Do kids today have "nature deficit disorder"?

[Kitschensyngk]

Found this article in an Adbusters on my campus bookstore's magazine rack and thought it was interesting.

http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/78/end_of_childhood.html

Can increased urbanization and a lack of exposure to the great outdoors give a kid mental disorders and poor health later on in life? Discuss.

[Scirel]

I honestly think it's just personal choice.

I always hated hiking and playing in fields because of Insects that can crawl on you(specifically daddy long legs) and freaking goose **** lying everywhere.

Playgrounds were awesome though, especially the swings.

[Dr.Pepper]

I honsetly think that the lack of the great outdoors is going to give anyone mental problems.

[purplehairedwonder]

I think it's a shame fewer kids are playing outside anymore. When I was a kid, I played outside all the time, whether by myself in the yard or at the park, or with friends in my neighborhood. We didn't have cable when I was a kid (or internet until I was older), so playing outside was the best way to entertain myself. I think it really helped to work my imagination as a child as well, since I often played on my own in the yard, so was always coming up with different games to play.

I also played softball as a kid (still do in college), so was used to being outside, anyway. Really, a lot of my childhood was spent outside and it seems like that is the exception rather than the rule anymore. Such a shame because I have great memories of those times.

[Wounded_Dragon]

It doesn't help that the media has portrayed anyplace outside the home as a prime spot for something dastardly to happen.

[Shawn Hopkins]

I know this sounds like a cliche, but it's true. When I was a kid our parents would shoo us outside, sometimes they'd even lock the door. They wouldn't settle for us sitting inside playing Atari all day on a sunny day (yeah, we had video games too, so that's no excuse).

Maybe we would moan about it for five minutes, but when we got out there we realized we liked it, and we rode our bikes and played basketball and dug in the dirt and ran around in the hills. Today's parents should try doing the same thing, instead of allowing their kids to watch TV all day. Although they should probably give their kids some sunblock, I got some hellacious burns. And maybe some water so they don't have to drink from the hose.

[Captain Highwind]

I think it's just a matter of getting them in something organized. I mean, you can say 'play outside' but if there's really nothing decent around to get involved in, the playground gets boring after a week.

So yeah, sports, social functions, etc. seem to be what fixes it.

[Squall]

While we Humans in the modern world have always had a comfortable barrier between us and nature, in the last few generations it's gotten to the point where a person in many industrialized countries can live out their entire lives almost totally removed from nature.

Interestingly, reading this article made me think of three things in particular:
(1) Batman Beyond's Gotham City
(2) The Matrix
(3) Blade Runner

I do think that, whether we like it or not, part of our mental health comes from feeling some connection with nature. A bright partly cloudy day, fresh air, a cool breeze, out in an open grassy area or forested area... it's the environment we evolved in. Blue skies, green grass. Being near moving water as a nice bonus.

When you live your daily life in a crowded, loud city where everything is artificial, even the noise and the lights (at night, or inside buildings) it starts to take a toll on you after a while. Headaches, claustrophobia, stress just from being in such surroundings, etc.

I love a big, bustling city (being a city boy myself), but even I don't want to see our big cities overtake nature and turn where most people live into mid-21st Century Gotham City. :sweat:

[SSJPabs]

I do not like Star Wars, but I can't help but approve of someday our planet becoming like the surface of Coruscant: completely tech'd over.

[Ickis]

To me being in the wilderness is not essential to ones life though it is nice and I highly suggest a 5 hour hike in the woods of southwest Missouri to any cynical enviromentalists, I took a hike as a boy scout (or whatever they are when you're 16-17) and it wound up turning into a 7 hour one, no sleep and only a few bannanas were what happened before the hike and to me such work pays off whether you relise it or not. Kids these days don't need crazy hikes but they should have more to their lives than video games and TV. As for health later its probably a matter of what you've eaten or your lifestyle and as for mental issues the main thing that can shape up a kids mental state is what they watch and bla bla bla, everything parents should already know. Another factor though is individual or not its still somewhat important to atleast observe other people when somewhere and bored rather than play with a to.. errm, cellphone or tune out the world with an Ipod as over use of such can make it troublesome to comminicate with others in person. Its also somewhat important to meet people that are different as if you just limit youself to those with your interests (like a handfull a animerds) than you're pretty much isolating your self to the world.

[Sparticus]

I think it's just a matter of getting them in something organized. I mean, you can say 'play outside' but if there's really nothing decent around to get involved in, the playground gets boring after a week.

So yeah, sports, social functions, etc. seem to be what fixes it.

Not really. Just a good empty lot, no cash, and no cellphone is all you really need. XD Ah, the good old days.

Except for the no cash bit. MUST AMBUSH ICE CREAM TRUCK!!! @_@ Not that they're even worth chasing down anymore.

I worry more about the kids who have NO interest in playing outside or making their own fun. I love the internets and video games and cartoons as the next geek, but I'll drop it all for a good game of wiffleball, or a super soaker battle, or you know, playing outside.

It's one thing if there isn't anywhere to play outside; it's another thing if you can't get the kids outside to begin with. You could build the most awesome playground in the world (remember those thirty foot tall slides? Man I miss those!) but if the kids won't go outside... :shrug:

[Light Lucario]

I don't think that a kid not going to play outside would have serious affects on his or her mental state to the point where they could get a mental disorder later in life. It can easily be a person's choice to stay in and not go outside to play. Some kids also don't have a safe place to play around often or don't have a large enough yard to play in. The mental disorder could also have other factors than just going outside or not. I used to play outside in my front yard when I was a kid. I used to imagine what I wanted to do or just play with the leaves of the big tree. I sometimes played with my stuff toys too. But I soon got tired of being outside all by myself; my big brother really didn't want to be around his little sister and both of my parents were busy with work to be with me. I also became more self-conscious about what I was doing in my small, public little yard. I could have gone in the backyard, but I didn't feel like playing by myself like that anymore.

So I doubt that my choice to not play in outside affected me in a negative way. I'm not saying that not going outside at all is a good idea. It's nice to go out for just a calm walk, jog or even hike every now and then, but I just don't think that staying inside could affect a child's mind that badly. Of course, that could also depend on other factors as well.