Tag: outdoors

2D vs Full Dimensional

Ever wonder why 3-D glasses were invented? Well, I don’t think it was to make the trees and flowers in the yard look better. Or to get a better look at ocean waves or the stars at night. As we all know, 3-D glasses were invented to make things on a two dimensional screen look more real. It’s remarkable how much effort and technology has gone into making two dimensional entertainment appear more real and life-like. Now contrast 2D entertainment with a real life experience I had whitewater rafting when I was 16 years old.

river between green leafed tree

Snake River, Wyoming.

“The July day was warm and the mountain air was fresh as we walked down from the parking lot towards the river carrying our raft over our heads. As we approached the water, a cool breeze blew towards us with the moisture spray coming off the frothing surface of the river. As we took our places on the raft and pushed off from the shore, we soon joined the swift river current that was mighty and alive! Our guide sat at the rear of the raft and whose instruction we depended on to enter the rapids successfully. Each set of rapids was completely unique. At a couple points, it felt as if myself or one of my buddies would tumble off the raft into the water as our raft tilted from side to side through the rough whitewater. (We were prepared for such an event with each of us securely wearing a life-jacket.) Some of the rapids were so large that we would rise 8-10 feet into the air before plunging down the other side. It was exhilarating! By the end of our ride, I was grateful I had not been assigned to the front of the raft. While got the occasional splash in the middle, the guys in the front of the raft were drenched from all the cold water that had cascaded over them. Nevertheless, their excitement and enjoyment was no less than mine as they shivered with smiles on their faces.” 

man people water men

Now, how would this experience been different if I had simply sat at home watching a YouTube video of rafting on the Snake River . . . ? What would I have missed out on? 

Well, just about everything. 

When we spend lots of time watching others on a screen, we limit ourselves in our ability to prepare for and experience things in the real world. Now, I’m not saying there’s zero value from watching others do things in movies or videos. Indeed, watching others on video can be very instructive, motivating, and insightful. However, great opportunity is lost when screen-time becomes excessive. If we are not careful, screen-time can stunt the development of full dimensional experiences in each of our lives. 

As the guide and guardians of our children and youth, we have a great opportunity to teach them to value and prepare for real, full dimensional experiences in their lives. We can teach our children healthy habits and routines in their use of media technology. We can also teach our youth to use screen-time as a tool for inspiration and preparation in their lives. When used with a purpose in mind, media technology can help us prepare for and seek out amazing experiences in our real, majestic, and beautiful world.

Photo by Baskin Creative Studios on Pexels.com

Photo by Manik Mandal on Pexels.com

Prepared or Freezing?

I took my three children camping this past weekend to south-central Utah. It was wonderful and strenuous! The daytime hours we enjoyed very much, but the night-time hours got very cold. What I had anticipated for the overnight low temperature was off by about 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperatures dipped into the 20’s. 

In preparing for our early March campout, I had made sure my children each had a sleeping bag and warm blanket. I also brought along an extra sleeping bag to lay over the top of all three of them. Fortunately, they each slept through the night and were sufficiently warm. However, I had overlooked one thing in my preparation . . . warm bedding for myself! I thought a single sleeping bag would be sufficient. I found out otherwise! About 1 am, I woke up to relieve myself and found myself shivering uncontrollably. I knew I needed to warm up somehow. Not wanting to wake the children, or my in-laws who we were camping with, I got into my van and turned on the engine. After a couple minutes waiting for the cars heater to kick in, I remembered that I had brought along an emergency blanket. Knowing I couldn’t keep the van running all night, I decided to give the emergency blanket a try. After lining my sleeping bag with the emergency blanket (and nearly waking up everyone in camp with the crinkly noises), I crawled into my sleeping bag and hoped for the best. It did the trick! The emergency blanket provided enough insulation that I was able to sleep. The following day I was able to function and we had a really enjoyable day! I shudder to think what I would have needed to do had I not had that emergency blanket with me on this campout! If I wasn’t able to warm up in my sleeping bag, I would have been left with turning on the engine of the van periodically through the night to try and keep warm. The following day likely would’ve been ruined! This was a powerful reminder of how important preparation really is. 

Like this recent camping experience provided for me, I strongly believe our children need opportunities to test their own preparation. This testing usually doesn’t occur in the digital or virtual realm. A video game where endless character respawning takes place, just doesn’t cut it. Our preparation is tested in the physical world and children need to experience this testing while they are young.  Things as simple as learning to ride a bike or planting some garden vegetables provide opportunities to test and learn the principle of preparation. As children grow, physical activities such as team sports, hiking, camping, dancing, or public speaking (to name a few) provide testing needed to learn how to prepare for life’s challenges. So let’s be conscious of this need and make sure that the virtual realm does not take the place of needed growth experiences in the real, physical world.