It’s sick, the amount of time we’re spending indoors leashed to laptops, mesmerized by monitors. Seriously, it’s a real disease. There’s even a name for it: videophilia.

 

The symptoms include apathy towards the great outdoors, as evidenced by a total lack of desire to go hiking, camping, or even just take a walk in the park. Also known as Nature-Deficit Disorder, this affliction is infecting a record number of Americans of all ages but especially kids, according to a new study funded by the Nature Conservancy.

 

Oliver Pergams, assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago and lead author of the study, found its conclusions “almost terrifying.” As people spend less and less time communing with nature, they lose interest in preserving our parks and wildlife and become totally estranged from the natural world. This disconnect has disastrous implications for the future of our planet.

 

“This alienation from nature is a growing ” and troubling ” trend worldwide,” Peter Kareiva, Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy, wrote in an essay accompanying the study. He noted that “most adults who feel compelled to protect the environment developed a connection to nature in their formative years.”

 

We’re raising a generation of children who don’t know”and don’t care”what kind of tree acorns come from. I’ve got a message from Mother Earth for all you little iPod people: phone home. She misses you.

 

For inspiration on how to reconnect with nature, go to the Nature Conservancy, or”if you want to do something really radical, get unplugged and go for a walk outside (the mall doesn’t count.)