May 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 33

C O N S E R VAT I O N

Why We Want Kids to Use Technology
Devices can help bring kids to nature and the outdoors
By Richard J. Dolesh

N

ot so long ago, NRPA caught heat from some members for an ad we
ran in the magazine. It showed a picture of a hiker who was obviously
in a backcountry area of a park, typing on a smartphone. The caption
said " You are here. So are we, " and the subtext encouraged people to connect
with Parks & Recreation Magazine's online editions. For some, this indicated
that NRPA was turning to the dark side - a sign that we were succumbing to
the temptations of technology - and generally, this was a bad thing.
Funny what a difference a little
time can make. Parks and recreation
agencies are now embracing technology to connect with visitors and
provide them information about programs and services. But there is still
some lingering suspicion that the
use of technology is a distraction to
kids, rather than an aid, in the effort
to reconnect them with nature and
the outdoors. Some old-school naturalists, program leaders and environmental educators would rather kids

put their cell phones away and pay
attention!
Well, it's not going to happen, and
the sooner all of us adults get the picture, the sooner we can move on. We
won't be prying their smartphones
from their clutching fingers. Kids
would rather be locked in a windowless room for hours (with their smartphones) than walk in the woods for
15 minutes without them.
No, the answer is not to try to take
them away or somehow silence them.

The answer is to embrace them. Yes,
it's a stretch, perhaps one of the
bigger ones we will make as adults
who are concerned about kids losing
touch with nature and the outdoors
as we look for ways to reconnect
them, but we might as well get over
it. Kids are now joined inseparably
with their technology, and we will do
far better to make lemonade out of
lemons than go around with a sour
face thinking it wasn't like this when
we were kids.
Just to illustrate, recent research
shows that 78 percent of youth aged
12-17 have a cell phone, and of those,
two in five have a smartphone. Seventy percent of households with a tablet
say that kids under the age of 12 use
it, and three in five parents in these
homes say their kids use the tablet for

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May 2013 - Parks & Recreation

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