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Obesity

Obesity
The problem with modern obesity is that there are no direct explanations for the growing phenomenon. Statistics taken on a worldwide basis shows that there is no significant increase in caloric consumption in the past ten years, and in fact exercise and dieting are rising rather than falling. However, deeper analysis into the issue of current obesity has shown that it is not so much a physiological problem as much as a socio-economic one. The following report will examine the implicit reasons for obesity growth in the modern era and specifically how technology has played a key factor in both psychological perspective as well as a socio-economic one.
Obesity is no longer a small problem in the United States. One third of all Americans are obese and this figure is projected to rise to almost fifty percent in the next ten years. These alarming findings are occurring at a time when dieting and exercise has reached new levels of mania, with the industry growing at an average of 14% per year for the past decade. To understand this growing phenomenon one has to take a non-traditional approach to the underlying concepts behind obesity itself. The current wave of obesity is being affected by modern technology and its latent effects.
The long term growth of obesity has its roots within technology. Ever since the industrial revolution, technology has increased by leaps and bounds, and the direct result is that it has lowered the cost of calorie intake through making food cheaper to buy and process. At the same time, it has raised the cost of expending calories by transforming physical exercise from a vocational activity involved in daily work, to a leisure activity that requires time dedication and transactional cost. In simplistic terms, one hundred years ago workers had to pay more money for food and were forced to exercise in their daily work which increased their health and steered them away from obesity. Whereas in today’s white collar work...