Poster Presentation 6th World Congress on Positive Psychology 2019

  Disconnecting from Technology in order to Reconnect with Nature (#516)

Lisa Barker 1
  1. Heliotropia Wellbeing, Heliotropia, Armadale, VIC, Australia

Over the past decade, technology use amongst children has proliferated; screen-time is now the main leisure activity for children across the industrialised world. A childhood spent on a screen has a range of consequences, both at an individual level and a systems level. A growing and alarming disconnection to nature has been a salient systemic outcome. This is an innovative intervention entitled Disconnect in order to Reconnect.This intervention is designed to build Nature Connectedness (NC) in young Australians. It combines the wellbeing theories of Mindfulness, Biophilia, Topophilia with Ancient Wisdom Traditions and aims to build NC in young Australians.  I explore how such an intervention might build environmental stewardship in young people as they move forward in a global community characterised by large scale environmental degradation and climate change. The intervention uses a Participatory Action Research approach (PAR) known as Theory U. The participants, young Australians aged 12-16 years, will become active change-makers and collaborate together in a series of workshops.  Three validated NC measurement scales will be used pre and post intervention to determine the effectiveness of the program. It is hoped that these scales will show an increase in NC at the conclusion of the eight-week intervention.