Children are spending far more time in front of computer and TV screens than outdoors

According to the first annual California Summer Youth Survey, conducted in 2006 by the Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council (www.stewardshipcouncil.org), young people in California are “not getting outdoors.”

• 67% of parents said their children spent less time outdoors than the summer before
• 91% of parents blamed TV, computers and video games for their children’s lack of interest in getting outdoors
• Lower income families (those earning less than $50,000/year) were most likely to have children spending less time outdoors

Furthermore, a study of the decline in attendance at US National Parks suggests that increased use of video games, home movie rentals, and the Internet accounts for the decline.

“We may be seeing evidence of a fundamental shift away from people’s appreciation of nature … to ‘videophilia,’ which we define as ‘the new human tendency to focus on sedentary activities involving electronic media.”—Pergams and Zaradic, 2006

Sources:
Stewardship Council (press release, September 2006). New survey reveals California youth are not getting outdoors.
Pergams, O.R.W. & Zaradic, P.A. (2006). Is love of nature in the US becoming love of electronic media? 16-year downtrend in national park visits explained by watching movies, playing video games, internet use, and oil prices. Journal of Environmental Management 80: 387-393. See also http://www.nature.org/success/art18259.html