The Tech Generation Goes to Wilderness Therapy

A guide at a wilderness therapy organization observes an increasing number of teens coming in to treat technology addiction.

he sun sank lower as we pushed our way up the steep slabs toward the summit of Mount Chocorua, a prominent 3,500-foot peak in the Sandwich Range of New Hampshire. We had missed our time goal, but the other two guides and I felt confident that we could safely get our team of eight teens to the summit and then back to camp after dark.

As we pushed on, I noticed John (his name has been changed for privacy), an out-of-shape 13-year-old whose program-issued blue T-shirt was drenched in sweat, wearing a pained expression. With each step, his breathing became heavier, and his peers pulled farther ahead. At the trail junction, less than a half-mile from the summit, he collapsed under the weight of his 50-pound pack. “I can’t do this anymore,” he said. “I can’t do this.”

The rest of the team sat nearby, waiting to be given the OK to move forward. They continued chattering about their favorite video games, the latest trending memes, and how they wished their phones had not been taken away when they arrived here.

Like all of his teammates, John struggled with depression, anxiety, and technology addiction. Before his parents sent him to Summit Achievement—a wilderness therapy program based in rural Stow, Maine, where I work as a guide—John would spend hours locked in his bedroom, playing Fortnite, sending Snapchats, and cruising Instagram. Completing daily teen responsibilities, like attending middle school and spending time with his friends and family, eventually became so infrequent that his parents decided to send him to our program, which combines nature outings with clinician visits to address tech addiction, substance abuse, and emotional regulation.

Summit Achievement has been operating as a therapeutic wilderness school for teens ages 13 through 20 since the 1990s, but it’s only recently that we’ve seen such an influx of clients suffering from tech addiction. Parents are handing iPhones to their kids at a younger age. Much like with substance abuse, when adolescents are regularly using alcohol, drugs, or technology before their brains have fully developed, they’re more likely to become addicted.

Technology, like gambling, is understood as a risk for process addiction, where certain behaviors are rewarded with pleasure. People can become fixated on returning for that reward in a way that disrupts daily life. By that definition, says Will White, founder of Summit Achievement and author of Stories from the Field: A History of Wilderness Therapy, it’s clear that tech addiction is rampant in today’s society.

Technological dependence has been linked to mental health issues. In a 2018 study published by NeuroRegulation, researchers at the University of San Francisco surveyed 135 students about their smartphone use and its effect on their mental state. The researchers reported that screen time was linked to increased loneliness, anxiety, and depression. Another study, recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, surveyed 15- and 16-year-olds and found a significant association between frequent social media use and symptoms of ADHD.

The World Health Organization now includes “gaming disorder” as a mental health condition in the 11th edition of International Classification of Diseases, released in June. For an individual diagnosed with a gaming disorder, gaming takes precedence over other daily activities, negatively affecting important aspects of life—social, personal, family, educational, and occupational—for a period of at least 12 months. While the current definition includes only gaming, many clinical social workers speculate that it will eventually be expanded to include other types of tech addiction, such as social media use. Meanwhile, experts are looking into treatments for this modern addiction and its effects.

A lack of physical activity and time spent outdoors has a demonstrable impact on levels of cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone.

Source
Outside Magazine Online