Decreasing excessive media usage while increasing physical activity: a single-subject research study

The Kaiser Family Foundation released a report entitled Kids and Media Use in the United States that concluded that children's use of media--including television, computers, Internet, video games, and phones--may be one of the primary contributor's to the poor fitness and obesity of many of today's adolescents. The present study examines the potential of increasing physical activity and decreasing media usage in a 14-year-old adolescent female by making time spent on the Internet and/or cell phone contingent on physical activity. Results of this investigation indicate that requiring the participant to earn her media-usage time did correspond with an increase in physical activity and a decrease in media-usage time relative to baseline measures. Five weeks after cessation of the intervention, the participant's new level of physical activity was still being maintained. One year after the study, the participant's level of physical activity continued to increase.