Childhood has generally moved indoors over the past two decades and tech time has largely taken over, leaving kids disconnected from nature and physical activity.
That’s according to ongoing research, which indicates children and teens between ages eight and 18 spend an average of seven hours a day playing video games, going online, on cellphones and watching television.
At the Town of Banff, the community services department is trying to combat this trend by offering a new after school program that gets kids outside to play called Into The Wild.
Officials say the fear is not only that tech time is replacing physical and imaginative play, but that it also may be diminishing development of social skills and is being linked to behavioural problems.
Colin Harris, the Town of Banff’s child and youth program coordinator, said this trend has implications for children’s healthy development, noting science says children need regular time in nature to reach their full potential.
“The approach at the Town is that we want to offer after-school care for parents in the community who need it, but we wanted to create more environmental, outdoor nature-based programming” he said.
“Beyond that, we’re also trying to move the needle a little bit in providing a response to the amount of technology our kids are growing up with.”
The Into the Wild program is an outdoor, nature-based program for Grades 1-6.
Tracking, learning to cook, crafting and developing outdoor skills are all elements in fostering and building child relationship to the outdoors. It’s led by staff who specialize in outdoor and environmental education.
Banff resident Chris Lamothe, who has lived in Banff for about 10 years, signed his seven-year-old son Louis up for the program, somewhat reluctantly at first when the indoor program was already full.
“Knowing what the weather can be like, we were worried with the cold in winter and about having a kid outside for three hours,” he said.
“When we filled out the permission form, it mentioned do you allow your kids to play with matches, use knives. We were intrigued and thought, ‘let’s give this a shot.’ ”
The decision has more than paid off.
Lamothe said his son loves to play in forts, roll in mud by the river, cook bannock or make stew and soups – just some of the many activities he does as part of the outdoor program.
“Every time we come to pick him up, he has the biggest grin on his face and he’s always happy. We have to pry him away from it at the end,” said Lamothe.
“It beats sitting in front of the television. Kids at that age have so much energy and need to be outside.”
Harris said the more time kids spend outside, the better their academic performance, the more social they are, the more independent and creative they become.
On the flip side, he said, research says the more time kids spend on a computer or social media, generally the more depressed they will be and the more anxiety and loneliness they will feel.
“I think Into The Wild is a response to that, in part,” said Harris.
“We know the benefits of kids getting outside and being in nature, but I think we’re also trying to, in part, set them up for success by saying here are things you can enjoy doing that don’t involve technology.”
Harris said some parents perceive outdoor programs to be risky, noting it’s cold in winter, kids play by the river or in the forest, but he said a healthy degree of risk, along with free and unstructured play, is fundamental to healthy development emotionally and physically.
“I’m not saying there’s no risk, but I think some parents have that fear of being in a national park where there are animals, or just letting kids go free-range outside of their house,” he said.
“I think what’s difficult, though, is a lot of parents won’t bat an eyelash about their kid being on an iPad for two hours, and yet the research is saying that is where the real risk is. It’s not in playing outside, it’s in that screen time they’re having.”
Harris again points to the research, showing kids spend about seven or eight hours in front of screens daily, which does include school hours too.
“What else are they doing in their day? It doesn’t leave a lot of time for sleep, play or social connections,” he said.
But an addiction to technology is not just a kid issue.
Harris said adults are role models for children and youth, noting the latest research indicates the average adult is spending three to four hours on a cell phone.
“That’s not in front of a computer or a TV, but simply staring at a phone,” he said.
“It’s almost embarrassing, but if you take the average human life, that person is spending 11 years staring at a phone, which is sad.”
Into the Wild hours compliment the Canadian Rockies Public School calendar, including professional development Fridays from noon to 3 p.m. It also runs full days from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. during winter break and spring break and weekdays 3-6 p.m.
Harris said participation in the new program is good.
“We still have room for more kids. We’re still open for registration,” he said.
