Secretary Spread: Not Just for Secretaries Anymore

American asses widen and interest in conservation wanes as real life turns virtual.

We've already discussed how the average American is gaining weight almost by the day and yet Americans see fat as normal as weight rises. But a new study by The Nature Conservancy shows, perhaps unsurprsingly, that virtual reality games are replacing outdoor activities (and calorie burning). This has also reduced appreciation for nature and has a number of other undesirable side effects. "Videophilia has been shown to be a cause of obesity, lack of socialization, attention disorders and poor academic performance."

By studying visits to national and state park and the issuance of hunting and fishing licenses the researchers documented declines of between 18 percent and 25 percent in various types of outdoor recreation.

The decline, found in both the United States and Japan, appears to have begun in the 1980s and 1990s, the period of rapid growth of video games, they said.

For example, fishing peaked in 1981 and had declined 25 percent by 2005, the researchers found. Visits to national parks peaked in 1987 and dropped 23 percent by 2006, while hiking on the Appalachian Trial peaked in 2000 and was down 18 percent by 2005.

Japan suffered similar declines, the researchers found, as visits to national parks there dropped by 18 percent between 1991 and 2005.

For those of you who doubt the pervasiveness of virtual reality (who knows..."your mom might be a gamer"), there looks to be a great new documentary on the subject: