Screen Time and Wellbeing
Screen Time and Wellbeing: Why Being in Nature is So Important
Technology is great. Helpful technology does so many things, from cell phone cameras that take pictures like DSLR cameras, 4k television screens, watches that tell you how fast your heart is beating… the list goes on.
Unfortunately, there are downfalls to technology and screen time that are affecting our children and adolescents. Studies have shown that the increase in screen time amongst adolescents and children raise concerns with psychological wellbeing and poor health outcomes (Dumuid et al, 2017). Screen time includes any electronic device, tv, and video games. Twenge and Campbell (2018), showed that higher users of screens were significantly more likely to have been diagnosed with anxiety, or depression. Adolescents that were 14 years old to 17 years old and spent 7+ hours a day with screens, were twice as likely to have been diagnosed with depression. In addition, high screen users were more likely to have seen or needed to see a mental health professional. In this study, the researchers spoke with caregivers of a preschool and collected data on the children’s behaviors. Twenge and Campbell stated that high screen users were more likely to lose their temper, less likely to calm down when excited, and less likely to switch tasks, without anger, or anxiety.
Why is playing in nature so beneficial? In the article written by Chawla (2015), many studies show that when children play in nature, it helps provide opportunities to engage in creative play, sets self-paced challenges, children learn about the environment through direct experience, and it can help form emotional bonds to the natural world. It helps promote bodily health through the freedom of movement, it can help enhance a child’s senses, imagination, and thought. Lastly, it can help familiarize your child to other species in their raw environment. Thank goodness we live in the big beautiful country of Montana, where nature is in our backyards.
Sometimes we just have to remember to engage with it!
Here are some resources for parents who are seeking outdoor play groups: https://tinkergarten.com/kids-classes/montana
Parks and playgrounds in Bozeman, MT: https://bozemanrealestate.group/blog/bozemans-parks-and-playgrounds
Preschools that promote outdoors: https://www.mountainsproutspreschool.com/ https://valleyoftheflowersschool.com/events
Chawla, L. (2015). Benefits of nature contact for children. Journal of Planning Literature, 30(4), 433-452.
Dumuid, D., Olds, T., Lewis, L. K., Martin-Fernández, J. A., Katzmarzyk, P. T., Barreira, T., Broyles, S. T., Chaput, J-P., Fogelholm, M., Hu, G., Kuriyan, R., Kurpad, A., Lambert, E. V., Maia, J., Matsudo, V., Onywera, V. O., Sarmiento, O. L., Standage, M., Tremblay, M. International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle and the Environment (ISCOLE) research group. (2017). Health-related quality of life and lifestyle behavior clusters in school-aged children from 12 countries. Journal of Pediatrics, 183, 178-183.
Twenge, J & Campbell, K. (2018). Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents: Evidence from a population-based study. Preventative Medicine Reports, 12, 271-283.
