Survey: kids now get outside less then prisoners

Ok, so I guess most kids today are now apparently going outside less then people in prison, probably not a surprise.

www.theguardian.com...

Three-quarters of UK children spend less time outside than prison inmates, according to a new survey revealing the extent to which time playing in parks, wood and fields has shrunk. A fifth of the children did not play outside at all on an average day, the poll found. Experts warn that active play is essential to the health and development of children, but that parents’ fears, lack of green spaces and the lure of digital technology is leading youngsters to lead enclosed lives.

The new survey questioned a nationally representative sample of 2,000 parents of 5-12 year olds and found 74% of children spent less than 60 minutes playing outside each day. UN guidelines for prisoners require “at least one hour of suitable exercise in the open air daily”.

I think that it's not only bad that kids don't go outside and play nearly as much as they used to, but for some reason, there's something about technology being given to kids that disturbs me. I mean I played video games 24-7 and also did things outside, and I did have portable video games like game boy, but there's something that kind of scares me about the age for kids getting cell phones getting younger and younger. I have little cousins that are around ages 10 and 13-14, and when I first found out that they are fairly connected the the "materialistic" side of life, I was blown away.

They knew who today's female artists were and knew how to get right to there videos on youtube, it was just so weird for me to see this. I think the reason I don't like the idea of really young kids having technology is because I believe it will change their perception on life. Am I overthinking it? maybe.. Anyway there's my rant. Parents: force a little more vitamin d sun rays on your kids.

a reply to: DimensionalChange03

This isn't surprising to me either just based on my own experience.
However I wouldn't fret too much over this... technology is what you make of it.
If you devote your self to reason, kids changing their perception due to the exposure that technology brings shouldn't be an issue. I would rather be aware about the Geo-politics and the problems going on the world at a young age,than living in this naive fantasy that life is all sunshine and rainbows.

I get that being less active can lead to other debilitating and chronic illnesses i.e diabetes and obesity.
But again,technology is what you make of it. It seems you fear that kids will be exposed to knowledge or influenced by technology that harms them. Trust me their are much worse things going on in the world that effect children than pre-teens having cellphones.

a reply to: DimensionalChange03
I'm shocked to see kids as young as 7 with iPhones. It's disturbing snd annoying. Kids these days just aren't kids anymore, how tragic.

When I hear the sound of children playing outside. It's so odd, I go to the window to look! It practically startles me, it's so odd. It shouldn't be odd at all. I heard the sound of a ball bouncing one day and all I could think was oh no don't break my window, because I'm not used to it anymore! Used to be the norm when I was a kid. I had fun playing at parks and playgrounds or just out on my street with other kids. It's how we made friends. Real friends. Got some fresh air and exercise.

I cannot imagine how these kids will be as adults. They aren't even normal to talk to as it is now, few of them can carry on an actual conversation, they're in another zone tapping away on their stupid phones. None of their parents even pointing out that it's rude to use it at the dinner table, because they're on their dumb phones as well. They seem to be low intelligence as well, complete airheads.

I don't know who's bright idea it was to give them phones. One spoilt kid must have got one and the rest had to copy the idea

a reply to: DimensionalChange03

A friend of mine noticed it too. He told me that in the past when we are little we used to go and play outside a lot. Now in the present day, it seems there are less kids outside than before.

My friend attribute it to technology.

a reply to: DimensionalChange03

I have no comment on your OP, but your Avatar took me down the rabbit hole for about 20 minutes...

This was the best I came across, IMO mind you:

From the book "It Happened at the Wall" by Rainer Hildebrandt (text, 1968), they used the same photo with the following quote: "This child wants to cross. The guard had orders to let nobody pass. Nevertheless he opens the barbed wire. At this moment (photo) his superior sees what is happening. Because of his acting contrary to the command he was immediately detached. Nobody knows what became of him."

Interesting stuff...

a reply to: violet

I recently went to Barnes & Noble where there was a group of six 10-12 year olds playing on their iPhones. Tragic indeed.
What is the cut off for millennials? What's this generation called? We'd better pick a good name because at this rate they'll be our last.

Also, if prisoners had access to video games 24 hours a day, they probably wouldn't go outside either.

It's also ruining the kids abilities to build proper social skills,they just don't know how to do proper old fashioned face-to-face contact communication any more.And yes modern electronic communication devices are solely to blame for this.

I was in Florida a few years ago and pulled off the interstate mid afternoon for a break.It happened to be school kicking out time as I watched a line of kids marching out of school,every single one of them was on their phone.Not one of them was chatting with any of the others,I could very well have been on the set of The Walking Dead or any other generic zombie flick.I'm sure I could also hear Pink Floyd's "We don't need no education" playing faintly in the background.

Last year in California and went out for a pizza on Ventura Boulevard.I had more of a conversation with a complete stranger (my waiter) than the family on the next table did with each other.Mum,dad and teenage son and daughter each spent the whole time there on their phones and barely grunted at each other through the meal with not a single piece of real communication going on all the time they were there.

Not only do the kids around here very rarely play outside (not even the back garden or playing fields just two minutes walk away) even in the middle of summer they're indoors with all the doors and windows of the house tightly closed.

When i was young(born 74), we played outside even if it was raining, snowing or hot as hell. We builded huts in the forest, cooked our food on fires, played with knives, bows and arrows, we rode our bmx bikes "24hrs" and didn´t care about little wounds, dirt or whatever.

Today, i am almost never ill, have no allergies, i am not fat. The exact contrary of what even kids nowadays look like.

But we had our videogames(remember playing pong at my cousins house when i was really young) too, and for sure we watched movies galore, you know, that evil VHS video tapes, that will ruin the whole generation of kids, after Jazz, RocknRoll and Comics failed to do so...
But there is a difference. We met to play videogames or watch movies together, while the kids nowadays don´t have to meet anymore, they do it by Fakebook and all that "social" media stuff, there is no need for them to meet others in real life anymore.

But i guess there is another reason for the kids behaviour nowadays.
Their parents!!!
In germany those trendy hipster parents are called helicopter parents. Because they are like helicopters that guard their kids 24/7, never let them out of sight. They want to protect their kids from all evil, not mentioning that exactly this behaviour hurts their kids, these kids can´t learn how to deal with anything, they even can´t strengthen their immune sytem, because they are forbidden to play in the dirt, outsides, where "all evil rules".

It´s those parents that give their kids those spyPhones, so they can use them as what they are, as bugging devices. And then comes it´s second use, to morph people from people to consumers!

We went outside, closed the door and had to deal with life for ourselves then, without our parents help for everything, without them guarding us 24/7. We could learn to deal with problems for ourselves. Today, those hipster parents cage their kids, when they are lucky there is a private backyard where they can play "outsides", under the control of their parents, watching if the kids don´t get too much sun, rain, light, fresh air, nature...

It´s the parents that raise their kids and show them how to deal with life, or let them learn by themselves how to deal with life. But most parents nowadays are feared, feared from everything, as wished. And thats the way the raise their kids, those parents act like the "goodwill-stasi", those parents are BigBrother for their kids, Brave New World.

But this kids are "lucky", because when their parents die, there is the states bigbrother that will protect them, guide them through life, with laws and restrictions...

The fear campaign works fine, look at parents and their kids nowaydays!
It´s not only the spyPhones and that "social" media fault!
Parents should guide their kids and let them life their lifes for themselves, as far as it is needed to grow!
Not Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and all that hyped "stars" and products should be the idols of kids, not the fear of the feared parents should be projected to their kids, by the way the raise them.

a reply to: DimensionalChange03

There was a report a couple of years ago that described the differences in distances ranged by kids in the 1970s to kids now. The average radius of travel in the '70s was a mile and the average radius in recent years was a few metres.

Entertainment has gotten that good the kids don't want to leave the house. Going biking with some cash and a packed lunch is now something for the 'crazy old-timers.' Creeping urbanisation is also pushing the countryside further and further away.

At the same time, another UK report detailed the lack of fine-motor skills in primary school new starters. They aren't learning to manipulate/handle things like they were in the past. My sister-in-law teaches young kids and says they often turn up now and have to be shown how to hold pens and pencils. She's been teaching ten years and says it's a 'new thing' that's become more of an issue with each new intake.

There used to be a saying, 'all fingers and thumbs' and our new generation of tablet-users, android phones and consoles are favouring that. What was once a phrase to describe a clumsy person has become more of a statement of the obvious.

When we were kids, our apartment had a communal backyard shared with five other flats. My friends across the road had an entire back lane to play in. Friends who lived in the country had whole fields and wild bits of land to play in. Everyone had access to parks, playing-fields, the beaches, hiking trails. In some estates, the children would play outside all day.

Now, the new housing estates don't have gardens large enough to run about in, the roads are too narrow to play in (cars parked halfway across the sidewalk), and you need a car to drive three miles to the nearest park. The playing fields have been built over to "solve the housing crisis". Parents won't their children play outdoors any more.

It's unfortunate. For the people asking when this "cut-off" came - I am 25 years old, and most of my time, in North Las Vegas was playing outside. I think I just barely made the mark. As did most of my peers. Not every student had a cell phone, and most cell phones didn't have super fast mobile data. I played video games sure, but a good chunk of that was simply because of the 120 degrees summer. But I still played outside. I think 2 and 3 years my junior (people who are turning 21 this year) is where the issue has sort of started.

I think a lot of it comes from the doom porn about hygiene and about how unhealthy outside air is (pollution from cars and stuff) that tell people they are going to get cancer if they live in a city. It's ridiculous. I see it in my older brothers kids. I can count on one hand how many times I've been sick in the last two or three years- my brothers kids are CONSTANTLY sick, even though their mother keeps them in and is super paranoid about the kids hygiene.

Parents need to allow their kids to get dirty and muddy and to play with each other. I grew up with 5 siblings and we played with the dogs, grew up licking our faces, getting a snifely nose, etc. It builds the immune system. And then you get the hyper paranoid parents that rush their kid to the doctor the second their child sneezes.I think that has a lot to do with it. And it get a harder, as more parents fall into this mindset that letting their kids outside is going to get them AIDS or something, those of us who aren't paranoid, our kids have less kids to play with, and the cycle self perpetuates.

Not to mention parents are getting threatened for allowing their 10 year olds to go a couple hundred feet down the road to the little park to play. I use to walk to elementary school with only me, my younger sister and slightly younger brother. I was back in town over the holiday and odometered it out: 8/10 of a mile, all by my little 9/10 year old self. Today I never see that.

It's sad.