Students need more opportunities to go outside during the school day. Students are spending more time than ever before indoors and on their electronic devices. Simple outdoor activities like sports boost students’ social skills and increases academic performance.

Del Val  Media Center Specialist Tracy Miceli and gym teacher Brent Conly support this viewpoint. Both teachers value outdoor time for students and agree that more time should be spent outside during the school day.

Over the summer, Miceli read the book “The Anxious Generation,” which argues that the rise in student mental health issues is a direct result of less time spent outside and more time spent on screens.

In chapter three of “The Anxious Generation,” author Jonathan Haidt discusses students’ need to have a “discovery mode” and for “risky play.”

“What he is talking about is going outside and doing something you have never done before within reason,” Miceli said.

Being outside has many positive effects on social and emotional health. According to a study by the National Library of Medicine at Loyola College, titled “Keeping Recess in Schools,” being inside for a long amount of time can have major negative impacts on the mental health of students and increase their depression.

“It’s [being inside at school] like being on an airplane for eight hours straight because you are breathing in recycled air and seeing everything through a window,” Miceli said.

Although schools, including Del Val, have implemented iPads as crucial learning tools, putting the iPad down and going outside during the day is equally as important to student growth.

“Being outside improves your mood and makes you less tired,” Conly said. “It gets you moving instead of sitting.”

Going outside not only helps students mentally, but it also helps them develop socially.

“Most of the time students are outside, they are walking and talking to their friends,” Conly said.

At the start of this school year, Del Val instituted a ban on phones and AirPods during the school day. Since the new policy was put in place, Conly has noticed the benefits of banning AirPods.

“Being outside without AirPods has increased students’ social skills,” Conly said. “We [gym teachers] see less students walking by themselves.”

Students should be given time during each block to go outside for a brain break, or even do their work outside on a bench. When students are given the opportunity to leave the classroom, it improves their mood and makes it more likely that they will retain information that is being taught.

School administrators should step up and allow students more opportunities to go outside and try something new. Doing so will have a positive impact on all students.