These days, many young people do not spend their weekends and holidays doing outdoor activities such as hiking or mountaineering. Why is this the case? How can they be encouraged to spend more time in the natural environment?
Nowadays, a growing number of youngsters choose indoor pastimes over outdoor activities like hiking or climbing during their free time, and this trend can be attributed to two main reasons, with corresponding measures to reverse it.
The primary cause is the prevalence of digital entertainment. Smartphones, social media and immersive online games provide instant, low-effort amusement that fits young people’s fast-paced, high-pressure study and work schedules. For example, many university students I know spend entire weekends scrolling short videos or playing online games, as they feel too mentally exhausted to plan energy-consuming outdoor trips. The second reason is the lack of easy access to natural spaces. In many rapidly expanding cities, wild hiking trails or mountains are located hours away from downtown areas, and unguided outdoor trips also carry safety risks, making such activities feel inconvenient and intimidating for inexperienced young people.
To encourage young people to engage more with nature, two approaches are effective. First, schools and youth communities can organise low-threshold, well-supported outdoor group activities, such as weekend suburban camping or beginner-friendly hiking trips, to reduce the effort and safety concerns of individual planning. My own university’s outdoor club, for instance, regularly arranges low-cost guided day trips to nearby hills, and these events have attracted hundreds of students who had never tried hiking before. Second, local governments can build more urban green spaces, such as city forest parks and wetland trails, to bring natural environments closer to residential areas, so young people can enjoy casual outdoor time without long travels.
In conclusion, digital leisure’s convenience and poor access to nature lead to youngsters’ disconnection from outdoor activities, and organised group events plus more accessible urban natural spaces can effectively address this issue.