Turn off your phone and fully immerse in nature! Forget about the pressures of social media for a while and be present in the moment. Try and embrace the Joy of Missing Out, the rivalling concept to FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), by consciously leaving your phone at home and spending some quality time in nature. Getting away from the stresses of social media can be a great way to look after yourself.
Pay attention to your surroundings and find things to see, hear, taste, smell, and touch. Repeating this exercise throughout the seasons will allow you to notice the slow and the stark changes in nature and let you experience the calming effect of nature to another degree. A principle we also follow and carry through with all our participants and clients on site, as we ask them to switch off their phone before the start of groups and sessions. As it is proven that once we disconnect, we can be truly in the moment, connect to nature and others and make the therapy work more effective.
The subject of the Online Safety Bill has recently been at the centre of public attention and the bill, since the 6th December 2022, is now under review after months of discussion. Part of the original bill was to safeguard young people from being exposed to potentially harmful material on social media platforms, for example, profiles that promoted self-harm, misogyny and eating disorders. However, the removal of these safeguards has left many concerned about the safety of young people when accessing social media sites.
In addition, the evidence of the negative impact many of these social media platforms have on people’s mental health is increasing. As the general population spends more and more time accessing social media platforms, it is teenagers who appear to be amongst the most vulnerable, with the promotion of potentially harmful challenges or activities, unattainable beauty standards and the spread of misinformation relating to mental health diagnosis freely accessible on a daily basis.
Even though the evidence of the negative influences screen time can have on us, becomes clear, it is also unreasonable to try and ban all social media from our lives, as it can be a wonderful way to connect and keep in touch with people relatively easily. Similarly, to many things in life, it is about the right balance that you have to find in order to make screen time healthy and safe for you. At the Wilderness Foundation we believe that nature immersion and time spent outdoors is vital for fostering a healthy mind and body and the 8,000 people that we worked with in 2022, would surely agree.
For over 60 years, the Wilderness Foundation has promoted the positive impacts of nature on our wellbeing, and this way of thinking, backed by years of research has slowly become more accepted by a wider audience. A study looking at children’s mental health and their performance at school, found that more time spent in green spaces had a positive impact on the children and that green time can act as a buffer for the consequences of the high screen times we are exposed to.
So even if it might feel strange at first to leave your phone at home or switch it off, soon you will discover that you don’t miss it all that much. Additionally, being offline will also be good for the environment. Streaming services for music, shows, films and videos have an enormous impact on your carbon emission. One hour of streaming is similar to boiling a kettle for six minutes; all the more reason to go offline for a while and enjoy the world around you!
Find out more about the WFUK here: https://wildernessfoundation.org.uk/transforming-lives-through-nature/
By Katharina Kommer
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