Meaning of nature-deficit disorder | Babel Free

Definitions

A disputed class of behavioural problems in modern children, ascribed to the fact that they spend little time outdoors.

countable, uncountable

Examples

“Nature-deficit disorder severely hampers, if not fully blocks, development of environmental literacy. Environmental communicators, educators and interpreters talk about their work as an 'antidote' or 'cure' for nature-deficit disorder.”

“By its broadest interpretation, nature-deficit disorder is an atrophied awareness, a diminished ability to find meaning in life that surrounds us, whatever form it takes. This shrinkage of our lives has a direct impact on our physical, mental, and societal health. However, not only can nature-deficit disorder be reversed, but our lives can be vastly enriched through our relationship with nature, beginning with our senses.”

“So, what is nature deficit disorder? The highly contentious phrase comes from the journalist Richard Louv whose Last Child in the Woods became a rare example of a broadly ‘educational’ international bestseller on children’s relationship with the natural world. Louv argues that trapped within a society full of time constraints and technological advancements, children are losing touch with nature. Louv provocatively describes this condition as ‘nature deficit disorder’, resulting in ‘diminished use of senses, attention difficulties and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses’[…]. […] We reject both the ‘disorder’ and the ‘deficit’ tag for several reasons.”

“Lest one imagine that this erosive scenario applies only to Indigenous or land-based peoples, one should consider hypotheses of nature-deficit disorders, which holds that loss of time and free play outdoors […] is impending creativity, learning, and spirituality, and enhancing the accumulation of stress, and incurring numerous health and behavioural problems[…].”

CEFR level