The cost of officially becoming the “Indoor Generation”
When thinking about my own childhood in the 90s, the majority of memories come from my time outdoors, and in a conversation with my husband recently, I now realize this is common for kids.. “some of my best memories were ______ outside".
I was fortunate enough to have a childhood similar to what my parent’s generation (baby boomers) describe, which was freely running and biking around the neighborhood with other kids, exploring greenbelt woods and creeks, making forts, playing hide and seek and capture the flag, and often not coming home until dinner time or when the streetlights came on.
My mom even had a large cowbell that she used for calling us home for dinner, and also for loudly celebrating a goal made by my brother’s team in hockey.
No, we didn’t have any screens except TV, Nintendo, and later as a teen, the internet, but regardless of screens, it wasn’t all that normal to spend a whole day or most of the day indoors unless the weather was especially terrible.
Today, I walk my own children around various neighborhoods in our town, and even in the summer, there is often not a single child (or person) in sight. At the park maybe, but there is a serious lack of laughter and play happening in neighborhoods. It makes me question, are they all inside? Are they at a camp or a sport? Are they at daycare? where are they!?
Even while observing children in a park just recently, sitting on a merry-go-round and talking, they were comparing summer activities with one another, how many times they’ve been to the pool, etc. All three middle childhood (7-12) year olds said, “I just play on the computer all day, that’s literally all I do is play on the computer alllllll day.”
Friends, we have lost our way as a culture. This movement to more time indoors, and more time on screens is already costing us greatly, and it’s time we become more aware of it.
According to the US EPA, Americans spend 90% of their time indoors, while another study from Velux, a window manufacturing company also suggests 1 in 4 Americans spend almost their entire days indoors without going outside.
Is your mind blown by that? I hope it is! 90 percent???
Some might laugh about this and say their couch is just safer and comfier than the outdoors. Some, like Glennon Doyle (who I love and admire), might even mention how they used to get grounded outside because they hated the outdoors so much. Some of us can heavily relate to that.
Here are 6 reasons why too much time indoors is costing us greatly:
As humans, we have a primal need for sunlight and fresh air. Without it, our bodies get out of sync with natural circadian rhythms, our mental health and mood suffers, and our physical health suffers. “An average adult breathes in almost 4,000 gallons of air every day- and indoor air can be up to five times as polluted as indoor air” (USA Today-YouGov study).
Daylight has a significant impact on our sleep. Steven Lockley, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and neuroscientist at the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders claims that exposure to light-dark cycles is an “absolutely crucial” part of human biology. “That’s due to the role of light in resetting our circadian clock each and every day. It resets our clocks to be in tune with environmental time, and light is the primary time cue. Light is an acute stimulant that directly alerts the brain. It can affect energy levels as well as alertness and productivity.”
Chronic physical and mental illnesses in children have skyrocketed. 20% of our kids 6 and older are obese with diabetes, heart disease, and other ailments on the rise.
As of 2011, about 11% of American Children had been diagnosed with ADHD. In 2014 nearly 6 million children (1 in 8) took Ritalin to combat ADHD. Why does this matter? because studies show more time outdoors and in nature can actually help symptoms of ADHD.
According to at least one surgeon general, the present generation of children may be the first of the modern age with a life expectancy less than that of their parents.
Pollution is often worse indoors than outdoors, and the poor air quality in our homes, schools, and offices, is associated with asthma, respiratory disease, heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
As we all know, climate change is getting worse every day. With children not spending time outdoors, they are not connecting with their environments, they’re not connecting with nature itself, which in turn doesn’t help them to care about the environment.
Quick Story: When I was teaching 4th grade in a Title 1 school in Seattle, we had a science lesson that required the observation of grasshoppers. The district sent them to us in a box, instead of us going out to observe them in their natural habitats (what?). Once we sufficiently did our science lesson indoors…. I decided we would go outside and set them all free in the grass. One of my 4th graders was so excited, he was jumping around and jumped right on top of one seemingly intentionally. I reacted in a stern way unfortunately, and told him we don’t want to kill the grasshoppers. The poor child was in tears and felt awful, he just didn’t understand how to interact with bugs. He thought you just killed them, perhaps because that’s what he has seen at home. He had never gone outside and observed a bug before.
I don’t know about you all reading, but I don’t want my kids to be known as “the indoor generation.” I don’t want them to not know how to interact with a bug. I don’t want them to be spending hours and hours each day on screens and minutes outdoors. It’s not healthy for anyone, in any way.
Resources:
How To Raise A Wild Child by Scott Sampson (read this book!)
VELUX Canada
The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/paidpost/velux/the-indoor-generation.html
USA Today
