What the Outdoors Teaches That Screens Never Will

By Andi Cockroft, Chair, CORANZ

(Prompted by this article from the UK here, I looked at the available evidence to suggest measured IQ of Gen-Z in many OECD Countries had stalled or even declined).

For much of the last century, each generation grew up assuming it would be better equipped than the one before it - better educated, more capable, more adaptable. That assumption is now being quietly questioned.

Across several developed countries, long-term data shows a flattening - and in some cases a decline - in skills related to attention, problem-solving, reading comprehension and memory. The causes are debated, but one factor keeps reappearing: the way learning and everyday experience have become increasingly mediated by screens.

This is not a nostalgic argument, nor a rejection of technology. It is an observation about how humans actually learn - and what happens when lived experience is replaced by abstraction.

Learning is not information

Humans do not learn primarily by absorbing information. We learn by doing, failing, adjusting, and trying again. We learn through effort, feedback, and consequence.

Screens are exceptionally good at delivering information. They are far less effective at building judgement, confidence, or competence.

Outdoor activity sits at the opposite end of that spectrum.

You cannot skim a river crossing.
You cannot multitask your way through a changing tide.
You cannot fast-forward a weather front.

Outdoors, attention matters. Decisions matter. Mistakes are felt, not corrected by an undo button.

The quiet erosion of confidence

One of the least discussed effects of screen-mediated living is not ignorance, but fragility - a lack of confidence in handling unfamiliar situations without guidance, prompts, or instructions.

This shows up everywhere:

• reluctance to explore unfamiliar places,
• anxiety about “doing it wrong”,
• dependence on apps to mediate even simple activities.

Outdoor recreation, by contrast, builds confidence almost accidentally. Each small success - navigating a track, lighting a fire responsibly, judging weather, reading water - reinforces a simple lesson: I can work this out.

That lesson is powerful, and increasingly rare.

Attention, patience, and depth

Modern digital environments reward speed, novelty and constant switching. Outdoor environments reward the opposite: patience, observation and persistence.

A walk is not efficient.
Fishing is not instant.
Tramping is not optimised.

Yet these activities quietly rebuild the cognitive muscles that many people now struggle with - sustained attention, delayed reward, and situational awareness.

This may help explain why people often report feeling “clear-headed” or “grounded” outdoors. It is not just relaxation. It is the brain returning to a mode it evolved for.

Social learning without performance

Much online interaction is performative. Outdoors, interaction is usually practical and cooperative.

People talk while walking, not to impress, but because they are sharing space and time. Skills are passed on informally. Learning happens without instruction manuals or assessment.

This kind of social learning is difficult to replicate digitally, yet fundamental to how humans have always learned.

Why this matters for outdoor access

If people lack confidence, patience or practical experience, they are less likely to use public land, rivers and coasts - even when access is legally protected.

This is where outdoor recreation quietly intersects with education, health and social resilience.

The outdoors does not just provide leisure. It provides practice - in judgement, responsibility, cooperation and self-trust.

Those qualities matter well beyond recreation.

A role for outdoor organisations

The challenge is not to compete with technology, but to offer what it cannot.

That means:

• lowering entry barriers,
• normalising everyday outdoor use,
• creating spaces where learning by doing is encouraged,
• and resisting the urge to over-structure experiences.

The outdoors does not need to be gamified or digitised to remain relevant. Its value lies precisely in what it resists: shortcuts.

A quiet counterbalance

If parts of modern life are encouraging shallow engagement and over-reliance on tools, the outdoors offers a quiet counterbalance - not as a cure-all, but as a place where capability is rebuilt naturally.

That is not a romantic idea. It is a practical one.

As debates continue about education, attention, and the impacts of digital life, outdoor recreation may be doing something essential without ever claiming to: helping people relearn how to pay attention, solve problems, and trust themselves in the real world.

And that may be one of its most important contributions of all.