The Press Herald recently ran an AP story, “Schools are competing with cellphones. Here’s how they think they could win.”

It concerns me that an eighth-grader diagnoses her peers as being in a “gradual apathy pandemic.” This astute 14-year-old said it’s as if students “just care less and less about what people think, but also somehow care more.”

The culprit: Social media. The cure: Unstructured playtime outdoors to discover one’s real self.

Jonathan Haidt’s recent bestselling nonfiction book, “The Anxious Generation,” calls out the downsides of a phone-based life for young people. The book has led many communities to initiate phone-free schools. While taking away a young person’s phone may remove the culprit, it does not provide a cure. This is why Teens to Trails encourages schools to offer playful outdoor time during and after school, or start an outdoor club.

The results are students who are more engaged in their learning. Teachers have witnessed this time and again during our Life Happens Outside Challenge. Students feel that they have more agency and more connections with peers. Teachers see fewer disciplinary challenges. Why? Time outside provides teens with social and emotional skills that can’t be taught through the curriculum. Engaging in nature brings out our true nature – our real and beautiful selves.

Alicia Heyburn
Executive Director, Teens to Trails
Brunswick