LONDON — The Snapchat generation doesn’t seem to love the outdoors — at least not as much as doing other things. The average child between 6 and 16 years old spends only an hour a day outside, playing video games over twice as long, a new study finds.
Researchers at Decathlon, a sports retailer in the United Kingdom, recently surveyed more than 2,000 British parents and children, hoping to learn more about the recreational attitudes of society’s youngest generation. The researchers’ findings shed light on a number of phenomena.
Today’s children and teens, the survey found, prefer a whole host of activities over playing in the mud. These activities include gaming, watching TV, surfing the web, and listening to music. Believe it or not, some adolescents even preferred doing homework (10 percent) and completing chores (three percent) over enjoying the wilderness.
“With games such as ‘Fortnite’ taking over the lives of many young children, they would prefer to stay indoors than kick a football around with friends or wander through the woods,” says Chris Allen, a department manager at Decathlon, in a statement.
More shockers: four in ten British adolescents have never gone camping, nearly half have never built a den or fort, and more than half have never climbed a tree. Many who had tried these rites of passage couldn’t stop thinking about their devices.
“Today’s generation of children have more things than ever before to encourage them to stay inside – and it seems these gadgets are keeping them from enjoying the great outdoors,” says Allen. “We want to encourage parents and their children to head outside and enjoy a real-life family adventure!”
Parents, for their part, seem concerned. Over two-thirds worry that their children spend too little time outdoors, and nearly four in ten struggle so much to get their kids to leave the house that they actually have to force them to do so.
Three-fifths of parents blamed games like Fortnite for their child’s indoor tendencies, while three-fourths said they spent more time outside when they were the same age.
It’s not for a lack of effort: only a third of kids said they were even open to visiting a local park or garden.
Attitudes shift with maturity, so the jury is still out on whether kids will one day change their tune. Still, the early returns aren’t pretty.
Decathlon hired British market research firm OnePoll to conduct its survey earlier this year.
I remember 70 years ago, after dinner, the kids would meet on a vacant lot and play baseball.
I also remember walking two miles to the city swimming pool.
After swimming, on the way home, I would stop by the public library, to sign out books to read that evening.
70 years ago? That’s where you base an argument? Well, I bet 100 years ago people walked everywhere, uphill, in both directions.
arguement? you missed the boat. It was a simpler/happier time. If you didnt grow up prior to 1980, you missed out.
NO PARENTS WILL NOT LET THEM WALK TWO BLOCKS TO SCHOOL!!!!!!!! THEY DRIVE THEM OR THEY FORCE SCHOOLS TO PROVIDE A BUS!
Mommy and Daddy take line of least resistance to keep them out of their hair… Instead of encourging hiking, sports, park visits, walking dog, exploring world in general…
Mommy and Daddy too damn lazy….root cause
Very myopic.
Funny that you say that. 🙂 I was going to comment about how myopia is a growing problem noticed in South Korea where kids spend even more time indoors – thought to be caused by spending time looking at screens close up – rather than being outdoors, in sunlight, looking at farther distances.
you are the poster child for myopic…
What does that even mean?
Don’t leave out TV the real villain of modern child care.
Diversity is a strength! (for non whites moving into white places only)
“Diversity is a strength” really says “White people are a weakness”
That’s why they say Anti racist is code for Anti white
That’s why they say Diversity is code for White Geno Cide
OFTEN THIS IS TRUE!
ANOTHER PROBLEM (AND IT WAS, FOR DECADES) IS THAT MOST PEOPLE (KIDS/ADULTS) DO NOT TRY AND WATCH EDUCATION TV SHOWS! THEY THINK NETWORK/CABLE IS GOOD STUFF. IT IS REALLY A PILE OF T*RDS!
I agree. I see young men and women going on hiking, bicycling trips, etc. with their friends and leaving the kids at home instead of taking them. The young parents are so exhausted from work and trying to “Give Back,” they don’t have time to spend time with their own children. Every time I see parents of young kids who work full time taking a week-end day to spend helping others, I can’t help but think if everyone would take care of their home and family, that would serve to make better communities. I’m not against helping others; I just see too many parents leaving their kids at home, or taking their small children with them and letting them play on their tablets while they are doing the “Helping Others,” thing. At least have the kids working beside you to help others, giving them an example to follow. I think it could be more about selfishness than laziness.
As kids back in the 1950s we spent most of our time outdoors, except in winter. Then we got a TV…..
Ah winter, the ’50s:-) About 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Street football or curb ball. Then up to supper and afterward, homework. THEN “The Shadow” or the “Lone Ranger” or Jack Benny all on the radio. I’d lay back on the living room rug close my eyes and go where the radio show took me. Wow!
Yup Trochilus, everybody has a range to graze in:-)
Were you a ranger in the military?
Nope … 62d Engr. Bn, (Land Clearing).
Oh, a sort of “Confused B*stard” 😉
Nice talking with you.
Trochilus, I think you may have missed what I was joking to you about. In WW II, CBs were the Construction Battalion engineers jokingly referred to as the confused b*stards for putting an air strip on a wrong island in the Pacific. I meant no disrespect of your service which I thank you for.
Me, in 1967 at 25 when I came out of school, the Draft x-rayed my hips and knee and said Pete, pregnant women first. Get outta of here unless you sign a waiver. I had been crippled as a kid for 5 years.
Amen.
Small wonder so many think the world has never been warmer. They wouldn’t know.
Exactly. Best comment I have read today. Weather was same then as now. Climate change is just a money grab.
Working outdoors for 45 years, I agree with you 100%…
You win.
I humbly accept the award and would like to thank all of my supporters who made this possible.
we love u 2.
Is there beer?
yes if you are buying.
I spent more than that most days, and maybe 23 or 14 in the summer.
One minute they want to reduce the threat of skin cancer, the next minute they want the children to go play in the sun? This must be a mental illness.
We played outside ALL THE TIME. no sunscreen, no bike helmets, no play dates………..
Yup. Being indoors was boring. Don’t forget that we were acclimated to the temperatures because everywhere (stores, houses and cars) was not cooled to 75 degrees. We never noticed the heat.
For several years, I have rarely seen any kids riding bikes. When I was a kid, there was nothing better than exploring new areas on bike with my friends to look for adventure.
It’s because now you are required to wear a helmet and you can’t ride on the sidewalk in a lot of areas.
TRUE! NOT SAFE ON THE STREETS. NO ONE ON THE SIDEWALK, BUT YOU GET HARASSED IF YOU USE IT FOR A BIKE (IN A SAFE WAY, NOT BOTHERING WALKERS)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I was a kid that’s the amount of time we spent INSIDE…if that! The only time we were inside was to eat & sleep.
I use to get my but tanned for not coming home on time. In morning my mom would give me a choice start doing housework or get out…it was always a no brainer.
We were raised the same way too…breakfast, then out the door free to roam the woods, climb trees, build forts, play marbles in the sand, Our “snacks” came from trees and vines.
Long gone are the days when we don’t have to constantly watch our kids. The blame? The deepening of the mental sickness of society; child abductions, predators, gangs. Television is a culprit, but the courts are a bigger culprit for not dealing a much heavier hand with pedophiles and child corruptors.
Also to blame is the society that forces a woman out of her home to earn the second income, instead of staying in her own home to raise her own children. Throw illegal drugs into this mixture and what do you have? At least sitting around the house, the little guys are safe, not healthy, but safe.
wild blackberries, pecans,apples, pears, blueberries, strawberries, black walnuts , also had a river to fish , had fire pit back in the woods we would catch’em clean’em cook’em man we had it so good. I remember as a kid leaving friday after school and coming back sunday .
All kids (and adults) could use more activity. No argument here. However, at what age do you feel comfortable leaving children alone to play, explore, etc? Until a certain age, children require supervision which means time outside is more limited when parents complete tasks indoors. Additionally, during the school year, there is home work (even at the first grade), dinner, bath, reading and bed. If you want kids to get a good night’s sleep then bed time can be 7:00 – 8:00. If the parent is off at 5:00 then two hours to do all the above isn’t much.
Another point is the windows were wide open because none of us had air-conditioning, the mothers were home inside doing housework but if a kid screamed, moms would come running. Therefore, there wasn’t any snatching of kids back then. (1050’s)
But I can remember in 1975 the Lyons sisters were snatched and we were also so horrified as we never heard of an incident happening like that. Things changed after that and it has been downhill since. Reading just now about the Lyon sisters, it says they finally convicted a perv in 2017 for these two little girls murders.
I’m sounding like an old fart here but summers in jr. high thru high school every one of us kids in the neighborhood
were outside playing baseball/stickball/fishing 9 hours a day, never mind a week.
I’m a 76 yr old fart cydcharisse and I did too. Happy Days 🙂
Small wonder in this day and age when parents have been considered negligent or abusive for allowing their children to make the 3 block walk to the park without adult supervision. Sure, kids are hypnotized by the screens and electronics but, added to that, the world has changed. I remember hitchhiking home from high school and everywhere else I wanted to go for a few years as a young man. When was the last time you’ve hitchhiked or even seen a hitchhiker let alone given one a ride?
7 hrs……..that was Saturday when i was a kid………6 more days to go.
I too remember better days when it was SAFE for kids to be outside doing whatever we did. Now thanks to libturds liberal policies, criminals walk our streets with impunity. The catch-n-release mentality of our justice system brought on by leftist lawsuits on behalf of incarcerated criminals has made it too dangerous for our kids to venture outside without adult supervision 100% of the time.
What years are you talking about Bob?
When I was a kid we didn’t have indoors! We lived outside all the time!
Sarcasm aside; these days most parents are inside all the time as well so their kids mimic them. Why would kids even want to go outside when mom ‘n dad are also plopped on the couch watching shows and stuffing crap down their mouths?
I witnessed this happening while living in suburbia. Neighborhood kids all playing outside until they got their first ‘smart’ phone. Then they no longer came out. My kids were the only ones out playing, wondering where their friends went.
Maybe it’s because of all the pedophile predators who have snatched children while they were simply playing outdoors or walking to school. Parents had no choice but to keep a close eye on them. I remember being a free range kid in the 70’s and I’m lucky to be alive after all the opportunities there were for sickos to snatch me.
Maybe it’s also the pesky mosquitos and deer ticks that give you the icks. I see one and bring the kids inside.
I thank that has a lot to do with it these days also. Unless there are 4 kids together I would be worried. I think just two kids walking down the street could be snatched by a perv but 4 could overcome someone attempting a snatch. That is a very sad thought of what our children are missing in life because of perverts.
That is why you have a Dad with a street sweeper watching over the children.
If you don’t know what a street sweeper is, then you are a lost cause.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uoy14h6K5TY
I don’t know, this kind of study is so judgmental!
Between the 10hrs that my wife spends on Facebook and Instagram, and the 10hrs that I have to spend watching my sports on tv, that leaves little time for us to doing anything time-consuming and boring such as taking a walk outside. Besides, it’s usually hot outside most of the time so between heat exhaustion and skin cancer, the risk of playing outside seems simply too great from my perspective.
They have great hiking, fishing and camping apps these days anyways so anyone who does that stuff outside is probably missing some parts upstairs…if you know what I mean!
You probably suffer a form of vitamin D deficiency that if not treated will lessen the quality of your life as you age.
No wonder kids are so confused. People want them outside but they have all of the latest tech gadgets. Give these poor kids a break!
Here we have a paltry sampling from this story (with a little emphasis added):
Well, there you have three quite distinct (outdoor) activities, with only one of them qualifying as a ‘generic’ descriptor.
As a child, I must say that I preferred nearly any activity — outdoor or indoor — to ‘playing in the mud’! Even though I frequently hung around small streams & river banks, I earnestly avoided getting into the mud. And, exactly none of the following . . . playing baseball, football, or hide & seek; swimming, building a snowman, learning to juggle throw a Frisbee (®), fling a boomerang, fly a paper (or small motorized) airplane; build and occupy a secret fort, explore old foundations of abandoned buildings … and thousands of other pursuits (including a precious few which decency compel me to avoid describing in any detail here) . . . had absolutely nothing to do with being in, or enjoying “the wilderness.
Seems to me that ‘playing in the mud, and moving around out in the wilderness represent only a very tiny portion of the endless menu offerings of the great outdoors one experiences during childhood! Perhaps the author of this tale himself needed to get outside a little bit more himself back in the day!