I grew up in the 70s when there were only 7 TV channels, vinyl records, 8 track tapes, cassettes, and phones were tethered to the wall. And can you imagine ~ parents that for the most part left kids alone to explore their worlds and get this; kids decided when they wanted to hangout with friends all by themselves. I lived in the suburbs, a bedroom community of NYC, where my father worked. Unlike many of our neighbors, we lived in the woods. Our house was situated within almost 3 acres of woods, with a babbling brook that flowed for miles behind the house. There were many close by developments but our unique location felt remote as across the street was 40 acres of woods (today the land is full of 1 acre McMansions). I walked or rode my bike all by myself to the elementary school, which was less than a mile down the road, or to a friend’s house. I spent countless hours exploring our woods and brook with my faithful dog, Candy. Sometimes we would follow the brook through all our neighbors’ backyards. Moreover, not once did anyone have a problem with us wandering through their backyard or did I feel unsafe. Some days we would simply lie on one of the huge boulders scattered throughout our forest and watch the clouds flow by and trees sway. I was left to my own devices for the most part.
Things have changed quite a bit since I was in elementary school. There seems to be less free time for exploring outdoors unsupervised. Our children’s time seem to be more structured and scheduled. Kids have play dates now and most are based on the parent’s schedule because they tend to attend them as well. Sure that makes sense when they are toddlers but it seems to continue until they are much older nowadays, at least for the first couple of times just to make sure it is a “safe environment.”
Even though Mathew’s first hike occurred when he was just 10 days old and we spent most of his first 4 years teaching new parents weekly about hiking and exploring the woods with their little ones, he is just okay with going for a hike or being outdoors. Thank goodness, he doesn’t hate it but he really could take it or leave it. If he had a choice, he would stay inside and play video games. I found this very interesting since once he is in the woods he seems very comfortable and easily wanders off ahead of us. Nevertheless, when we are home, he has no desire to simply go into our backyard and explore. So, I decided to investigate this further and interviewed him.
Me: “Do you like hiking or exploring outdoors?”
Mathew: “It’s okay.”
Me: “What do you like about going on a hike or being outdoors?”
Mathew: “Looking for places to hide, like caves.”
Me: “Do you ever get scared when you hike ahead of us and are all alone?”
Mathew: “No.”
Me: “If you were left home alone for 4 hours, would you stay indoors or explore outdoors.”
Mathew: “If I could use the computer, I would stay indoors and play games all day.”
Me: “If you only had 7 TV channels, records, 8 track tapes, cassettes, a phone that was tethered to the wall and Atari with 2 games to play ~ Pong and Space Invaders, would you rather stay home alone for 4 hours or explore outside for 4 hours?
Mathew: “Stay inside for a while and then go outside to play and explore.”
I found this very telling. Our society has created an incredible mind suck for our youth and adults for that matter. Every year it seems to suck us in deeper and deeper. Hey, people don’t even need to attend college classes anymore ~ they can do it online now. I cannot imagine missing out on learning and exchanging ideas together in a classroom; it made the experience so much richer than reading simply the textbook. People are becoming more and more isolated although they have 500 “friends” on Facebook. Most of the games Mathew plays have a chat option, where he “feels” he can connect with “friends.” I do not know what the answer is as technology is not going away and interacting with nature and the real world should be more important. When a child is out in nature, all their senses are activated. They are immersed in something bigger than themselves. Rather than focusing narrowly on one thing, such as a computer screen. It gives them a chance for their brains to rejuvenate and breathe fresh air. Richard Louv, actually wrote a book and coined the phrase Nature-Deficit Disorder because he observed this disconnect from the natural world was producing ill effects on both our minds and bodies.
I am not sure what the solution is but something needs to be done. How can we coexist with technology in a healthy manner? I do not think it is appropriate or realistic to treat it like an addiction and simply remove it from our lives. Sure, let’s see how well that would go over ~ NOT. Nevertheless, perhaps we need to identify specific times or days where we can give the pervasive technology a rest ~ similar to the Sabbath. A specific time to be released from technology and worship the tangible and natural world ~ reconnect with each other and life itself.
What do you think? Please share and I will continue to share.