The Great Disconnect

The Great Disconnect is the result of culture and technology pulling us away from our fundamental connection with nature in ways that are unhealthy for people and the planet.

Evidence of the Great Disconnect

The info here is meant to help us see some of the markers of our rapidly changing relationship with the natural world. We don’t assume that nature disconnection causes all of these outcomes or that all aspects of culture and technology are bad for us. Collectively though, this info does signal a major imbalance in the whole human and nature relationship thing.

 

Time Outside

Americans spend 86.9% of their time indoors and only 7.6% outdoors (Klepeis, et al., 2001)

 

Time on Screens

The average American spends 7 hours and 11 minutes looking at a screen each day (Data Reportal 2021).

Tweens (ages 8-12) are on screens 4 hours and 44 minutes per day (not including time spent using screens for school or homework) (Rideout & Robb, 2019).

Teens (ages 13-18) are on screens 7 hours and 22 minutes per day (not including time spent using screens for school or homework) (Rideout & Robb, 2019).

 

Biodiversity Loss

In 2020, The Living Planet Index (considered a marker of biodiversity and an early warning indicator on the health of nature) shows an average rate of decline of 68% for monitored populations (21,000 populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians around the world) between 1970 and 2016 (WWF 2020).

 

Mental Health

18.1% of U.S. adults experience anxiety disorders every year and depression is the leading cause of disability (Anxiety & Depression Association of America, 2021; National Network of Depression Centers, 2021).

 

Sleep Disruption

64.3% of U.S. adults report getting less than 8 hours of sleep per night and average 6 hours and 31 minutes during the workweek. The CDC reports that sleeping less than 7 hours per night is associated with increased risk for obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, stroke, frequent mental distress, and all-cause mortality (Liu et al., 2014; National Sleep Foundation, 2021).

 

Loss of Indigeneity

72% of the indicators used by indigenous peoples to understand the health of nature show ongoing deterioration of nature in ways that harm wellbeing and livelihoods. Indigenous peoples manage an estimated one fourth of global landmass and represent vast knowledge shared over thousands of years of land stewardship (IPBES, 2019).

Barriers to Nature Connection

  • Time

    We think we don’t have enough time to connect with nature, which is driven by competing priorities, like work, childcare, scrolling, etc.

  • Access

    Unfortunately, factors such as socioeconomic status and racism sadly prevent many people from experiencing enough nature connection.

  • Extremes

    We falsely think that nature connection means that we have to go climb Mount Everest or free solo El Capitan.

  • Screens

    Our screens hold the world’s information and entertainment, which robs nature of our attention.

  • Doubt

    It’s easy to think that nature is too basic to do anything compared to modern options like apps, gyms, and tech.

  • The Built Environment

    The spaces we live, work and commute are comfortable, which keeps us indoors or physically block us from nature connection.

  • The Unseen World

    Much of nature happens in microscopic realms, which goes unseen to the human eye.

  • Biophobia

    Sometimes we fear the natural world (e.g. we evolved to go on high alert around snakes, spiders, and predators). It can be scary out there.

  • Social Norms

    Somewhere along the line we flipped the script. It’s become more normal to spend most of life indoors instead of in outside nature.

  • Perceived Independence

    Modern life can make the aspects of nature we heavily depend on (like food) seem less important (i.e. it seems like someone else’s job to figure out).

The Rabbit Hole.

(A list of cited references just in case you want to geek out.)

 

References

Anxiety & Depression Association of America. (2021, October 17). Understand anxiety & depression. https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/facts-statistics

DataReportal (2021), “Digital 2021 Global Digital Overview,” retrieved from https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2021-global-digital-overview

IPBES (2019), Global assessment report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Brond.zio, E. S., Settele, J., D.az, S., Ngo, H. T. (eds). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. 1144 pages. ISBN: 978-3-947851-20-1

Klepeis, N.E., Nelson, W.C. et al (2001). The National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS): a resource for assessing exposure to environmental pollutants. Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology, 11, 231-252. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jea.7500165

Liu Y, Wheaton AG, Chapman DP, Cunningham TJ, Lu H, Croft JB. Prevalence of Healthy Sleep Duration among Adults — United States, 2014. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2016;65:137–141. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6506a1

National Network of Depression Centers. (2021, October 17). Get the facts. https://nndc.org/facts/?gclid=CjwKCAiA1L_xBRA2EiwAgcLKAzmhKbctAZ2G1TmJjNJAsZJhZTEmrOhUURibmI42AfPJTOLVOXr-zxoCxT0QAvD_BwE

National Sleep Foundation. (2021, October 17). 2013 International bedroom poll. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/professionals/sleep-americar-polls/2013-international-bedroom-poll

Rideout, V., and Robb, M. B. (2019). The Common Sense census: Media use by tweens and teens, 2019. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense Media.

WWF (2020) Living Planet Report 2020 - Bending the curve of biodiversity loss. Almond, R.E.A., Grooten M. and Petersen, T. (Eds). WWF, Gland, Switzerland.

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