By Helen Coffey

Copyright independent

Touch grass”. It’s an expression that, somewhat ironically, was birthed by internet culture and spread via forums like Reddit and Twitter. Issued to people when they seemed to get too vigorously het up about online issues and debates, it’s an arch invitation to disconnect – get off the apps, go outside, commune with nature and remember what’s really important. Not some stupid, hateful argument with a stranger in Arkansas, but the real world.

Though often fired off with a bit of eye-roll snark – the modern memeified equivalent of Michael Winner’s condescending “calm down, dear” in those irritating Noughties insurance ads – the advice behind this put-down turns out to be searingly relevant for today’s young people. Because Gen Z, according to new research, aren’t going outside.

A recent study of 2,000 British adults by Super, Natural British Columbia, the official tourism body of the Canadian province, found that two-thirds of Gen Z (67 per cent) said they don’t go outside for days at a time. More than half (57 per cent) of millennials said the same. In fact, only a quarter of those surveyed across all ages said they made a conscious effort to leave the cossetted safety of indoors at least once a day.

Gen Alpha currently seem to be on the same insular trajectory: some 43 per cent of parents say their children spend less time outside than they did at their age. A separate survey conducted by Outdoor Toys discovered that a third of UK children don’t play outside daily, while a 2024 report from the Raising the Nation Play Commission detailed how the amount of time British children spend outside has decreased by roughly 50 per cent in a generation.

There’s a very obvious negative side to all this. Countless studies have proven time and again that people who are more connected with nature are usually happier and more likely to report feeling their lives are worthwhile. Psychiatric unit researchers have found that being in nature reduces feelings of isolation, promotes calm and lifts mood while having tangible cognitive benefits like improving attention span, concentration and memory. It’s even been linked to having a more positive body image. And it doesn’t have to be for long: research suggests that spending just 15 minutes in nature boosts wellbeing. But there are other, more insidious, detriments to holing up indoors, too.

It’s easy, albeit chilling, to see how this shift happened over the past decade or so. The rise in the dominance of screens, which have come to shape every facet of modern life, has been swifter than many of us may realise. Back in 2013, the average UK adult spent a combined one hour and 36 minutes a day using their phone, laptop or computer recreationally, according to Ofcom’s annual report. Fast-forward to 2024, and that number had leapt to four hours and 20 minutes. But it’s significantly higher for young people – Gen Z averaged around six hours of screen time per day. Nearly half (48 per cent) of 16- to 24-year-olds also said they spent “too long” on social media, compared to just 8 per cent of those aged 65 and over. In a 2024 report from the Pew Research Center, 62 per cent of American adults aged 18 to 29 said they are “constantly” online.

It’s not just that apps have commandeered our time; it’s that the creep of all things digital has enabled us to live an entirely functional existence without ever leaving the house, sold under the guise of “convenience”. Whatever your desire, there’s an app for that. Feeling hungry or thirsty? Uber Eats a takeaway or Deliveroo some groceries direct to your door. Feeling lonely? Experience an ersatz connection via social media or enjoy a romantic flutter (with none of the baggage or vulnerability) with a few swipes on a dating app. Feeling bored? Put on one of the literally millions of films, TV series or YouTube videos at your fingertips while, of course, simultaneously scrolling on your smartphone. Need a new hairdryer? A faux fur electric blanket? A bed in the shape of a rocket ship? If you can dream it, you can order it – and all at the click of a button, complete with Amazon next-day delivery.

In fact, it’s hard to think of a single task that one couldn’t complete or outsource online – a single chore that would require one to set foot outside – especially since the rise of working from home across many industries. But there’s a heavy price to pay for all that so-called “convenience”: isolation. Social skills are like a muscle – use it or lose it. It’s no wonder that the phenomenon of the Gen Z stare exists – denoting when a blank stare is given in situations where a verbal response would be expected – and that picking up the phone has come to feel like something of an extreme sport for the under-thirties. And it’s no coincidence that young people are lonelier than ever. Nearly half of Gen Z said they “often” feel lonely in a recent Oxfam poll. Rates of depression and anxiety in those aged 18 to 24 have simultaneously shot up in the last two decades.

The less time we spend in the real world, interacting with real people, the more our worldview is shaped and narrowed by online culture. And, in an era where attention is worth actual currency, that culture is financially incentivised to become more and more polarised – ensuring people stay passively consuming or actively engaging by serving up content that keeps us hooked, whether by pandering to us in siloed echo chambers, deliberately pushing our ideological buttons with algorithmically tailored rage-bait, or luring us in with harmless tropes before shunting us down ever more extremist pathways. There’s a reason that we’ve seen a troubling rise in conspiracy theory buy-in and ordinary folk becoming radicalised on forums like QAnon. There’s a reason that Gen Z men and women are more divided than any other generation on key questions around feminism, gender roles and women’s rights. There’s a reason our current era has been dubbed the “age of rage”.

When we’re not connected to real people and real things – when we don’t “touch grass”, for want of a better phrase – we lose a crucial sense of perspective. A vacuum is created. And it’s all too easy for vitriol, anxiety and fear to creep in to fill the gap.