Technology and Physical Fitness

Bailenson, Jeremy, Kayur Patel, Alexia Nielson, Ruzena Bajscy, Sang-Hack Jung, and Gregorji Kurillo. “The Effect of Interactivity on Learning Physical Actions in Virtual Reality.” Media Psychology 11 (2008): 354-376.

My topic for the annotated bibliography was the connection between technology and physical fitness. Although some blame it as the reason for the problem, there are many ways in which technology is helping children fight obesity. Game systems like the Wii and virtual reality are encouraging kids to be active.
This article focuses on the relationship between virtual reality and physical therapy, a type of exercise. It talks specifically about two aspects of virtual reality that are helpful to physical therapy patients: the ability to review what physical behavior and the ability to see one’s avatar in real time from third person points of view. This was a helpful source because the article explores the sub-topic of physical therapy which none of the sources I have found thus far talk about. With the baby boomer generation getting older, physical therapy and technology will become more prominent in society. Technology is used more and more for medical uses. Doctors use microscopic instruments to do surgeries and to diagnose things that you can’t see with the naked eye. As time goes on, I believe technology will become more and more important to exercise. When you go to the rec center at Miami, you can see evidence of technology everywhere. Most people listen to music while working out and track their progress on automated machines. I think this topic is growing and will continue to be prominent in the media.