14 DAY TRIAL // Increasing technological advances now allows humans to look at wildlife in its natural habitat directly on TV or on computer screens. Web cams and documentaries filmed with hidden cameras bring lions, hippopotamuses, whales and seals closer than ever before, but experts say that this trend may actually be one that would end up being detrimental to individuals in the future. That is to say, if they decide to sever all ties with Mother Nature and to remain locked in their houses, without communicating with everything around them.
Psychologists at the University of Washington (UW) think that modern technology has the potential to make this prospect a reality and to encroach completely on people's connections with nature. “We are a technological species, but we also need a deep connection with nature in our lives,” UW developmental psychologist Peter Kahn, who is also the lead author of a new study shedding light on the relationships between humans, technology and nature, published in the latest issue of the scientific journal Current Directions in Psychological Science, explains.
The researcher draws attention to the fact that while robotic animals, including dogs and dinosaurs, may be fun to play with, in the near future people may be tempted to do so with these replicas alone, without having the desire to interact with an actual, live pet.
In previous experiments, Kahn created two research groups, made of persons recovering from low-level stress. One group watched nature first-hand, while the second was made to see the same images through an HD plasma display. The results showed that the second group recovered much slowly than the first one.
“What do we compare technology to? If we compare it to no nature, technological nature works pretty well. But if we compare it to actual nature, it doesn't seem to provide as many psychological benefits. Robot and virtual pets are beginning to replace children's interactions with biologically live pets. The larger concern is that technological nature will shift the baseline of what people perceive as the full human experience of nature, and that it will contribute to what we call environmental generational amnesia,” Jolina Ruckert, one of Kahn's undergraduate students who has also participated in the research, adds.
“Some people get the idea on one level if they are interested in environmental issues. They see the degradation, but they don't recognize their own experience is diminished. How many people today feel a loss such as the damming of the Columbia River compared to a wild Columbia River? A lot of us have no concept of it as a wild river and don't feel a loss,” UW undergraduate student Rachel Severson concludes.