Are Wii Fit?

Everyone wants a Wii, even me. It is a great idea to get kids, adolescents and even adults up off the couch and moving all while playing games. I thought Nintendo finally came up with a great idea to help aid kids to get more active and then they went and designed the Wii Fit.

Okay, I don't actually own a Wii nor have I ever "played" on Wii Fit but I was very troubled by the comments that were made to me by my roommate. She is doing a placement in a local group home that is currently home to several girls between the ages of 12 - 17 years. Now as a female who suffers from poor self-esteem I know what damage a slight comment, photo, look, or gesture can do to alter your opinion of yourself and this is where I think Nintendo failed to perfect their invention and instead have sent millions of messages to young children that could seriously effect their outlook on life and their life itself.

This is what I learned. When using a Wii fit (let's say it is your first time on the fit and you aren't too sure how it all works) you stand on the pad and it asks you to enter your height and weight. Normal questions to be asked before starting a workout program - yes. Okay so now the fit goes and calculates your BMI (body mass index) - this is where things go horribly wrong in the eyes of a child and youth counsellor. At this stage the fit will tell you you are anywhere from underweight to morbidly obese and then adjust your on-screen character to reflect your body image. Still - not so bad but in the case of the girls in the group home, it is a big problem.

Here is the story. A girl of 14 who happens to be 5 feet tall and approximately 114 pounds looks to everyone to be far from fat or chubby. She is athletic and has some muscle tone. She has hit puberty so she has developed hips, breasts and a butt as all normal healthy females do at some point in their life. This girl, in front of the other residents of the group home, gets on the Wii fit and plunks in her info and all of a sudden it comes back as she is obese and changes her "character" to a very round little girl. According to the fit's BMI she is obese as it thinks a 5 foot tall person should be a child and therefore only 75 -90 lbs. Now this girl is humiliated, doesn't want to use the fit as it saves your info and character and she now thinks that she is fat, ugly and unworthy. This my friends is the problem. Now we have the makings of a girl who given the right circumstances will start to loathe herself, may develop an eating disorder, and possibly die from said thought processes/disorder in extreme cases. Instead of helping someone exercise to stay healthy/active it is turning a bunch of kids/adolescents into shy, reserved beings with low self-esteem that never want to do anything active in front of others because they were told they were obese. It could even swing the other way to the point where they go overboard and exercise and diet non-stop and develop an eating disorder.

Am I wrong in thinking that something needs to change so we don't poison the thought processes of our youth? That we need to make Nintendo look at what images they are putting in front of children - to redesign the Fit to incorporate today's normal body average. We have ratings on tv shows, movies, video games, driving, cigarettes, liquor and yet something that is rated "E" for everyone is doing permanent damage to at least one little girl's psyche. The Fit is a great idea - the BMI is not. Join with me friends and help spread the word to Nintendo. Let's stop the damage before it starts.