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Local Facebook group inspiring folks to get outdoors

February 11, 2021   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

Screen time for children has soared during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With everyone being asked to stay home and unable to meet in person, the ways youth find connection is often through social media and online video games.

Last spring, when schools were closed, screen time more than doubled for elementary school-age children from an average of 2.6 hours to 5.8 hours per day, excluding time spent on schoolwork, according to researchers at the University of Western Ontario.

In an effort to match nature time with the average child’s screen time, which is approximately 1,000 hours per year, 1,000 Hours Outside was born, a movement that has evolved into Facebook groups, where people log their hours outdoors and post their activity. Folks also use it as a hash tag on Instagram to track their time outside.

While the movement, which has spread across the globe, was created seven years ago, the need to motivate and inspire people to get off their screens for outdoor activity has never been greater, amidst the pandemic keeping everyone inside.

Locally, Sarah Webster started 1,000 Hours Outside Dufferin and Peel last month and it’s providing a platform for residents in the region to log their time outdoors and learn about what others are doing to stay active.

“The goal of the group is to encourage and inspire each other to get outside with our families,” said Webster.

“Getting outside for physical activity has allowed my children to be able to release their stored up energy and have fun exploring and learning about their nature surroundings.”

Over 200 people have joined the local group so far with new members trickling in each week.

It’s acting as a place where people can motivate one another to get outside and cheer each other on.

The founder of the 1,000 Hours Outside movement, Ginny Yurich said it all started in 2014, back when her and her friends would take their children outside to different parks each day.

“At some point, I added up how much time we were spending outside and realized that it was similar to the amount of time kids are on screens every year,” she explained.

From there Yurich developed the idea of 1,000 Hours Outside and began writing about it online, before turning it into a Facebook challenge.

“Just to talk about how nature time was helping our kids develop in every facet. How nature time was helping me emotionally and to be more present,” she noted.

“I think we just forget or we don’t realize how good nature can make us feel and how much it can help our children with their emotions, with their social skills and with the way they feel.”

The primary benefit from spending more time outside – off of screens – is a child’s development, Yurich told the Citizen.

“Getting outside helps them cognitively, because it helps their brains work more efficiently. All the complex movements that happen outside, kids sort of do naturally, bouncing and jumping, and even walking on uneven terrain – their brains are working to keep them balanced and upright,” she explained.

“It just enhances their neural wiring, and it makes their brain function more efficiently.”

For children to develop their executive functions, which are cognitive processes that help to plan, prioritize, troubleshoot, negotiate, and multitask, they have to spend unstructured play time with other children, according to research from Harvard Medical School.

Yurich notes that most importantly, getting outdoors helps families emotionally at a time when there’s a lot of stressors in the world, being able to get out into nature to refresh and rejuvenate oneself is very beneficial.

When the group first started, a lot of people thought the concept was outlandish, according to Yurich, but over time the challenge has exploded and the feedback’s been amazing.

“I’m getting like 50-60 messages just on Instagram every hour, with families that are tagging their little adventures… and just having a good time,” she said.

“It’s become a global movement, I think that probably 1 million plus children are being affected and maybe it’s having a generational impact.”

Going forward, Yurich has floated the idea of remodelling 1,000 Hours Outside for different goals. One that stands out the most is trying to read 1,000 chapters in a year.

“That 1,000 numbers is kind of a fun one to try and hit and a yearlong goal gives you a little bit of grace for the hard days,” she enthused.

To get involved with the local Facebook group, visit: https://www.facebook.com/groups/412037846714276 and go to https://www.1000hoursoutside.com/trackers to download the outdoor activity trackers and keep count of your hours outside.

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