sounding studies, I remember the line from Ghostbusters: "I like working at the University --they give us money, and don't expect any results..." (I've probably paraphrased.)
i love video games as much
Submitted by dhoge88 on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 8:47am
i love video games as much as the next 21 year old kid, but i'm in no way an overweight kid. most of this summer i havent even had time to play video games because i've been out working and having fun with my friends and going on trips. i wish i had more time to sit at home and play halo!
Hmmm... Every guy that goes
Submitted by vistageek on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 8:28am
Hmmm... Every guy that goes to my lan parties and plays with me is on the water polo team and is at least pretty ripped looking including myself. I don't know one true gamer that is fat. (ie. not a wow player)
Submitted by Hoboparade on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 8:10am
survey data from 522 adults ranging in age from 19 to 90 and living in the Seattle-Tacoma
area.Tacoma, what can I say but it smells bad and crime is high, the
average nerd must cower indoors to prevent daily muggings and or sodomy. On the rare occasion when a Tacoma gamer leaves their wheelie chair to brave the harsh ghetto that is Seattle-Tacoma they must be quick and efficient scavenging machines. Leaving the nerd cave, their eyes will be bombarded with UV sun rays forcing them to squint and leave them yearning for the warm glow of their LCD, but they must soldier on. First to the local game shop where they can feel safe in the comfort of shiny boxes the familiar smell of warm electronics, and a companion nerd-linger. The next and most important stop of all is the grocery store. Nerds must be careful to only select foods that have extraordinarily long shelf lives, as to avoid an unplanned trip back into this hell-hole city. This of course limits them from all produce, fresh meats and cheeses.Therefor nerds have implemented a new theory of nutrition, "Trickle-Down" theory. If you have ever seen a classic food pyramid you will find bread at the bottom layer, next with meat, veggies, then dairy, and fruit, and what do we find at the top of the health pyramid, non other than the building block of life "Grease/Fat". Trickle-Down theory proposes that nerds need only ingest mass quantities of fat and the nutritious goodness of fat will then trickle-down to the lower levels of the food pyramid. Trust me I read this in "Scientific Proof Magazine".
Submitted by nekollx on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 8:10am
well im not 35 but i am overweight...
But is it fat or muscle? I dunno
I care a 20+ lbs bag of tech suppies to and from work, and anytime else i'm on the town. I'm unusally strong for my girl and run a fair distence. but i work (and play) in front of a monitor for 70% of the day
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
Submitted by freak720 on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 7:58am
yes if you are the guy in the articles picture, playing games does make you fat and nerdy. however a great many gamers practice moderation, and while they may play games quite a bit, they often hang out with friends and are physicaly active. too much of a good thing is bad. I play games. i also hang out with my friends every chance i get and love playing basketball. stupid stereotypes...
About the BMI
Submitted by jkpwnster on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 7:10am
It could also mean that gamers tend to have an epic amount of muscle, provided they didn't measure the actual fat levels of the test subjects. BMI doesn't actually calculate much, if you're overweight you can be either overweight with fat, muscle, or something else.
I can belive it
Submitted by Mr.Pooney on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 6:39am
It dosent take a genious to figure out that sitting on a couch 8h a day doing nothing but eating doritos and drinking pepsi between fraggings is gonna cause you to look like john candy!
but for depression... i think it could be a type of chicken or the egg question
do gamers get depressed from lack of social contact and human touch or pulling an "angry german kid" cause they can beat a certan boss or level.... OR! do people with less then perfect social skills causing them to be social out casts, gravitate towards a world where you escape from the harsh real world!
Man can run harder ans longer then even a horse so get out there and move! move! move!
you'll leave all thoes extra pounds in the dust! -57LBS for my self! and dont feel stupid about running if your fat! id feel worse eating a bigmac if i was 300LBs then i would running down a street
AMERICA THE WORLD THINKS YOUR FAT!!! DO SOMETHING!!! YOU DONT HAVE UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE! YOU CANT AFFORD THE ILLNESSES OF OBEISTY!!!
Submitted by b.mcfallen on Sat, 08/22/2009 - 9:05pm
Obviously, you are not the "genious" that conducted this study. Please use spell check, and please quit being the internet's a**hole. There are plenty of them out there, do we really need more?
B.Mcfallen
Submitted by robotsneedhugs2 on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 8:13am
Angry German Kid was fake
Submitted by Mr.Pooney on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 9:23am
maybe i dont realy care but we've all done it or seen someone go coocoo bananas and throw shit around and groule at the tv! (e.g. : Gamefly comercials like the ones on revision3)
shocker. But again, this is
Submitted by Strongbad536 on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 6:37am
shocker. But again, this is a huge stereotype. I'm a huge gamer and big MaxPC fan, yet I also swim 10+ times a week. Not all gamers are out of shape and im pretty sure that only a small portion look like that. I've always thought that gamers usually look pretty in-shape actually. So yet another bad connotation to associate with gamers like us.
Submitted by Joe D on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 6:27am
I can't imagine that sitting around and not exercising could lead to this....ummm. Luckily most of us "gamers" do keep active lives outside of gaming and creating awesome mods to household items! I seriously can't see how someone could not realize that playing games all the time could lead to this. My friends and I love to play games but keep active while not playing. I mean it's really not that hard to exercise 30 mins to an hour a day. Look at all those players in the MLG, most of them aren't overweight and most seem to look pretty healthy. Another stereotype set for "gamers" here.
"World of Warcraft is real life but with Night Elves and Orcs" quoted by my brother
Submitted by hyfybe on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 6:26am
In other news, scientists have just found out that water is wet!
Submitted by bjtalbot on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 6:24am
Didn't you just post an entry last night stating the same thing and citing the same study?
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/vaunted_“gamer_diet”_fails_shed_pounds_prevent_aging
Sometimes you guys are just plain dumb.
Submitted by DOOMHAMMA on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 6:59am
O.o
To the stereotype comment guy, you are the exception to the rule. If the average is an overweight 35 year old, then that is the average, not just a stereotype.
Submitted by Mr.Pooney on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 7:07am
Its a survey not a census so....
its a guestimet not the gospel it could go either way more or less but its still pretty close
and also your pro gamer is not your average gamer either
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