Can Wildlife Help Us Get Off Our Phones?

Why Turning Off Your Phone Leads to Better Outdoor Experiences

A Slice of Life in Montana by Calvin Servheen

Brown needles dappled by sunshine filtering through the scruffy pines. Dark water swirling with bubbles in the lichen speckled rock pool. The tiniest buds forming, bulging and bursting into flowers on a frozen branch as winter thaws. Mist swirling and tearing over a dark fir forest in the early morning. These are times and places where folks feel nature. They are scenes where the power of the earth makes itself evident in subtle and mysterious ways, drawing us back again and again to the outdoors.

However, sometimes these outdoor moments are sought for a different reason. Think of the view from a high mountaintop with the mellow farmland stretching out, lakes glittering — to the neighboring mountain range where peaks stand black against the setting sun. Think about the rim of a desert canyon with its fiery sandstone spires and declivities or a still glacial lake with peaks reflected in the turquoise water.

The moon rises over a mountain range near Bozeman, Montana. This lake is a common local spot to take nature pictures because of the scenic views, and a convenient paved road that makes access easy. Some claim this lowers the proportion of visitors who appreciate it.

If you’re like most people, you’d enjoy the first scenes quite a bit, taking a moment to sit and observe nature or close your eyes and listen. My second set of scenarios would also probably make you pause in amazement. However, there’s one thing you’d probably do first — take a picture. It’s natural to want to document our time outdoors, but I’ve noticed that with the rise of smartphones and social media, it’s become easier to capture moments for later rather than appreciating them on the spot. This is a subtle distinction, but the urge to document and collect moments with technology turns appreciating nature from a solitary, meditative exercise into a shared, social act. Being social isn’t bad — we are social creatures — however, phones and social media take away our alone time with nature which I argue has negative effects on mental health and wellness.

This natural waterfall near Bozeman, Montana is a peaceful place to come and relax. It is also commonly seen on local social media feeds.

Let me explain better by talking about wildlife. Today, the United States is home to many species of wild fauna ranging from the common whitetail deer and red fox, to the rare grizzly bear and wolverine, and many more. Wildlife is the reason public land and the idea of conservation exists in the United States. In the late 1800s, the alarming rate at which natural lands were being colonized had a pronounced negative affect on wildlife. Bison were hunted almost to extinction and elk and moose became coveted trophies for hunters.

Modern wildlife conservation has allowed species numbers to recover. These Bighorn Sheep in Yellowstone Park have never faced hunting pressure.

During this time, white people did not appreciate these animals, or indeed any part of the landscape. Instead, they were focused on killing, possessing, and curating the most impressive animals so they could show them off to others. There is no doubt that this practice got in the way of appreciating nature. When Westerners seemed to be on the brink of driving wildlife to extinction, it was avid hunters that saved the day. Worried that there would soon be no more big game to chase, a group of wealthy sportsmen, including President Teddy Roosevelt, formed The Boone and Crockett Club, a group which advocated for public land and conservation. The aim was to preserve wildlife so that hunting could continue for the wealthy. Where the Native Americans were during all of this is a different and extremely sad story, but they would have been appalled at the motives behind the early conservation movement. It was not until much later that conservationists began appreciating nature without thinking of its value to sportsmen.

All this is important to keep in mind when we go outside, whether that is to the local beach or to Yellowstone National Park. Shooting a photo has far less of an environmental impact than shooting an animal, but they both cloud our ability to appreciate nature. In the same way that The Boone and Crockett Club collects and ranks the largest trophy animals, social media acts as a dubious measuring stick where people can compare their outdoor experiences.

An image of the little-photographed, man-made side of Yellowstone National Park. This bridge is one of hundreds of infrastructure projects which don’t make it into photo essays of the park.

When we go outside with the intent of posting something cool to Instagram or mounting a big mule deer in the living room, we are less likely to feel the calming and healing presence of nature all around us. I have discussed the calming effects of appreciating nature at length in my second blog post. It is safe to say that true appreciation helps wellbeing and reduces our environmental footprint. We can only take advantage of this when we leave phones behind to avoid shooting and sharing everything. Many natural places, including Yellowstone, feel sacred; by sharing photos of these wild sanctuaries all over social media, some of the magic can be lost.

Outdoors social media has become an addiction for many people. We can all learn from the trophy hunters of the past who missed out on so much appreciation of the environment by having the wrong mindset. I was in Yellowstone park recently, sitting in my car with the windows down letting the snow drift in. I was listening to the wind in the trees when I began to hear other sounds approaching. Soon a small herd of bison passed right by my window, their sighs and grunts audible, their hooves clicking quietly on the pavement, and their brown eyes searching me. How could one look at these creatures as a trophy? How could snapping a picture of a bison replace feeling the presence of this heard? How could so many people conflate appreciating and collecting? A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it’s only worth a thousandth of an experience.

An American Bison grazing near the road is a common sight in Yellowstone National Park. These animals were once nearly extinct in the American West.

We, during the age of social media, must not make the same mistakes that our ancestors in the era of manifest destiny made. We must relearn how to feel the earth. To do this, leave your phone behind every once and a while and experience some meditative alone time with nature. I’m not saying recording your life is bad. I once took a trip to Europe without taking a single picture and it was definitely overkill. However, realize that your phone should not come between you and the woods or any immersive life experience. You can live better by taking fewer photos and participating less in competitive social media. Here are some reasons to unplug and tips for doing so:

Why shooting nature is bad for you

1. It gets in the way of having a good time — Feeling, smelling, and touching nature is hard in the best of times. Just like in social scenarios, you are more immersed, happy, and active without technology. Hang up and hang out!
2. It feeds toxic social media culture — Social media is famous for how it breeds negativity. Folks often use nature pictures to “flex” on others who have not had the same exotic experiences. Toxicity is everywhere and often accidental. The pictures in this article could even have this effect.
3. It blocks the wellness benefits of being truly alone and relaxed in nature — Meditative time is important. Nature is a great place to wind down and gain perspective on your worries. Bringing social media with you inhibits meditative destressing.

It’s uncommon to see a sunset like this one near Four Corners, Montana. Even if I’m driving, I like to pull off and appreciate the colors as the sunsets. Staying in the moment and off my phone is sometimes a struggle — while I was snapping this picture I missed the last light of the sun.

How to get off your phone in the outdoors

1. Consider how you’re showing off — We’re all guilty of a little showing off, me especially. Whether you post van life selfies, fitness photos, or travel pictures, recognizing the exhibitionist impulse can decrease your use of social media.
2. Learn orienteering skills — How to navigate with a physical map and landmarks is a cool skill and it works in the city just as well as in rural areas. It’ll keep you off your navigation apps and reduce your screen time drastically while outside.
3. Leave technology behind — Don’t bring your phone at all. This will force you to see and feel things directly, rather than looking through the camera at your surroundings.
4. Turn your phone fully off — Sometimes you must bring your phone with you to take a picture or two or for safety reasons. In these cases, you can stay off it by powering it down.
5. Decide on photo times — Set a time on your outing where you can take pictures and share your experiences and a time to relax without technology. Perhaps on a hike, you can share on the way up and turn your phone off before heading back.

Nature is beautiful and you shouldn’t stop recording its beauty or cataloging the environmental problems you might see in nature, especially if photography and video are your artforms. It’s also important to note that photography has no environmental detriment, making it by far the most benign way to capture nature. I think we all have something to learn from White Americans’ history with wildlife. Understanding the past can help us appreciate nature to the fullest.

If you have your own thoughts about social media and the outdoors, let us know in the comments. Next time, I’ll talk about the long shadow climate change has cast on my state which has caused wildfires, glacier disappearance, and drought. See you then on A Slice of Life in Montana.

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