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While the number of young mountain bikers has ballooned over the past few years, thanks in part to the thrill of Red Bull TV and valuable programs like NICA, the current majority of riders remain in the “middle-aged” demographic. For now. That means most of us spent our childhoods with limited or no internet access at home, no cellular or “smart” phones, and without thousands of videos to show us how to do everything on the trail before we arrived. We found entertainment and mischief outdoors, where everything happened in real time. We existed in the present. When I moved out of my parents’ North Idaho house at age eighteen, our television antenna could only fetch one station, and the local radio signal bore a similar selection. There wasn’t a single mountain bike program on either medium.
Today, young adults and kids can learn to work on their bikes, how to pull off a no-footer backflip, and find out who to impress if they want a pro racing contract, all from the same desk where they study for spelling and geography exams. If their bike malfunctions on the trail they can consult an article or video on Singletracks or YouTube and get all of the quick fixes to keep the fun rolling. Also, their bike and trail selection is sweet. In short, it’s a brilliant time to be a mountain biker.
Those same informative cellular screens also ask a lot of our emotional energy and time. Watching my thirteen-year-old daughter interact with the world around her and with her close friends, I see new ways of connecting. They talk to each other about what’s happening on a screen, even communicating through the screen while sitting in the same room. That device is powerful, both in its ability to provide vital information and connection, and its unceasing plea for attention. The “phone” pulls her deeper into webs of digital social connection and a whole new culture of belonging and meaning-making. Without my directive to go outside and breathe fresh air she will remain engrossed in that matrix from sunrise to sunset. I have yet to hear her question how that hand-held machine works or mention her relationship to it. I’ve asked. It seems to function more like a pacemaker, where she knows that she has to have it and may not fully understand why. I call it Cellular Life Support™.
While each generation of humans needs our new and shiny to love and prop up, I’m curious if there is much critical thinking, creativity, or learning going on inside some of those screens. From what my daughter shares of her online exploits over dinner, it’s all about responding to friends and commenting on videos that random people make. Not making content, asking questions, nor necessarily learning much. Just responding to what’s been recorded.
She’s allowed far less time on social media than “every other teenager” she knows and her phone doesn’t follow her to bed. Her desire for more time responding and video watching is the source of roughly 98% of all arguments in our family. The rub often occurs when I ask her to go outside — sans screen — and to simply experience the natural world for one hour a day. Maybe even get a little exercise by accident?
It sounds like there’s loads of positive connection and support happening between the thumbs and touch-screens of many young people today. Having grown up outdoors in the forest, I know that there’s a free wealth of positivity to be had out on trails as well, and I fear some young people are missing out. There’s a natural library waiting to be touched and smelled and heard, all forms of interactive learning. Being present outside, whether on a mountain bike or not, can immediately benefit all of us screen-gazers in meaningful ways. How do we connect the elements that kids love about their devices to being outside in nature? Or, is there a better way of detaching those experiences? Those of us who want our kids to love and care for the natural world are arm wrestling with the power of massive software corporations who want that same time and love.
Youth cultures and subcultures often flip the script with behaviors and ideas that are contrary to their generation and status-quo expectations. Hopefully, the next shift will point them toward the forest, where things are happening in real-time and not asking anyone to respond to them.
As Richard Louv put it, in his illuminating novel, Last Child in the Woods, “Unlike television, nature does not steal time; it amplifies it. Nature offers healing for a child living in a destructive family or neighborhood. […] Nature-deficit disorder describes the human costs of alienation from nature, among them: diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illness. This disorder can be detected in individuals, families, and communities.”
Are you under the age of 25? What do you think of your generation’s connection with nature and technology? Are things working well as is, or would you like to see some changes among your friends?
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Your article hits home as I have a 13 and 11 year old who are happy to be on screens 24/7. One way of I have gotten them out of the house is with the app Pokémon Go. They look for Pokémon’s in our neighborhood or the local gardens etc. I know it’s splitting the difference as they still are on a screen but they do get outside and get exercise And enjoy nature. And yes sometimes I get my son to ride bikes with me or swim in the pool. Have you seen Social Dilemma on Netflix? It speaks to the social media issue dominating our lives.
davidmarkweitzman,
I’m glad you found something that works for your kids. It sounds like a pretty positive compromise.
I have seen The Social Dilemma. It’s telling that the folks creating those manipulative algorithms don’t let their kids use social media.
At 13, my daughter is ultimately going to do whatever her friends are into, and I have little influence on that. Maybe the best thing we can do is to keep sharing our love for activity and the outdoors and hope they find something they’re passionate about beyond screens.
Nodding along to everything you said. I’m sure my grandparents felt something similar when TV came along for my parents. With that in mind, I’m definitely concerned, but also hopeful that the next generation will find their own way just like many of us did.
Great piece Gerow. I can’t help but think how it is an equally tough time for parents these days and for kids. Those with kids now often didn’t have a cell phone until they were an adult and don’t see it as a necessity – at least not smart phones. Now, phones are almost a standard issue for kids though and I can see the flip-side, where as a kid you want to have what all of your friends have. Technology has come a long way in less than a generation and moderating the amount that we all need is the ultimate challenge.
Number one reason I don’t talk to many people out on the trail or near the top. It’s not an accomplishment to pass me, you don’t know my ride, where I started, how long I’ve been out for, now how many times I’ve ridden the same section of trail and decided and rather leave a minute out there, then hurry back to have another one right here. It’s worse at skateparks, any 3 second clip looks fine and dandy on a 4×4 square inch. I think it stems from the parking lots, just another congestion point in these boggy times. But I find it especially frustrating that folks think “let’s go for a hike” and they go maybe a few times at most a year and expect the entire trail to themself and everyone else is lost in the woods; we’re not lost in the woods quite often we’ve been there at least a few times, and trails tend to get where they are going sooner or later. It would be like me going out as a pedestrian thinking I have the right of way so I will walk in the middle of the road, most prized possessions in tow (dogs, children, cellphone, etc) and no car will pass me and all will yield to me and my right of way. How ludicrous! And dog owners either pick up after your dog or quit feeding it, That is disgusting! These people really would be better going around the block or walking in their town, and avoiding another parking lot to get their nature time. I guess I don’t ride to be anyone’s rival on strava and I think it’s slightly petty because it’s all the same if I ride alone and then one day get to ride with someone and pass them up as if they were to go ride alone and then ride with me and pass me up. We need to make more efforts to better our ownself, then join up with another and appreciate the efforts we’ve both made to make our time mutual. Originally it was a file box and transmission device all in one, the computer. I heard some folks say “we just haven’t been exposed to very much” and I find that tough to believe, everyday the computer exposes me to something that I am unsure the ramifications it will have on me, but that’s life; however it’s not up to anyone else to tell anyone anything more than what has already been said, it’s up the individual to self-improve, motivate and then return and learn what knowledge it is that they think they lack. There’s loads of voices eventually we have to decide which ones are the truthful, though it may hurt, and to which ones we listen and amplify.
Love it, Gerow. You already know what I think about going outside…
I want to comment on this line, though. I think it’s an important one:
“From what my daughter shares of her online exploits over dinner, it’s all about responding to friends and commenting on videos that random people make. Not making content, asking questions, nor necessarily learning much. Just responding to what’s been recorded.”
I don’t see screens and technology as universally bad, especially when used in moderation, but I think HOW we use tech is as important as how MUCH we use it. If we are specifically striving to learn new things or create new art, I view these as healthy uses. Hours spent watching the newest fad YouTube vlogger? Not so much.
Even though the internet has dramatically democratized content creation, it’s fascinating to observe that even though every single person who owns a smartphone could use these tools to create something new and fascinating, very few do. The creators are still the 1%, and the consumers the other 99.
Creating and learning: these two things are of vital importance, and will only be more so as the years roll on.