Surface Dwellers, Part 3

We've looked at the materialism and stress of our Surface Dwelling culture in Parts 1 and 2 of this series. Stress, linked directly to obesity, is increasing alarmingly especially in developed nations. Connections between the current technological revolution, cultural stress, and obesity are inevitable, as well as the well-documented diseases that result, such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

With all the stressors of life, work, family, media etc., people are overeating, and under-exercising. They tend to eat "comfort" foods: chips, French fries, bread, cookies, pizza, ice cream, etc. These are simple carbohydrates, which quickly produce insulin, a fat-storing hormone, in the body. Meal portions in restaurants are not helping the situation. Fueled by "getting more for your dollar", eateries are loading plates with huge portions of low cost foods like potato, bread, rice, and pasta. The greed for money knows no boundaries.

Charging customers less for less food means less profit, so that's not likely to change. How else can you explain the colossal Burger King "BK Quadstacker"? A cheesed-up four-patty stack, topped with a pile of bacon, this "burger" requires the ability to detach your jaw joint, like a python devouring a pig. Add a large fries and soda to this, and you're staring at 1840 calories, 2570 mg of salt, 90 grams of fat, and 177 grams of carbohydrates.[1]

Only an NFL lineman could process this enormous meal without gaining weight. Others may have the stomach capacity, but not the calorie-burning capacity. It is essentially a slow method of suicide.

During the period of 1960 to 2004, the percentage of overweight people remained roughly the same, while the number of those labeled "obese" more than doubled, and the number described as "extremely obese" has quadrupled. Most of these increases occurred after 1980, at the dawn of the digital age.

Since then, innumerable forms of passive "entertainments" have been introduced. These activities are not stress-relieving. They instead contribute to stress by distracting from important learning activities, causing more stresses down the road. The supposed "connectivity" of cell phones, Facebook, etc., is actually isolating us by reducing physical interaction with people, and depriving those, especially the younger "digital natives", of valuable learning experiences essential to socialization.

Studies estimate up to ninety percent of all face-to-face communication is nonverbal. Without in-person interaction, how can we learn what nonverbal cues are, and what they mean? Lulled by a false sense of being connected, we communicate in all ways except face-to-face. The poking, tweeting, pinging, texting, emailing, trolling Facebook and MySpace, are stealing from us precious opportunities for a meaningful human contact.

What was already trending toward a sedentary life in the sixties and seventies, has been accelerating as media technology seduces us into passivity and avoidance of reality. Perhaps that is why anxiety disorders are increasing dramatically. What better way to assuage anxiety than to "plug in" to the TV, or internet, or other electronic distraction. And, while you're watching "Bad Boys" on the boob tube, you might as well scarf down a quart of diet Coke with that bag of Doritos, right?