Do video games make you fat? Well, no more than watching television or surfing the Internet makes you fat—in moderation. The problem with video games, as with the other two activities, is that too few young people do them in moderation. The truth is you won’t become fat simply eating, as long as it’s done in moderation. Again, people tend to have a problem with this.

The latest hubbub is over some comments made by the McDonald’s UK CEO in which he lays part of the blame of the obesity epidemic at the feet of video games. The upsetting (to gamers) comments were:

“I don’t know who is to blame,” Mr Easterbrook says. “The issue of obesity is complex and is absolutely one our society is facing, there’s no denial about that, but if you break it down I think there’s an education piece: how can we better communicate to individuals the importance of a balanced diet and taking care of themselves? Then there’s a lifestyle element: there’s fewer green spaces and kids are sat home playing computer games on the TV when in the past they’d have been burning off energy outside.”

So, basically the CEO of McDonald’s is saying the entire epidemic problem is the fault of one fast-food company. Shocking, I know. Actually, he makes the horrible decision to relate it as what it is—a complex issue stemming from several different societal changes (okay, so he doesn’t mention in the quoted segment so much about dietary changes brought on by less time for families to cook).

Sure, kids do still play outside, just the same as they did twenty or fifty years ago. There’s just a lot more vying for their attention these days. The issue of less green space is one few people acknowledge, but is also incredibly valid. Many cities have done away with small neighborhood parks in favor of more development. Centralized, large parks are great, assuming you can get to them. With the death of public transpiration in many areas it’s harder and harder for gets to get around a city without parents, who are both likely working full-time.

Throw in video games and the Internet, who both basically ask of kids that they sit still in front of a monitor twiddling their thumbs, and you have a recipe for disaster. Throw in high-fat, pre-prepared food and you have a disaster on its way out of the oven. So, no, video games are not the cause alone of kids being fat, but they certainly contribute with other factors. Gamers who’d prefer to hide their head in the sand and ignore such truths are probably too fat and lazy to pull them back out ever.

Related posts:

1. A tax on games should include a tax on Doritos
2. Video games may actually stall weight gain
3. Study finds virtual fishing just isn’t quite the same
4. Another newspaper on the side of games being useful in education
5. Video games and sex mix like oil and water

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