Recent research suggests that increased media use and media exposure may have negative outcomes for adolescents, including decreased levels of self-esteem and life satisfaction. There are some indications that increased materialism could be another negative outcome. This isn't surprising in that media use often includes exposure to advertising. Increased engagement with nature, on the other hand, is linked with a number of positive outcomes, including increased creativity, more positive affect, and attention restoration. This study investigated whether spending time in an outdoor program with minimal exposure to electronic media would be associated with higher levels of creative thinking and well-being.
Over 100 boys attending St Paul's Collegiate boys' college in Hamilton, New Zealand participated in this study during the first half of their Year 10 program. During Year 10, all the boys (approximately 14 years of age) spend half of the year at Tihoi Venture School and the other half of the year at their main campus in Hamilton. During their time at Tihoi, the students live communally in houses of eight students. They attend regular academic classes four days of the week and participate in such outdoor activities as kayaking and rock climbing three days per week. The students are not permitted access to television and personal devices such as mobile phones or iPods while at Tihoi. They are permitted to access the internet for homework only. While 55 Year 10 students participated in the Tihoi program during the first half of the year, 58 Year 10 students attended regular classes on the main campus. All 113 of the students completed a battery of questionnaires during week 2 and week 15 of their respective programs. The questionnaires assessed creative thinking and problem solving, life satisfaction, self-esteem, social/emotional strengths and difficulties, gratitude, empathic concern, and material values.
Boys attending the outdoor program scored higher than the boys attending the normal school program in creative thinking at both time points. There were no differences, however, between the groups on change in creative thinking scores over time. The higher scores for the first time-point (during week two of the program) may reflect an immediate benefit of limited media exposure and increased outdoor time. Boys in the outdoor program also showed improvements in life satisfaction, self-esteem, and gratitude over the study period. Boys in the other group did not show such improvements. There were no differences between the groups in materialism.
This research suggests that the Tihoi program, which included limited use of media and increased outdoor activity, resulted in immediate and sustained benefits in creative thinking. There were also small increases in well-being.
Research Partner