Nature Deficit Disorder
The unintended consequences of "improving" our quality of life
The Aspen Institute reported that in a British survey in 2002, that children can more readily identify Japanese cartoon characters than they can identify plants in the UK. They also found that children in the U.K. spent 50% less time outdoors than they did 20 years ago.
Globally, there are stark differences between countries and whether children explore nature. In the U.S., 33% of mothers said their kids often explored nature; whereas in India it is 18% and even less in China at 5%.1 When mothers were asked about free-time activities that their children did often: 72% said watching TV; 58% said playing outside. Also, 54% said that their children appeared happiest when they were playing outside in parks or playgrounds. And 73% said that their children would choose to play outside rather than inside if they could.2
What does this do to children, their development and their outlook on nature?
The United Nations estimates that it was the year 2007 when more people lived in urban areas than in rural areas in the world. 3 So it is a relatively recent phenomena for humans to remove themselves from nature — only the last 15 years on a 200,000 year timeline of history.
Just over the past 12,000 years, the density of the human population has increased dramatically without adding any addition habitable space to the earth. This chart shows the increase in population which helped to drive urbanization and higher densities. Higher densities reduces open space and places for nature to thrive, so to the extent green spaces were made a part of city development, that became the only exposure to nature. Some families had city homes and urban residences, but those made up the wealthy class.
This next chart shows the shift when more people began living in urban areas than in rural areas, which was very recent —2007.
Two fields of study — evolutionary psychology and environmental psychology should have a lot to say about nature deficit disorder, and I hope more research will emerge to help us understand it.
Problems of childhood obesity, behaviorial and mental health concerns might be expected if we considered this really radical removal of nature from our lives. It is possible this is simply a false correlation (two things happening at the same time, but there is no causation attributable to one causing the other to happen). But it is demonstrable that more time connecting ourselves with nature does good things for us both mentally and physically.
Thus, the term nature deficit disorder has emerged to explain the current state of children not having enough exposure or meaningful connection to nature. My first introduction to this idea was with Richard Louv’s book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder (2005),4 and it seemed western though had finally come around to a more indigenous perspective, seeing humans in nature, rather than humans constantly at war with nature. But the critics emerged and argued it was the parents’ fault for not introducing nature to their children.
It is not just about children, because it is adults, too, who have significant benefits from exposure to nature and negative impacts from the lack of time in nature. A 2012 study that was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that a 90-minute walk in nature can decrease negative rumination—a form of repetitive thinking about one’s problems—and it can also increase self-esteem and happiness.
So, when we look at all this research and think about our current state of being, both individually and collectively, it seems that we have a lot to learn from nature and spending time in nature can help alleviate some of the symptoms of being disconnected. There are many ways to re-connect with nature, and it does not have to be a lengthy process or in a remote location. It can happen in small doses, close to home, and even in an urban setting. You can go for a walk in the park, join a community garden, or start your own small garden at home.
Our society has become so disconnected from nature that we no longer see its value. We are so used to living in man-made environments that we don't even notice the negative impact it has on our health and well-being.
Nature deficit disorder is a term used to describe the ways in which our disconnection from nature negatively affects us. It is a catch-all phrase that includes a wide range of problems, from mental health issues to obesity. It does not have an official designation in the DSM-VI or any psychological coding table.
There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that nature deficit disorder is real and that it is having a significant impact on our lives.5 We are less active, more anxious, and less connected to the world around us. Our health is suffering as a result and so is the environment.
So how do you determine you have this so-called nature deficit disorder? The most obvious way is to go out in the forest or desert, and see if you have less anxiety, lower blood pressure and a more calm outlook, as research suggests. But there is not a lot of good data and little research to make the causal connection between nature and better psychological and physiological health. There is evidence that even looking at images of nature can help 6, so I have created a survey to test your responses to various visual stimuli. It should take under ten minutes to take this survey. This survey may be used for research development purposes to develop a model for future research. Your responses are anonymous. As they say: Do it for science! Thank you so much for your help in taking this survey.
Click here to go to the survey:
After you take the survey, I hope you will walk outside and look up at a tree, and test these theories for yourself.
Singer, Dorothy, Singer, Jerome, D’Agostino, Heidi & DeLong, Raeka. 2009. Children’s pastimes and play in 16 nations: Is free-play declining? American Journal of Play, Winter, 284-312.
Singer, Dorothy, Singer, Jerome, D’Agostino, Heidi & DeLong, Raeka. 2009. Children’s pastimes and play in 16 nations: Is free-play declining? American Journal of Play, Winter, 284-312.
In 2017 55% of the world lived in urban settings. The UN estimates this milestone event – when the number of people in urban areas overtook the number in rural settings – occurred in 2007 at https://ourworldindata.org/urbanization.
https://richardlouv.com/blog/what-is-nature-deficit-disorder/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/parenting/nature-health-benefits-coronavirus-outdoors.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3699874/