Do your kids have Nature-Deficit Disorder?
Another hat tip to Question Technology.
I am going to get a copy of
Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, by Richard Louv, to add to my summer reading pile.
[...] in the last 30 years, says journalist Richard Louv, children of the digital age have become increasingly alienated from the natural world, with disastrous implications, not only for their physical fitness, but also for their long-term mental and spiritual heath.
Louv argues that
sensationalist media coverage and paranoid parents have literally
"scared children straight out of the woods and fields," while promoting
a litigious culture of fear that favors "safe" regimented sports over
imaginative play. Well-meaning elementary school curricula may teach
students everything there is to know about the Amazon rain forest’s
endangered species, but do little to encourage kids’ personal
relationship with the world outside their own doors. And advances in
technology, while opening up a wealth of "virtual" experiences to the
young, have made it easier and easier for children to spend less time
outside.
Posted: June 5th, 2005 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 11
Comments
Comment from Anonymous
Time: June 12, 2005, 9:29 pm
I heard the author speak last night - if you haven’t picked up a copy of his book - do so…it’s an eye-opener
Comment from Anonymous
Time: June 20, 2005, 12:27 am
first slashdot poster!
Comment from Beerli
Time: June 20, 2005, 1:03 am
My daughter is now 22 and specialising in photography,film and computer graphics. As a child she was exposed to everything - the sun, sea, sand and sport of Australia, the ducks, flowers, ponds and woods…and computers and games from the age of two. She used to sit on our lap and was a dab hand with the joy stick and it went from there to her now having her own computer and own computing strengths. It’s a question of balance! Life can be friends, family, nature and technology. My rule has been to have the computer in the family area and that in itself has generated much discussion and social activity. Now, of course, we have more than one computer. teach her ALL you know.
Comment from Anonymous
Time: June 20, 2005, 1:23 am
The problem is not technology, it’s unregulated capitalism where businesses are stronger the governments and people don’t bother to fight back against business for fear of “losing the competition with other nations” thereby forcing their insane speedy ways of life on their children.
Come on when the speed and pace of life is going way too fast for anyone to keep up you know that the fundamental problem is with the economic social order, parents and people are too lazy to think about joining unions and reducing the crazy amount of hours they work for fear of being fired and whatnot, think about how people live and work today and it’s insanity.
Comment from useless
Time: June 20, 2005, 8:45 am
I have not read the book, but I tend to agree with Beerli. The parent(s) is/are responsible for balancing a child’s schedule and routine so that they are able to explore everything life has to offer. If a young child is allowed to sit in front of a PC or television for hours with no outside stimuli, then don’t be surprised when they are not interested in doing anything else…
My oldest child has his own PC, which he is very proficient at using, but he still loves to go outside, catch bugs, ride his bicycle, scrape his knee, etc.
Comment from Wolfie
Time: June 20, 2005, 10:11 am
beerli has it right, IMHO. Not a big problem when family is doing together and interacting with the entire universe of things, people, animals, etc. The sad ones I see are those who zero in on games and such early on, then shut out all other forms of experience. My advice is to kill the games until the kids are 18! Ours have had some educational things, some cartoons, e-mail and supervised web access. Games just don’t make it in the door and are not tolerated at friends’ homes, either. [Sneaky parents network, too!] W/o a gameboy and other crap, hiking, fishing and hunting are a lot of fun, family outings are the hit of the week and 3 generations of our family really talk and listen to each other.
Comment from JWK
Time: June 24, 2005, 8:06 pm
Why is it a problem if children have a nature-deficit?
It’s certainly not a disorder.
As technology has progressed, it allows us, if we choose to, not to have to experience nature, or to be able to experience it from a distance. Just because I enjoy hiking in the mountains or kyaking down the restored Kissimee River, doesn’t mean everyone else does — o r should be expected to do those things.
As long as the kids are healthy, who cares if they know where their food comes from, or spend lots of time outside.
Comment from Mark Sicignano
Time: June 24, 2005, 8:33 pm
Well, I haven’t read the book yet, but I’m presuming that there is no real “disorder” and that the title is primarily for attention getting effect.
You said, “As long as the kids are healthy, who cares if … they play outside”. I think part of the problem is that there are many kids who unfortunately aren’t healthy, partly because of the attraction of all types of technology/media helps to keep them entertained and indoors. It’s also partly due to diet, and other things as well. It’s not the technology itself that’s the problem, it’s that they spend too much time with it.
I agree that people, or maybe I would limit that to adults, can do whatever they want and if they don’t enjoy nature, that’s their choice.
But when it comes to young kids, they need parents to help them make wise choices and to provide a good balance of all sorts of experiences in the kids life until they’re old enough to make wise decisions for themselves.
Comment from Anonymous
Time: October 2, 2006, 10:51 pm
As a special education teacher, I see students who spend an inordinate amount of time in front of a screen.
JKW states that as long as a kid is healthy, who cares if they know where their food comes from, or spend lots of time outside.
These young people are the next generation of lawmakers. If they have no knowledge of nature, wouldn’t it make sense that they would also have no knowledge of how to preserve it?
Let’s hope the Kissimee River and our food production stay intact, but without knowledge and stewardship, it will likely fall to the highest bidder.
Comment from Anonymous
Time: January 17, 2007, 9:50 am
“As a special education teacher, I see students who spend an inordinate amount of time in front of a screen.
JKW states that as long as a kid is healthy, who cares if they know where their food comes from, or spend lots of time outside.
These young people are the next generation of lawmakers. If they have no knowledge of nature, wouldn’t it make sense that they would also have no knowledge of how to preserve it?
Let’s hope the Kissimee River and our food production stay intact, but without knowledge and stewardship, it will likely fall to the highest bidder.”
WELL PUT!
Pingback from Families and Technology » Simple Secret to Improving Your Family’s Well-Being
Time: February 19, 2008, 11:14 pm
[...] lot on their plates and are stressed, but consider Richard Louv’s point from his book, “Last Child in the Woods“: Nature can be an antidote to the problems parents are experiencing. “Stress [...]
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