Kids are staying inside and leaving Mother Nature out in the cold
With a limited amount of free time, young people are opting to commune with computers rather than Mother Nature.
Participation in outdoor activities, which includes everything from skateboarding to hiking to camping, went from 39 percent among those ages 6 to 24 in 2006 to just over 34 percent in 2008, according to a study conducted by the Outdoor Foundation.
Sure, computers, television and video games are consuming their free time, but most youngsters are staying indoors because they say outdoor activities simply don't appeal to them — at all.
"The top reason they don't get outdoors is that they're not interested," said Christine Fanning, executive director of the outdoor foundation. "They no longer, in their world, see the outdoors as being culturally relevant the way Facebook is, the way video games are, the way reality TV is, the way even school is. It's just not part of their lifestyle any more."
So while participation in outdoor activities is on the rise in adults over 24, the younger generation just doesn't hear the call of the wild.
"Kids are spending eight hours a day with media — that includes TV, computers, video games," said Fanning, who was in Salt Lake as part of the Outdoor Retailers Show in January. "Those same studies show young people reporting four minutes a day for spending time outdoors.
"There are only so many hours in the day, and the time spent with media and technology just continues to increase. And that has to come from somewhere. I think that comes from the outdoor experiences."
Another issue for young people is that their lives are not as relaxed as their parents' childhoods might have been.
"It is not as easy to include (outdoor activities) in a highly structured, scheduled environment that many young people struggle with," she said. "There are access issues for a lot of inner-city kids. There are just a whole range of issues."
The danger of having a generation that doesn't enjoy outdoor activities is to those who understand the value — and benefits — of enjoying Mother Nature.
"There are not only the environmental issues," said Fanning, "so that if young people have never hiked a trail or paddled a river, I'm not sure they have the understanding or appreciation for the outdoors. Even as we say that some of our parks are permanently protected, it's really based on the will of the people to keep those pristine places protected."
An appreciation for the earth's beauty isn't even the most detrimental aspect of this problem.
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