孩子们需要更少的屏幕时间，更多的绿色时间

Mental health is deteriorating among young people globally. The incidence of depression and anxiety is increasing, and this not only diminishes quality of life, but can have a lasting negative impact as an adolescent reaches adulthood.

全球年轻人的心理健康正在恶化。抑郁和焦虑的发生率在增加，这不仅会降低生活质量，而且会在青少年成年后产生持久的负面影响。

Many experts are trying to get at the root causes of this decline, in order to find ways to prevent further deterioration and to provide more effective help when needed. Two "emerging determinants of interest" are (a) excessive use of screen-based technology, and (b) too little time spent in nature. Most research to date has considered these factors independently, but a group of scientists from University of Adelaide recently decided to look at them jointly, to see if the combination of high screen time (ST) and low "green time" (GT), as they call it, could affect mental wellbeing.

许多专家试图找出造成这种下降的根本原因，以便找到防止进一步恶化的方法，并在必要时提供更有效的帮助。两个“新出现的兴趣决定因素”是(a)过度使用基于屏幕的技术，(b)花在自然上的时间太少。迄今为止，大多数研究都是独立考虑这些因素的，但阿德莱德大学的一组科学家最近决定联合研究它们，看看高屏幕时间(ST)和低“绿灯时间”(GT)(他们称之为GT)的组合是否会影响心理健康。

'For a child, even getting to run around in a field is a mighty adventure.'.@atatreedy via Twenty20

The result is an open-access study published on September 4, 2020, in the scientific journal PLOS One. It is titled, "Psychological impacts of 'screen time' and 'green time' for children and adolescents: A systematic scoping review." In it, the researchers analyzed data from 186 studies that looked at children's interactions with screen-based technology and nature and their psychological outcomes, including mental health, cognitive functioning, and academic achievement.

这项研究结果发表在2020年9月4日的科学期刊《公共科学图书馆综合》上。题为《“屏幕时间”和“绿色时间”对儿童和青少年的心理影响:一个系统的范围审查》。在这项研究中，研究人员分析了186项研究的数据，这些研究关注的是儿童与基于屏幕的科技和自然的互动，以及他们的心理结果，包括心理健康、认知功能和学业成就。

What they found was that, in general, excessive screen time results in poorer psychological health, whereas green time boosts mental wellbeing. Children nowadays are spending more time than ever in front of devices. Ten years ago in the U.S., the average daily screen time for 8-to-18-year-olds was 7.5 hours. As the study states, "This greatly exceeds recreational ST guidelines of 2 hours or less per day," and is made even more challenging by the fact that so many schools are using technology to teach classes.

他们发现，一般来说，过多的屏幕时间会导致心理健康状况恶化，而绿色时间会促进心理健康。如今的孩子们在电子设备前花费的时间比以往任何时候都多。十年前，美国8到18岁的青少年每天平均看屏幕的时间为7.5小时。正如研究指出的那样，“这大大超过了每天2小时或更少的休闲ST的指导，”而且由于如此多的学校使用科技来授课，这一事实更加具有挑战性。

Could Green Time Be a Cure?

“绿色时间”是治愈的方法吗?

The study authors suggest that green time could act as an antidote to screen time, essentially offsetting its negative effects, and should be researched further for this potential:

该研究的作者建议，绿色时间可以作为屏幕时间的解毒剂，从本质上抵消它的负面影响，并应进一步研究其潜力:

"Paying constant directed attention to screen-based technologies can lead to directed attention fatigue. Attention Restoration Theory postulates that when direct attention mechanisms are fatigued, they can be restored in natural environments because they employ involuntary attention, which is not tiring or effortful."

“持续地将注意力集中在基于屏幕的技术上可能会导致注意力疲劳。注意恢复理论假设，当直接注意机制疲劳时，它们可以在自然环境中恢复，因为它们使用非自愿注意，这是不累或有效的。

This knowledge could be a boon to public health departments that are scrambling to restore happiness and cheer in countless anxiety-ridden adolescents. It suggests that building a park, planting community gardens, implementing broader outdoor education programs in school, and prescribing daily nature walks in a forest could be radical, life-saving projects.

这一认识可能是公共卫生部门的福音，他们正忙于让无数焦虑的青少年恢复快乐和欢呼。它建议建造一个公园，开创社区花园，在学校实施更广泛的户外教育项目，并规定每天在森林中进行自然散步，这些可能是激进的、拯救生命的项目。

As usual, the study reveals what needs to be examined in greater depth, such as how low socio-economic circumstances may make children more vulnerable to the negative effects of too much screen time and too little green time; this demographic was underrepresented in the studies that were analyzed and should be examined more closely going forward.

和往常一样，这项研究揭示了需要更深入地研究的问题，比如，低社会经济环境如何会使儿童更容易受到过多屏幕时间和过少绿色时间的负面影响;在被分析的研究中，这一人口学的代表性不足，今后应该更仔细地检查。

Nevertheless, it's valuable knowledge for parents, educators, and policy-makers to keep in mind – that children do better when they spend less time online and more time outdoors. We can all do our part to encourage that.

然而，家长、教育工作者和政策制定者需要牢记的宝贵知识是:孩子少上网多在户外活动会更好。我们大家都可以尽自己的一份力量来鼓励这一点。