Do the youth still play outdoors?

[RUDI]

Do the youth of today still play outdoors? Good question....​

Back in my younger days (this makes me sound old ) you could hardly ever found me inside (except when doing homework..) I was always outside busy with something. Playing with my friends, getting up to mischief. Nowadays you hardly fiend any children playing outside...

We always used to arrange backyard cricket, arranging friendly Cricket matches etc. When I used to live in a farming community I even got the disadvantage children involved in cricket. Some showed tremendous talent and they thoroughly enjoyed it. When I relocated to the coast I sponsored all cricket gear etc. to the locals and the continued as far as I know.

Coming to my now Hometown of Margate as a 18 year old I tried to arrange friendly Cricket matches with the local teens... what a mission to find guys to have a casual game of cricket with. Over the past 7 years I've managed to put together some social matches between friends vs the local rehab center - vs various churches etc.

Nowadays the only way to play cricket is to join a Cricket club or Action Cricket Club.

Has it become to dangerous for our youth to be actively playing outside? OR Has our youth become more interested in Video Games & social sites/applications?

​

 

[zwarrior]

I don't think it is dangerous to go out and play. When I was young, I used to go out and play as I didn't want to do anything else to in home. I had a computer with few games such as RoadRash, NFS 2 ( or something) and other small games. I was not even using internet much. I just used internet to research for my projects, or to check my results and sometimes to use Orkut (no facebook back then ) and yahoo mail. I checked these social sites just weekly once.

My friends and I were not hooked up to electronic items as kids these days are. After finishing school, we used to have some snack and run away to the streets to play cricket and sometimes football. If it is a holiday, we used to go to the big grounds and play ( bet) against other locality children. I have hurt myself so much while playing. Torn clothes, wounds were a common thing back then whenever I used to go out to play.

I feel sad that the streets where I used to play are empty now. Hardly sometimes I see some kids play. They are addicted to mobiles / tablets/ computers. My blood just boils when I see even 4-5 year olds playing with Tablets. Youths are just online the whole time. I used to actively play outside till I went for doing my UG course. Afterwards due to studies and other activities we didn't go out and play. But, yeah we did go out on early Sunday morning every week to play cricket. But didn't play daily.

SO, I feel that youths nowadays are more interested in video games/ social sites than going out and play. They have become lazy. I pity them.

 

[Yash.]

Well, since I am a kid of age 14. I can say that I am in between both sides.... I usually spend my days indoors because of exams nowadays but in our free times especially holidays.... We (me and my school friends) gather at 5:00 in the morning and play test match cricket till 11:00. In India, one can easily find children playing in the evenings but nowadays it's studies that is killing outdoor play not merely technology.... For me and my friends, our school studies and tuition classes are the only obstacles in our cricket matches ... Nothing else

 

[Aravind.]

I am a guy who studies in college.
I used to play cricket when ever i find free time still class 10.
We formed a cricket club to participate in cricket tournaments.
Due to my avg marks in class 10 my parents forced me to not play cricket with our club.
I scored preety well in Class 12 & joined the college, but during this 2 years i lost my magic in batting & got addicted to Console games to pass free time.
Any way now i am playing with my club again. I was a run machine at our club, but i am now only a ordinary batsman.
Parents has huge influence in letting their kid play outside.

 

[asprin]

As much as technology is to be blamed for the current scenario, I think an equally important thing is the lack of space for playgrounds. In the pre-2000 era, there were open spaces for children to play but that changed drastically and all we see now are one tower beside another with no access to an open ground. This, I think, is also a good reason why kids these days no longer know the joys of playing outside because there isn't an "outside" anymore.

 

[Umair7]

I am a guy who studies in college.
I used to play cricket when ever i find free time still class 10.
We formed a cricket club to participate in cricket tournaments.
Due to my avg marks in class 10 my parents forced me to not play cricket with our club.
I scored preety well in Class 12 & joined the college, but during this 2 years i lost my magic in batting & got addicted to Console games to pass free time.
Any way now i am playing with my club again. I was a run machine at our club, but i am now only a ordinary batsman.
Parents has huge influence in letting their kid play outside.

Asian Parents :/

 

[Umair7]

As much as technology is to be blamed for the current scenario, I think an equally important thing is the lack of space for playgrounds. In the pre-2000 era, there were open spaces for children to play but that changed drastically and all we see now are one tower beside another with no access to an open ground. This, I think, is also a good reason why kids these days no longer know the joys of playing outside because there isn't an "outside" anymore.

Spot On..

 

[Alexei.]

Would prefer playing outside I play. 1 day a week :/ . Mostly I don't get selected

 

[Ohm]

My love with computer and Internet has ruined a good piece of my life. I haven't played outdoor games a single time in past 2-3 years. I do really want to play outdoors, but I don't.

I regularly exercise to keep myself fit; but playing outside with others was just another thing!

 

[CerealKiller]

The country I live in doesn't have a very good "sports culture". People do sports only in professional clubs. I always want to go out and play, but I have no one to play with. Weather is a big factor as well.

 

[Umair7]

The country I live in doesn't have a very good "sports culture". People do sports only in professional clubs. I always want to go out and play, but I have no one to play with. Weather is a big factor as well.

No one to play ?? Friends ?

 

[Salman.]

No one to play ?? Friends ?

Germany is not a cricket-loving nation.

 

[SiriusBlack]

edited

 

[CerealKiller]

No one to play ?? Friends ?

They mostly live far from me, and as i said before, we don't have a sports culture

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

I love playing outside, most of the kids, teenagers and even guys play cricket and hockey on the streets of Pakistan to this day. You can see 30-40 year old guys play cricket on the streets after 4:00 AM in Ramazan.

As well as on non-holiday/festive days. Kids 'always' play cricket in the evening, most teenagers play football.