My husband loves to tent.
So when it came time to plan some vacation time, we decided that camping would definitely be a part of our time away.
Besides one trip to Greenwater when I was a kid, camping was not really on the agenda for family vacations.
My husband and I went as rough as we could; no electricity, camp fire and camp barbecue cooking, and very little phone use, however we did have access to a full shower, air mattress, and a car for hauling everything.
I took a lot of benefit from this since I was able to connect with nature, as well as my husband who put his phone away for the majority of the trip.
We also had the luxury of not camping with children since they can be a handful. We could just focus on us for three days.
We were one of just a handful of people who were in a tent.
Many people were in campers and RVs and I was blown away at how many people had satellite dishes hooked up.
This is where I mention the kids.
I know plenty of children who are connected by the age of 2.
And I realize this is a keeping the parent sane technique. Instead of the parent having a bored, screaming child in the grocery store they put on a YouTube video for them and voila, no more screaming child.
Camping is a chance for them to get away from all that, explore nature, and maybe discover different ways of being entertained that does not involve electronics.
When the whole point of a camping trip is to get away and get into the “wild”, or as wild as you can in a full service campsite with electricity and showers, should we not be leaving these unnecessary distractions at home, specially with school aged children who only have two months of holidays to explore these kinds of places?
Where we were camping there were waterslides, golf and mini-golf courses, hiking, biking, and riding trails, the lake and all that that entails.
Why would anyone need to be watching satellite television when there is so many other things that we have little access to throughout the year?
Now we did discuss this, we came up with different reasons why people feel the need to bring technology along.
It could range from people who grew up in urban areas and do not feel comfortable outside the city all the way to these are the people who are camping for months on end and have run out of natural ways to occupy themselves.
However, this disconnect can benefit people in different ways if they are willing to be disconnected.
The David Suzuki Foundation is a big supporter of being out in nature. David Suzuki encouraged everyone to spend 30 minutes a day doing something outdoors in May to promote the health benefits.
The amount of people living is urban areas will soon approach 70 per cent, says Suzuki and with that comes higher riskes of mental health issues.
Even though “city dwellers” have much better access to healthcare, nutrition, and sanitation, “city dwellers have a 21 per cent greater risk for anxiety disorders and a 39 per cent increased likelihood of mood disorders,” Suzuki says.
One researcher quoted by Suzuki says the brain is basically becoming an “overworked muscle.”
So how does nature benefit us?
According to recent studies in both North America and researchers in Asia, whether it is through escaping urban landscapes or just looking at pictures of natural scenery, nature lets our brains relax.
I understand it might be harder for some but we need that and we should take advantage of this time away from our technology filled lives.
