Monday, May 9, 2011
How To Free Time For Fitness, Ten Minutes At A Time.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Finding Time For Exercise Just Got Easier, with I Free Time For Fitness
Adults need at least 2 and a half hours a week of moderate intensity aerobic activity and muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week, according the Center for Disease Control. Pushing a lawn mower in your garden, to taking a dance class, to cycling to the store – all of these count as aerobic activity. As long as you're doing them at a moderate or vigorous intensity for at least 10 minutes at a time.
With the intensive muscle-strengthening actives, these include lifting weights, resistance work, and any other type of heavy lifting or push ups and lift ups.
Busy lifestyles put pressure on us to perform multiple roles in the workplace and in the home, with barely enough time to fit exercise in the schedule. Statistics show that at least 40% of us do not exercise on a regular basis. If you’ve ever had difficulty finding the time to exercise, then there could be options to free up some time.
On average we’re spending over 10 hours a week online during leisure times, according to Nielsen. Whilst much of this time is spent communicating with loved ones, and doing vital shopping, banking and other activities that are nowadays done online to save money, there is room to ask yourself whether you really need that additional ten minutes reading the news, or on Facebook, or on any of your favourite sites.
A recent survey of students in the UK found that 43% of them felt they were spending too much time online, to the detriment of their studies. There is research showing that across different generations, we have become addicted to information. The Internet feeds this habit, but at what cost? If you’re not exercising as much as you could, then could there be room to cut internet time?
A new application called I Free Time for Fitness has been developed to enable PC users to block any type of distraction, including websites, games and email. The net effect is to improve focus whilst on the computer, so that time is freed for other activities including exercise. As the CDC points out, even ten minutes of vigorous exercise helps, so with I Free Time for Fitness, every minute counts.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Online Distractions And Family Life: Solutions To Common Problems
Online Distractions and Social Networking
Time spent online increasingly means time spent on social networks. The Pew Internet Research organisation estimates that 73% of internet-connected American teenagers use social networking websites. Given that the average time spent on the most popular social networking website, Facebook, is an hour a day, this implies that young people have altered home activities to make use of social networks.
Online Distractions Impair Academic Achievement
As a Rutgers University study shows, heavy internet use is correlated with impaired academic achievement. According to the Pew Internet Research paper, 39% of 14-17 year olds say they go online several times a day. It’s likely that a significant proportion of teenagers are therefore suffering from reduced academic performance due to online distractions.
Young People Distracted by Internet Use
A comprehensive report of internet usage by young Britons in the 9-19 year old age range by the London School of Economics (UK Children Go Online) found that 74% of children in the UK have internet access at home. It also found that a fifth of all children have internet access in their bedrooms. Research cited in the Guardian shows that the most time is spent on sites such as YouTube, Bebo and MySpace.
There are concerns about safety on these sites, and the information available to parents is limited by multiple computer ownership in the home.
"My mum will ask sometimes 'Is it safe?' but she doesn't really know," a 16-year-old girl told the Institute for Public Policy Research.
A 14-year-old boy added that even parental controls that are put on internet access at school can be circumvented by youngsters, who often know more about IT systems than their teachers. "We have restrictions at school but we can just get an administrator's account and take them off."
Due to gaps in the technological awareness, parents are finding it increasingly difficult to monitor the impact of technology on children’s academic work. As a Guardian report states, "They are a generation abandoning print and paper, and the whole integration of technology and the way they glide from one to the other is seamless. They will be surfing the net, talking to a friend and downloading a track simultaneously.”
With the plethora of electronic distractions available to young people today, it’s likely that there has been an adverse impact on young people. Indeed, a study by Rutgers University finds that some college students’ academic performance might be impaired by heavier use of the Internet.
Time Spent Online
According to the Institute of Public Policy, British children in internet-connected homes are spending more than 20 hours a week online. In the US, the average 8-18 year old in a ‘wired’ home spends more than six hours a day using media, including the internet.
What Can Parents Do About Computer Usage for Older Teens?
1. Read up on internet safety issues and discuss these with your child.
2. Address the underlying problem. Excessive internet usage can be a form of escapism for children. Try to find out what the issue is.
3. Move the computer to an open area. This will increase your ability to monitor the amount of time spent on the internet, and will discourage excessive time spent online.
4. Use software solutions that focus on time management for study. I Free Time For Study is a program that enables teenagers to limit time spent online.
5. Set a time limit on internet usage. This can be achieved using a program like I Free Time For Study.
Some parents may wish for stricter controls such as programs like CyberSitter and Net Nanny. However, these cannot be 100% relied upon, as they can be disabled, especially by technologically savvy children.
Further Information
1. Internet Safety - Thinkuknow http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/
2. Study Skills Resources http://www.guidetoonlineschools.com/tips-and-tools/study-help
3. I Free Time For Study http://www.ifreetimeforstudy.com
4. HomeworkFocus http://www.homeworkfocus.com
5. WikiHow article http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Your-Child%27s-Computer-Addiction
6. Internet Safety http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Yourchildshealthandsafety/Internetsafety/index.htm