If you’ve only got a minute:
- Nature play is not a luxury. Nature-deficit disorder “contributes to a diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, conditions of obesity, and higher rates of emotional and physical illnesses,” and forms part of what experts call the “epidemic of inactivity” (source: Richard Louv, 2005).
- This disorder is rampant in Singapore. Channel News Asia states, “46 per cent of youth do not go for nature walks at all, while 23 per cent go for nature walks once every 10 weeks.”
- At the same time, Singapore young people’s mental health is worse than ever, with IMH reporting that more than 1 in 5 youths experience severe or extremely severe symptoms of anxiety.
- The good news is, we can change this. We already have the green spaces. Now we need a cultural shift that sees time in nature not as a luxury, but a necessity.
“Wow! The ocean? I’ve never seen it!”
Those were the words that left the mouths of babes, the participants of our education program for marine conservation. I blinked, and had to double check. They hadn’t seen the ocean? Not just one person, but all of them. Voices raised in shock and disbelief echoed along with bubbles of excitement of our planned adventure.
An Island Nation, So Disconnected
My eyebrow raised, mouth agape. We live in Singapore. An island. And these were teenagers. How could this be true?
I later learned that this wasn’t an isolated incident. Other youth I later tutored, from homes around the country, had never been to Fort Canning, they had not visited East Coast Park, they couldn’t believe the number of tree species that existed in our Botanic Gardens. They had never seen the multitude of squirrels, otters, kingfishers, and herons that grace our urban sprawl.
It was one thing that they hadn’t seen them. But it was another thing that they almost didn’t care. There was no regret or dreams of seeing these natural spaces or the creatures that inhabited them. Just a way of things. “I don’t go outside.” “I play on the computer and watch television.” “My parents say it’s too hot and there’s mosquitoes.”
I then remembered even my brother’s first child being completely unfazed by the three kittens I had found and brought home in hopes of getting them adopted. He just shrugged his two-year-old shoulders while his eyes remained glued to the television in front of him, choosing a two dimensional cartoon over three live, wriggling furry things.
How Can We Help Them Care?
To me, this posed a huge issue.
From the point of view of someone who’s been trying to advocate for conservation and the love for the natural environment I wondered, how are we going to get an entire generation of youth to care about nature, when they have no access to it? When they’re so disconnected from it? When they don’t see any importance of it?
On top of that, I questioned the bigger implications of children growing up in concrete, in front of screens, and spending all their waking hours doing school work, attending enrichment classes, or organised activities where they’re told what to do and how to act.
What happens to children who grow up without nature, and without imaginative, creative play?
My Late Start with Nature
I was lucky.
I started late, but at least I started. After that, nature became my life.
I was born in Singapore but spent my formative years in Australia. I saw the multitude of stars at 17, swam in thriving oceans at 19, and went on my first camping trip at 20, out in the Western Australian outback.
I was already writing an Animal Science degree due to my love for animals, but being in the Ozzie bush, surrounded by the majestic Indian ocean, allowed me a lot of beautiful nature-related thoughts, spending many, many hours being – watching, appreciating, and imagining in natural spaces. I played sport outside, spent my weekends camping in friends’ farms, and spent many hours driving on long road trips up and down the coast.
On top of that, I didn’t grow up with a phone. I was lucky enough to be one of the last generations of humans to have been raised without the Internet. I didn’t grow up being told how to play, with toys that came with instructional manuals, or having a screen put in front of my face to stop my complaints and tantrums.
A City in Nature – But For Whom?
But so many today are deprived of all the joys I had in my (albeit late) childhood.
Are we failing to notice a huge gap?
How many children, especially those from lower income families, are not experiencing real, unstructured nature play? How many have no access to nature? How many will start off and remain forever disconnected to the natural world around them?
Singapore prides itself on being a “City in Nature,” but how much do we know about how much our green spaces are being used, and the demographics of the people who use them? Are our manicured, aesthetically pleasing semi-natural spaces being left unattended, especially by the younger generation?
Are we depriving our younger generations of a real, playful, creative, natural childhood?
Mental Health and the Nature Disconnect
Nature deficit disorder or NDD is a real thing. Richard Louv coined this term in his book, “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder” that was published in 2005.
He says that this phrase was created to “serve as a description of the human costs of alienation from nature and it is not meant to be a medical diagnosis (although perhaps it should be), but as a way to talk about an urgent problem that many of us knew was growing, but had no language to describe it.”
He states, “this expanding body of scientific evidence suggests that nature-deficit disorder contributes to a diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, conditions of obesity, and higher rates of emotional and physical illnesses. Research also suggests that the nature-deficit weakens ecological literacy and stewardship of the natural world. These problems are linked more broadly to what health care experts call the “epidemic of inactivity,” and to a devaluing of independent play.”
This disorder is rampant in Singapore. This Channel News Asia article states, “46 per cent of youth do not go for nature walks at all, while 23 per cent go for nature walks once every 10 weeks. A third go for nature walks weekly, but for functional reasons like walking their dogs or cycling. Possible reasons for youth disengagement with nature could be living in a highly urbanised city, busyness of school and availability of more exciting activities. If not led by parents or educators, there is a low likelihood of youths having meaningful interaction with nature.”
A recent study highlighted the increasing mental issues in Singapore’s youth. They found youths (aged 15–35) are experiencing severe levels of depression and anxiety, with 15% of youths with severe or extremely severe depression, with the highest rates (over 20%) among those aged 20–24. Anxiety rates were even higher – affecting 27% overall, and over 34% in the 20–24 age group. Females reported more anxiety symptoms than males.
While there is little research done on the connection between mental issues and the lack of time outside in Singapore youths, other studies done internationally show that this is a huge contributor.
No Imagination, No Future Thinking?
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development shows that the sensorimotor stage (birth to age 2) is when babies learn by using their senses and movements. They go from simple reflexes to intentional actions, slowly making sense of objects, space, and cause and effect. The imaginative play during this period of time is important because it shows that children are starting to think in creative ways and is a foundation for language skills. Many of today’s babies are learning to use their eyes in strollers, indoors, through screens. Highly stunting their ability for imagination.
From age twelve, teens develop logical and abstract thinking – but without play and imagination, their thinking can become rigid. This limits their ability to question norms, envision alternatives, and build flexible values, which can lead to anxiety, confusion, or narrow decision-making in adulthood.
What If We Chose a Different Path?
The good news is, we can change this. Nature is still here, waiting – just outside our doors, in our parks, our coastlines, and even the skies above HDB blocks. Reconnecting our children with nature doesn’t require massive reforms overnight. It starts with little steps: A family walk under the trees. A school outing to the seashore. A morning of unstructured outdoor play.
We already have the green spaces. Now we need to bridge the gap and education is that bridge – a cultural shift that sees time in nature not as a luxury, but a necessity.
We’re building a City in Nature. But more importantly we need to raise a generation that feels at home in it.
Seeing the Ocean
The day finally arrived when it was time for the children to complete their activity, not just on the ocean, but on a yacht – donated by a volunteer for the day. Their mouths, again, dropped open. This time however, it was because they realised how relevant plastic pollution was to the waters so close to home. Their ocean, not someone else’s ocean, needed saving. And now, they were determined to make an effort. Now, they saw their responsibility in becoming environmental stewards. Now, they saw that they were nature, too.
Written by Marla Lise for EveryChild.SG
