Nature activities losing to Internet, TV
CHICAGO (UPI) -- Nature recreation like hiking dropped about 1 percent annually in the United States from 1981 to 1991 in favor of sedentary activities like watching movies. Oliver Pergams of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Patricia Zaradic of the Environmental Leadership Program, Delaware Valley in Bryn Mawr, Pa., call the shift to sedentary, electronic diversions "videophilia." "The replacement of vigorous outdoor activities by sedentary, indoor videophilia has far-reaching consequences for physical and mental health, especially in children," Pergams said in a statement. "Videophilia has been shown to be a cause of obesity, lack of socialization, attention disorders and poor academic performance." The researchers analyzed longitudinal survey data on various nature activities in the United States from the past 70 years. The researchers compared figures for backpacking, fishing, hiking, hunting, visits to national and state parks and forests and found from 1981 to 1991 the outdoor activities declined at rates from 1 percent to 1.3 percent per year, depending on the activity. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found the typical drop in nature use since the early 1980s has been from 18 percent to 25 percent.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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