Technology Makes Us Fat

from the aha! dept

There’s been a lot of talk lately about suing fast food companies for the obesity problem in the US (because any problem, apparently, can be solved by a class action lawsuit). However, today we find out that the real culprit in why Americans are so overweight is technology. Technology has allowed us to produce more food at cheaper prices and has taken away manual labor jobs that forced people to excercise while working. So, suddenly, we all get to eat much more while sitting around all day on our (increasingly fat) asses staring at a computer screen. Maybe I need to rethink my original claim that technology, itself, isn’t bad.


Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “Technology Makes Us Fat”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
4 Comments
pasi says:

Re: technology does not equal lazyness

If american fatness is due to technology and standard of living, it would follow suite that other equally developped nations would be suffering from the same problem. This however is not the case. I have no knowlage of studies prefomed on this subject, but I have been to tens of countries, many which have a higher standard of living then the u.s. (maybe not a higher turnover, but more equally distributed) and it would seem to me that fatness goes hand in hand with culture, not technology.

By default the third world nations where size equals success have a higher prosentage of fatness. Other countries where fatness is considered a minus, people are slim, even if they are a part of the local elite, with large incomes and servants, they stay slim.

In europe, where a good standard of living has been enjoyed for a long while, we are proud to be slimmer. When travelling, americans are easy to spot, they have a look like no other. (Not to their advantage…)
I do belive we europeans also have a high amount of problems with bloodcirculation etc. but not due to fatness, just bad diets.

Anonymous Coward says:

No Subject Given

Technology contributes but we americans have ourselves to blame as well. Our need to ‘supersize’ anything we eat while burning less calories just keeps pumping us up til we’re supersized ourselves. I think the large portions of food being eaten is unique to the american culture. Fortunately, I’m not one of the masses. Get it ? Masses ?

Add Your Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

A weekly news podcast from
Mike Masnick & Ben Whitelaw

Subscribe now to Ctrl-Alt-Speech »
Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...