Virtual Walking for Charity

One of my great hopes for the future of physical activity in America is that many charities like the National Multiple Sclerosis Society offer opportunities to participate in organized athletic events like marathons, shorter distance runs, walks, bicycle rides, golf tournaments, mountain climbing, etc. to raise money I believe that preparation to participate in these events helps people to build an exercise habit, and i would like to think that that exercise habit carries over after the event, even if participants do not participate in the next year's event.

Now I see in an article on CNet entitled "Walking for Good Cause without Leaving Home" that 1500 women are participating in a nationwide virtual walk across the United States to benefit breast cancer. They pay their money, outfit an avatar and then follow the avatar's walk from Boston to San Francisco. This is intended to be an opportunity to raise money from people who cannot participate in a real event because they lack time or physical ability.

I certainly applaud all imaginative efforts to raise money to fight diseases like this one, but I hope such efforts will not become a substitute for participation in person, so that people lose the exercise benefits therefrom. Technology, while making our lives much more pleasant, already deprives us of the physical activity our forebears used to get without even thinking about it. Will it drown out athletic events for charity too? Let's hope not.