Since early years of humankind, we have always been in close contact with the natural environment. More than 95% of our human population were living in agricultural areas till 1800s. Today, more than 75% of our human population live in urbanized areas such as cities and suburbs.
Source: https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2020/05/14/early-humans-thrived-drowned-south-african-landscape
Technology and its addictive design
As we advance into a world of technology, we spend less time outdoors and commit to a more sedentary lifestyle. We burrow our heads into our mobile phones, smart gadgets and video games during leisure times. Due to our constant reliance on technological devices in our daily lives, a global phenomenon has been created – Internet addiction. The most dangerous aspect of internet addiction is reflected through its generalization – every demographic group is not spared from the clutches of addiction. There is a plethora of applications which caters to almost everyone’s preferences. Smart tablets have become every parent’s hot favourite as they keep children entertained for hours. An average teen can spend almost 9 hours daily scrolling through social media (which are specially designed to be addictive). Adults can now check work-related emails even when they are on vacation.
Just like any other addiction, internet addiction has been listed as a form of mental disorder which requires intervention. It too, acts as a catalyst for other mental illnesses like depression, increased aggression and low self-esteem. This eventually leads to one’s detachment from the natural world which prevents the cultivation of environmental identity.
Criminalization of nature play
Another threat to environmental identity cultivation is the criminalization of nature play. The increased restriction to natural areas such as forests and parks creates a reduction in public accessibility. The Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Sun-Sentinel reported that Broward County schools had erected “no running” signs at 137 elementary schools. School administrators are afraid to create natural play places – even though they tend to produce fewer injuries than typical playgrounds.
One of the reasons for restricting nature play is to protect nature from harmful human touch, for example: climbing trees may lead to fragmenting its branches. People’s fear of going against the law establishes these restrictions as a powerful deterrent to natural play. As a result, children have fewer opportunities to interact with nature and engage in outdoor play. This causes an emotional dichotomy between humans and nature as we are simply disallowed from having affinity with our environment.