I’ve spent most of my career focused on the impact of social media, smartphones, and other tech products on children’s mental health—first as a journalist and media ecologist and now as the founder and executive director of Mothers Against Media Addiction (MAMA). I started it as I saw multiple forces creating the conditions for the U.S.’s ongoing national emergency in child and adolescent mental health. Among those factors: addictive, exploitative algorithms and the surge in screentime, along with our tendency to over-parent (which has moved from “helicopter” to “snowplow”  and deprived kids of opportunities to learn resiliency).

Today, MAMA is a nationwide grassroots movement focused on fighting back against media addiction and creating a world where real-life interactions remain at the heart of a healthy childhood.  

But in addition to my professional focus on media addiction, I’m also a mom of three who has seen firsthand the incredible, irreplaceable power that time away from screens—specifically time in the outdoors, physically engaging in various experiences—has on children’s growth, development and overall well-being.

A few summers ago, my kids were spending the day outside with some other neighborhood children. They made their way down to a local stream, where they noticed there was no way to get across the water. Working together, the kids dragged a log across the stream to create a makeshift bridge. We later got them some small pieces of lumber, which they cut and used to make a sturdier, more permanent bridge; they even used moss and sticks to make the steps firmer during crossings.

Sadly, for many children, these real-world, outdoor experiences are being increasingly replaced by screentime, social media and other addictive technologies. Today’s youth spend nearly nine hours on screens daily. Time once spent on the playground is now reserved for Fortnite and Roblox; camping trips with friends and family are pushed aside in favor of conversations with AI “companion” chatbots.

The societal phenomenon of kids spending less time outside has a name: Nature Deficit Disorder (NDD). Popularized by experts including Bill McKibben and Richard Louv, NDD isn’t a formal medical diagnosis, but a recognition of the negative consequences when people, particularly children, are increasingly disconnected from the outdoors and the world around them.

Louv notes that, based on extensive scientific research, children who spend less time outside are susceptible to a wide range of concerning medical conditions, including “a diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties…obesity, and higher rates of emotional and physical illnesses.” Unsurprisingly, many of these conditions—including mental health challenges like depression and anxiety—are also much more common in children who spend their time staring at screens. 

For children who do spend more time outside, the benefits are numerous and profound. According to the Kids Mental Health Foundation (KMHF), outdoor activity helps young people with everything from supporting social skills, to improving sleep quality, to enhancing their creativity, resilience and confidence.

One major reason why we are so drawn to social media is because its algorithms are designed to show us exactly what we want to see–and what these algorithms know (because of exploitative data collection) will keep us scrolling and swiping. For children who are learning and growing, this is exactly the opposite of what they need. Becoming a well-adjusted, capable adult requires being exposed to new and different experiences, and there is no better place for that than the outdoors. 

While social media can look and feel very stimulating, nature provides the multi-sensory stimulation that our brains and bodies truly need. Our phones may be full of bright colors and loud sounds, but experiencing nature can involve all five senses, often all at once. 

Many of the factors driving screen addiction are systemic and societal. They require policy and legislation to address, which is work that MAMA is squarely focused on. However, as those efforts continue, there are also several steps that we, as parents, teachers, grandparents or other concerned adults can take to help reverse this troubling trend and bring the outdoors back into our children’s lives.

The most obvious approach, but perhaps also the most challenging, is to reduce the amount of time our kids spend on their phones or other screens. This means setting firm limits on screen time at home, working with schools to eliminate personal phones in the classroom (already the case in most U.S. states), and keeping close tabs on exactly how children are using their devices and what they are seeing on them. 

It also means getting off screens ourselves and engaging our kids in activities like cooking and crafts, playing board games, or taking them outside in the world to engage in big and small adventures. 

We also need to look for simple, everyday ways to make sure our kids are getting the healthy, active recreational time they need. Time in the outdoors also doesn’t have to mean going for a long hike or organizing a lengthy camping trip. For children, things as simple as taking a walk around the block, eating lunch outside or visiting a city park can have a massive impact in both the short and long-term. The KMHF article noted above has a helpful list of additional potential outdoor activities, including for families who live in places without easy access to green space. 

At school, the importance of recess, dedicated time for students to spend playing outside, cannot be overstated. Even that limited period of outdoor recreation during the school day can have a massive impact on children’s wellbeing. Unfortunately, while the Centers for Disease Control recommends at least 20 minutes a day of recess in elementary schools, barely half of all schools actually provide that time. More principals and administrators prioritizing recess—and school boards devoting the necessary funding to support kids’ outdoor play—is an absolutely critical piece of the puzzle.  

Outside of school, it’s understandable that parents may default to screen time as the easiest way of keeping their kids entertained and engaged. If you want to protect your child, there’s a certain comfort in knowing that they are safely seated on the couch rather than roaming around in the great outdoors. But the truth is that our kids need those real-world experiences to learn and grow; depriving them of such opportunities is what will truly cause them harm in the long run.  

Shifting our culture to once again place greater emphasis on the outdoors will not happen overnight. Social media and screens have a powerful hold on much of our free time, and they appeal to our brains in ways that are as addictive as they are unhealthy. But if we can make these small, incremental adjustments over time to expose our children to nature, the benefits for them and for future generations will be truly massive.