It’s a rare study indeed where young people are outperforming the older generation, but a recent study suggests that very thing.

According to a new study released by the website HollywoodReporter.com, young people are watching far less television than older people. The study says that older people, or “matures” (between the ages of 61 and 75) watch on average 11 to 12 hours more television than do the “millenial's” or those between the ages of 14 and 25.

I always like to look at such studies from a standpoint of health. From the standpoint of type II diabetes diagnoses for example, this is great news indeed.

The number of people with type II diabetes in America today is staggering – approximately 21 million overall. And as most people are aware, diabetes cases tend to be found most frequently among the older generation, the chances of getting it increasing with each passing age.

But few are aware of the link between high television watching, lack of exercise and diabetes diagnoses. According to a study published in the online edition of the American Journal of Epidemiology, the risk of having type II diabetes was much higher among those who spent large swaths of time watching television. The study was performed by researchers from Boston University.

Now, take these findings and tie them into what HollywoodReporter.com broke regarding young people watching far less television than their elders: Could it be that young people’s lack of-TV habit translates into fewer diabetes diagnoses 20 to 30 years from now?

Perhaps, but it’s not just reduced television watching that needs to take place for diabetes rates to drop. The Boston University also found that the more one exercised, the lesser the chance of developing diabetes among black women, the target group of the study (African-American women make up a significant portion of the number of people diagnosed with diabetes annually).

In place of the reduced amounts of exercise that the “millenials” are watching, they need to be exercising. But this doesn’t seem to be happening, not when obesity rates are at epidemic proportions among youth today.

That said, are the youth really outperforming their elders? Well, yes and no. It’s very good news that fewer kids seem to be watching television, but very bad news that older folks seem to be watching more than ever. It’s very good news that exercise reduces the chances of getting diabetes, but very bad news that other entertainment options seem to be getting in the way of young people exercising.

What needs to happen is for older people – and by extension younger people – to more fully take advantage of the advancement of technology and use gadgets in the manner in which they were designed: for active lifestyles. With the plethora of iPods and iPhones, Blackberrys and TV-ready multimedia players, the “matures” can watch television while remaining active. One would think that the plethora of mobile devices would indicate a drop in obesity rates, but that’s not happening. I believe this is because they’re not being used in the manner in which they were designed: again, for active lifestyles.

Many things are beyond our control. What is in our control is how we get our entertainment and that can largely be done while remaining active.

I’m generally in favor of watching less television, but because the “matures” seem to be reticent to change – as the study seems to indicate – this is one of those rare instances where one can have their cake and eat it too.