The Indoor Epidemic: Why Parents, Teachers, and Kids Need to Start an Outdoor Revolution

Former teacher Shonstrom (Wild Curiosity) goes on a wilderness-enshrining, anti-technology rant against the American educational system, blaming it for the rise of mental health disorders and behavioral issues in children. He minces no words as he calls for a “radical rejection of the very tools that screwed us up in the first place.” Shonstrom’s message that “learning occurs most readily, authentically, and deeply when we’re moving our bodies” is straightforward, and he begins by sharing biological research about exercise and brain boosting and the health hazards of a sedentary lifestyle, though he also includes discredited claims such as time in the woods being a cure for clinical depression. As he continues, his proofs lean mostly toward admiration of mid-20th-century environmental romanticism, stories about his own parenting, and vehement dismissals of 21st-century social media culture. Shonstrom’s plan is basically to provide unstructured time to kids outdoors while taking away their electronic devices, though he brings in none of the tools or philosophy of the unschooling community, which could have helped support his message. Shonstrom’s overreaching call for a revolutionary change in childcare, though heartfelt, is ineffective, as he provides little guidance beyond asking people to realize how terrible the current system is and just walk out the door. (Nov.)