by Travis Williams, CEO of ODC Network 

Editor’s note: In this third post in our Loving Them to the Outdoors and Beyond series, guest contributor Travis Williams builds on ministry team member Christy’s reflections on creating genuine presence with those we care about. You can read Christy’s posts here and here. In this post Travis looks at what screen culture is truly costing our families, and how simple outdoor moments can bring us back together.

The average American adult spends more than 90% of their life indoors. Kids get four to seven minutes of unstructured outdoor play a day—and about six hours of screen time. Those numbers stopped me the first time I read them, and they still do.

Here’s what worries me more: it’s not just time outdoors we’re losing. It’s each other.

In 1990, 3% of American adults said they had no close friends. By 2021, that number was 12%. The Surgeon General has compared the health risk of chronic loneliness to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. Our technology makes us think we’re connected—but really, we’ve just redefined “connected” and it has powerful health and human relationship implications.

A text isn’t a call. A “like” on social media isn’t a conversation. A feed isn’t a room full of people who know you’re alive. We’ve gotten remarkably good at manufacturing the appearance of connection—and remarkably practiced at mistaking it for the real thing. Families aren’t immune to that. Dinner tables have screens on them now. So do car rides, waiting rooms, and Saturday mornings.

Nature itself offers a powerful lesson in what real connection looks like. On the Serengeti, millions of wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle move together, reading the animal next to them and the space around them. Not a feed, not a forecast, not a headline. They use sound, motion, touch—to know where the danger is, where the water is, where the herd is moving next. They look to each other. They respond to one another. They know and understand the animal next to them. Because every single one is paying attention, in the moment, to what the others are telling it. This is what a family loses the second everyone’s eyes are somewhere else.

That’s the real case for getting your family outside. Not just fresh air. Each other.

At ODC Network, we’re on a mission to make it easy to get outside. Free trails. Free preserves. Places to explore, to climb, to get muddy, to sit still and watch the water—with no ticket, no fee, and nothing standing between your family and a day outdoors. Because the easier we make it to step outside together, the easier it is to find your way back to each other.

Whether it’s a neighborhood walk, a local park, or a backyard trail, the invitation is simple: put the screens away, step outside, and love your family toward connection today.

About the author: Travis Williams, CEO of ODC Network, is a recognized leader in conservation, education, and outdoor access and the architect behind one of the most innovative nonprofit models in the region. His diverse career as a naturalist, high school biology teacher, animal care manager, and aquatic toxicology researcher has shaped a deep, lived understanding of how time in nature impacts people. Travis lives in western Michigan and is an avid traveler, angler, and wildlife photographer.