How about that, all of this technology is killing us. That’s what researchers at University College London have said, in so many words, in a recent study that tracked screen users’ health (“screen users” being a catch-all term for people who do anything screen-based, that is, use a computer, watch TV, fiddle with their iPhone, etc.). It turns out that people who sit in front of a computer (and the like) all day are 125 percent more likely to suffer from a heart-related death. That’s nice.
“Surely that can’t happen to me. Yes, I spend all day in front of my computer, but I also jog for an hour every other day. I’m cool, right?”
No~!
The data shows that exercise made no difference in users’ health; people who exercise are just as likely to have health problems—death is a pretty big health problem—as people who don’t exercise.
And what can we blame, and then outlaw, for this massive health crisis?
Sitting down. It’s high time we all write our congressmen to ask them to legislate against sitting down too long.
It’s the “leaning forward” position that’s particularly nefarious. You do this whenever you frag fellow fools in Call of Duty on Xbox Live, whenever you watch The Office on Hulu.