Direct Measurement of TV Viewing Time and Physical Activity in

Children

A Pilot Study

Mohammad Ali Alahmadi

Exercise Physiology Department, College of Sport Science and Physical Activity, King Saud University,

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Keywords: Sedentary Behaviour, TV Viewing, Obesity, Physical Inactivity, Objective Monitor Behaviour, Physical

Activity.

Abstract: The main aim of this study was to design an electronic device to objectively monitor Television (TV)

viewing time in children. The second aim was to examine the relationship between TV viewing time and

physical activate activity (PA). Seven children (mean ± SD, age, 10.7 ± 2.1 years; body mass, 35.7 ± 17 kg;

height, 137.4 ± 12.3 cm) participated in this study. TV viewing time was directly measured for two

consecutive days by a novel wireless electronic device, using Radio-frequency identification (RFID)

technology which was connected to a main electronic board that is designed to measure TV viewing time in

minutes. PA was also measured, concurrently with TV viewing time measurement, by pedometers (Yamax

Digiwalker SW-700) for 3 consecutive days. The preliminary results show that the average TV viewing

time of children was 248 ± 188 min/day. Participants also recorded a mean of 10731 ± 3399 steps per day.

The average TV viewing time was positively associated with the average steps in children, but not

statistically significant (r= 0.74, p= 0.056). It is concluded that the current study produces a novel wireless

electronic tool that can monitor TV viewing time in children. It is also concluded that high association

between TV viewing time and PA was observed among children, although not statistically significant.

1 INTRODUCTION

It is well known that reduced physical activity (PA)

is one of the leading causes of the increased

prevalence of obesity among children and adults

(Blair 1993; Hill and Peters, 1998). In addition to

physical inactivity, sedentary behaviour is believed

to be a separate entity that could play a role in the

aetiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). A

number of researches have demonstrated that

physical activity and sedentary behaviour are two

independents entities (Taveras et al., 2007, Ekelund

et al., 2006). Sedentary behaviour is shown to be

related to adverse cardiometabolic risk profiles and

premature mortality (Lollgen et al., 2009).

Television (TV) viewing is the most predominant

sedentary behaviour and has been used as a measure

of sedentary behaviour. There is also an

accumulating evidence to suggest that there are

adverse associations between TV viewing time and a

number of cardiovascular risk factors such as the

metabolic syndrome and obesity, abnormal glucose

metabolism, and T2D (Hu et al., 2003; Dunstan et

al., 2005; Dunstan et al., 2007; Wijndaele et al.,

2009). TV viewing is usually assessed by using a

questionnaire that has a single question about daily

or weekly TV viewing. It is known that self-reported

measures suffer from some amount of reporting

error. Therefore, measurement error in TV viewing

time may lead to weaken the observed findings from

previous studies.

Few studies used an objective measurement to

monitor TV viewing time, such as direct observation

and videotaping (Anderson et al., 1985; McKenzie et

al., 1992; Ferguson et al., 2006). Unfortunately,

these later measurements of TV viewing time have

shortcomings since they are invasive to the person’s

privacy and they may change an individual's

behaviour. They are also considered as impractical

when used in large-scale research studies. Therefore,

there is a need for alternative objective measures to

monitor TV viewing time. To the best of our

knowledge, no studies have assessed TV viewing

with an objective measure such as an electronic

Alahmadi, M..

Direct Measurement of TV Viewing Time and Physical Activity in Children - A Pilot Study.

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Congress on Sport Sciences Research and Technology Support (icSPORTS 2015), pages 145-149

ISBN: 978-989-758-159-5

145

device. Thus, the main aim of this study was to

design an electronic device to objectively monitor

TV viewing time in children. The secondary aim of

this study was to compare TV viewing time

measured by the new electronic device with PA

assessed by pedometers.

2 METHODS

2.1 Participants

Seven children participated in this study. Body

weight to the nearest 100 g and height to the nearest

1 cm were measured using a Seca digital scale and

measuring rod for BMI (weight/stature

)

calculations. Prior to enrolment in the study, all

parents signed an informed consent.

2.2 Tools

2.2.1 Direct TV Time Measurement Tool

TV viewing time was directly measured for two

consecutive days by a novel wireless electronic

device, using Radio-frequency identification (RFID)

technology which was connected to a main

electronic board that is designed to measure TV

viewing time in minutes. The electronic TV monitor

is comprised of three elements: a tracking tag (a

wrist watch), a reader, and main electronic board

(Figure 1).

Figure 1: Description of the electronic TV monitor.

This electronic TV monitor uses RFID

technology. RFID is a wireless and non-contact

radio-frequency that transfers data automatically

using identifying and tracking tag (i.e. RIFD tag)

that is placed to a child's wrist like a watch. The

RFID Reader is connected to a main electronic

board which is designed to measure the TV viewing

time in minutes when the RFID tag is detected by

the RFID Reader and the TV is switched on. The

main electronic board is composed with 24V

Battery, ATmega8 microcontroller, Voltage

Regulator, RS232 adapter, and RFID Reader to

receive data from the RFID tag.

2.2.2 Pedometer

PA was also measured by pedometers (Yamax

Digiwalker SW-700) for 3 consecutive days,

concurrently with TV viewing time measurement.

Participants were instructed to clip the pedometer to

the waistband.

2.3 Statistical Analysis

Analyses were conducted using SPSS for Windows

(Version 16). Data were expressed as mean values

and standard deviations (SD). Pearson product-

moment correlation coefficient was used to

determine the correlation between PA measured by

pedometers and directly measured TV viewing time.

Statistical significance was accepted if p < 0.05.

3 RESULTS

Descriptive characteristics of all participants are

shown in Table 1. The preliminary results show that

the average TV viewing time of children was 248 ±

188 min per day. Participants also recorded a mean

of 10731 ± 3399 steps per day. The result of this

study also show that the average TV viewing time

was positively associated with the average steps in

children, but not statistically significant (r= 0.74, p=

0.056).

Table 1: Participants’ characteristics.

Variables Results

Age (years) 10.7 ± 2.1

Body weight (kg) 35.7 ± 17.1

Height (cm) 137.4 ± 12.3

BMI (kg/m

) 18.1 ± 5.7

4 DISCUSSION

TV viewing has been previously identified as a

primary sedentary pursuit, and is associated to a

number of cardiovascular risk factors such as the

metabolic syndrome and obesity, abnormal glucose

icSPORTS 2015 - International Congress on Sport Sciences Research and Technology Support

146

metabolism, and T2D (Hu et al., 2003; Dunstan et

al., 2005; Dunstan et al., 2007; Wijndaele et al.,

2009). Moreover, in cross-sectional studies for both

adults and children, TV viewing time was found to

be the predominant leisure-time sedentary behaviour

that may have negative effects on overweight and

obesity (Owen et al., 2000). In a recent cross-

sectional study, TV viewing time was also

associated with cardio-metabolic biomarkers, but not

with computer use and reading time in an Asian

population (Nang et al., 2013). Our study found that

children spent 4.13 ± 3.1 hours per day in watching

TV. It is recommended that children younger than 2

years of age should not spend any time watching TV

and for children aged between 2 to 5 years TV

viewing time should be limited to less than one hour

per day (Commonwealth Department of Health and

Aged Care, 2010). In general, children should not

spend more than 2 hours a day watching TV.

TV viewing is usually assessed by using a

questionnaire that has a single question about daily

or weekly TV viewing. It is known that self-reported

measures suffer from some amount of reporting

error. Therefore, measurement error in TV viewing

time may lead to weaken the observed findings from

previous studies. Although few studies used an

objective measurement to monitor TV watching,

such as direct observation and videotaping

(Anderson et al., 1985; McKenzie et al., 1992;

Ferguson et al., 2006), these objective TV

monitoring devices are both prohibitively expensive

for observational research purposes and are invasive

to the person’s privacy and may change individual

behaviours. To the best of our knowledge, this is the

first study to measure TV viewing time directly by

using a novel wireless electronic tool that can

monitor TV viewing without intrusion to the

personal privacy and can be widely used as an

objective method of assessing TV viewing time.

It has been suggested that 10000 steps per day

may be a reasonable estimate of daily activity for

health benefits (Tudor-Locke and Bassett, 2004).

Our participants attained similar levels (10731 steps

per day). We found that the average TV viewing

time was positively associated with the average steps

in children, but not statistically significant (r= 0.74,

p= 0.056). This positive association is on contrary to

the previous findings. For example, it was found that

there was a 16% decrease to meet the 10000 steps

per day, for each hour of TV viewing on an average

day (Bennett et al., 2006). This may be because TV

viewing is just only one of many other potentially

high-frequency sedentary behaviours (e.g., sitting,

reading, computer and Internet uses) that are

associated with physical inactivity.

In fact, previous research found that there is

limited evidence to support a negative association

between PA behaviours and TV viewing time in

children (Smith et al., 2008). Although assessments

of PA and TV viewing time were measured using a

self-report questionnaire in the previous study, a

negative association between TV viewing time and

PA was not found in the current study.

When PA determined by accelerometers which is

more accurate than a questionnaire, it was found that

children who spent more time watching TV were

significantly less physically active (Jackson et al.,

2009). A potential explanation could be that the

increased TV viewing might take up time that would

otherwise be spent being active. However, it is not

clear why a negative correlation existed between TV

viewing and PA in children. Previous research

suggests that low PA would be a consequence rather

than a cause of obesity. Children watching TV for a

long time are more likely to be fatter for reasons

linked to food intake and are less likely to be

physically active because of their obesity. Another

reason can be the TV food advertising that targets

children and adolescents, contributing to an increase

in obesity (Harris and Bargh, 2009). It is also

recommended that extended periods of inactivity

through participation in sedentary activities such as

TV watching should be avoided by both children

and youth. In a study conducted in Australian young

adults, it was found that TV viewing more than 3

hours per day was associated with abdominal

obesity, and this association was partly explained by

the amounts of food and beverage consumption

during TV viewing time (Cleland et al., 2008). This

finding supports the possible explanation for the

associations of sedentary behaviors with unhealthy

dietary habits. Children and adolescents tend to

consume more drinks and food while watching TV.

When sedentary behaviour and consumption of

unhealthy diets are combined, this may contribute to

the aetiology of obesity in children and adolescents

independent of reduced PA. In longitudinal study,

PA and weekly TV viewing were estimated by a

self-report in a cohort of 6369 girls and 4487 boys

aged between10 to15 years (Taveras et al., 2007). In

this study, Taveras et al., (2007) have found no

substantial relationships between year- to- year

changes in TV viewing and changes in leisure time

moderate to vigorous PA, suggesting that TV

viewing and leisure-time PA are separate constructs.

Moreover, individuals who have low levels of

PA are more likely to have lower cardiorespiratory

fitness (Blair, 1993). Many overweight or obese

Direct Measurement of TV Viewing Time and Physical Activity in Children - A Pilot Study

147

people are likely to be substantially unfit such that

they cannot sustain caloric expenditure sufficient to

achieve or maintain a negative energy balance (Van

Etten et al., 1997). Therefore, a potential explanation

could be that overweight/obese individuals could sit

more than normal weight individuals, although the

current study has not examined the relationship

between TV viewing and the sedentary behaviours

among both groups.

It is concluded that the current study produced a

novel wireless electronic tool that can monitor TV

viewing without intrusion to personal privacy and

can be widely used as an objective method for

assessing TV viewing time. We also found that

children who watched more TV were more

physically active, suggesting that more research is

needed to examine the relationship of sedentary

behaviour and PA in children.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author extends his appreciation to the Deanship

of Scientific Research at King Saud University for

funding this work through the Research Project no.

NFG2-23-33. This study was also partially

supported by the Research Center at the College of

Sport Sciences and Physical Activity, Deanship of

Scientific Research, King Saud University, Saudi

Arabia. Appreciation is also extended to Omar

Alhusseini from King Abdulaziz City for Science

and Technology for designing and integrating the

electronic device.

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