Are you a slave to the computer screen? If so, you could be not only missing out on some important aspects of learning and living, but also harming your health. And that goes double for children.

E-mail, chat rooms, Web surfing, computerized games - your home PC contains something for everyone in the family to get sucked into. But adults and children already spend hours of daily computer time just on work and education. When those hours are compounded by several more spent on computer-related leisure and hobby activity, exercise, relaxation and face-to-face communication can suffer.

We need our computers for many of life's daily tasks. And we want them for far more uses than we can list here. (Not to mention Game Boys and their like.) But all of this entertainment comes at a cost.

One seemingly obvious link is between screen time and obesity in both children and adults. Activities like Web surfing and video game playing don't burn calories, but they sure lend themselves to snacking. Fitness and health patterns are established when children are young, and those patterns - whether good ones or bad - often continue into adulthood. Adults juggling job and relationship stress, tight schedules and financial burdens might not recognize how much time computer use is consuming, or feel simply too busy to think about healthy computer use.

Another less obvious result of extensive computer use is isolation, from friends, family and society. All of us, especially kids and young adults, need to interact with others in person in order to develop social skills needed for success at work, in relationships and in resolving conflict.

That's not to say kids should be kept off the computer. On the contrary, many education programs can help them learn, and some studies have even shown major benefits when kids use developmental educational software (not the fill-in-the-blank drill type). Software programs that promote problem-solving and critical thinking were shown to improve long-term memory, fine motor skills, knowledge and even IQ in 4- and 5-year-olds. Some educators also believe that interactive games like Nintendo can help children develop concentration, memory, and logic. But so can a board game played with family members!

Solutions are fairly easy to come by. Make some kind of physical activity part of the daily routine. When people are active, they are not just building muscles and heart strength; they also don't have time to eat between meals. And plenty of entertainment options exist outside of the computer screen. As with most things, the key to healthy computer use is balance.

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