In 2023, the average American spent just about seven hours a day looking at a screen.
49 hours a week.
2,555 hours a year.
It sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? That’s because it is a lot. In a year, it adds up to more than 100 days—yes, days—spent in front of a screen. And demographically speaking, if you’re younger, you’re spending even more time looking at screens. The “digital natives”—Gen Z—spend nine hours a day looking at screens, or just about 137 days.
I’m not here to argue that we have nothing to show for it. You can find a lot via the screen—employment, entertainment, information and connection, to name just a few. But it can also be hard to resist its siren song. We binge-watch our favorite shows, get sucked down YouTube rabbit holes, doom-scroll the news sites, and more. Before you know it, you’re stuck in a weird, headachy myopia and weighty lethargy that is difficult to escape. In my house, we (Gen X me and my Gen Z kid) call it “lump time.”
All of that is just to say, I am so glad it’s just about Spring. And also, thank goodness for you, dear readers. You’re out there every day building an antidote to lump time and providing places where, while they might still contain screens, we’re much more likely to achieve escape velocity from our bad screen habits.
Out there in the real world, we meet up at poolside, the playground, the pickleball court, the squat rack, the nature path, the campground, the basketball court... and so on.
Once there, we can celebrate a little human touch and “IRL” connection. We can find those deeper connections to people and to the natural world. Precious resources, indeed.
See you out there!
Emily Tipping
Editorial Director,
Recreation Management
[email protected]
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