The Minnesota DNR used technology to get Minnesotans outdoors again. Photo: Jim Brekke (Jim's outside photos) via Flickr.
So many people didn’t get outdoors prior to 2007 that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources asked why.
What’s keeping Minnesotans away? Lack of time, equipment, outdoor skills and event information, they say.
Maybe that’s because kids aged eight to 18 years old average seven hours and 38 minutes per day on their cell phones, iPods, computers and televisions, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation study.
The department announced recently that plans developed after the department’s study to get people outside have worked.
Car counts in 2010 reveal the overall number of visits to Minnesota state parks totaled 9.5 million compared with 8.3 million in 2008.
The department’s strategy? The same technology that may contribute to the problem. It responded with a variety of programs, such as tweeting state park events, adding virtual tours and trip planning to their website and installing outdoor touch-screens to educate visitors about area opportunities.
Too much television and electronics can rot the brain, but I guess it can also get the couch potatoes out for some real recreation.