Adventure Magazine December 2019/January 2020

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URBAN 

MIND 

LEAVE YOUR CELLPHONE AT HOME 

Cell phones are becoming better adventure tools every day. You can find what feels like 

endless apps for navigation, trip guides, even stargazing. So why, when you look through a 

National Outdoor Leadership School’s (NOLS) equipment list, is a cell phone nowhere to be 

found? 

NOLSies will answer this in different ways—some might point out that most of our course 

areas are in such remote wilderness that cell phones will work about as well as a pile of Legos 

for communication, and others will point to this as just one of our many long-held traditions. 

More important, though, is that students on NOLS courses keep finding value in 

unplugging. What they learn about themselves, and others, is impossible to get when a phone’s 

in their pocket. Now, we aren’t saying never to bring your phone camping. But take a look at a 

few of the reasons why we leave phones behind on courses, and maybe you’ll consider a techfree 

adventure next. 

BOREDOM IS GOOD FOR YOU: 

Outside of the many tools available on 

a smartphone, one of the main reasons 

people use their phone is, at its root, 

distraction. We open social media apps just 

to see what’s going on, watch entertaining 

videos, or read. 

When a phone is present, it’s almost 

impossible for your mind to go “off”—your 

attention is inevitably pulled toward your 

phone. Studies show “Results from two 

experiments indicate that even when 

people are successful at maintaining 

sustained attention—as when avoiding 

the temptation to check their phones—the 

mere presence of these devices reduces 

available cognitive capacity.” 

When phones are not present, our 

attention is more free. Now, don’t confuse 

free attention, or even boredom, with 

nothing going on. When people claim to 

feel bored, there’s actually a lot that your 

brain does. 

Brain imaging has shown that “The 

brain as a whole is very nearly as active, 

and indeed activated more widely, when 

the mind is wandering than when it is 

engaged.” 

The nature of outdoor travel lends 

itself pretty well to letting the mind 

wander. Although you need to pay 

attention to your surroundings, you’re 

also spending hours each day hiking or 

paddling or waiting for water to boil— 

times of repetitive motions when your 

mind has freedom to wander. 

When we pull back from attending to 

tasks, we free up our minds to plan for 

the future, let ideas take root, and gain 

perspective on our lives. 

One researcher points out that 

“Boredom is both a warning that we are 

not doing what we want to be doing and 

a ‘push’ that motivates us to switch goals 

and projects”. 

Next time you’re packing 

your bag, think twice 

about bringing your 

phone. Do you really 

need it? Then, consider 

making it tech-free. 

LIMITING RESOURCES LEADS TO 

BETTER PROBLEM SOLVING: One 

thing we rely on our phones for is quick 

answers. You can look up the height of Mt. 

Kilimanjaro, the year proper hiking boots 

were invented, and the real length of an 

inchworm in an instant. 

Some of the most fun conversations— 

and most heated debates—that happen 

on NOLS courses center around just these 

kinds of questions—things you could know 

in a moment at home, but are impossible 

to verify when you’re in a mountain valley 

in Patagonia. 

More seriously than honing your 

debate skills, not having easy answers 

available builds the mental muscles of 

creativity and resilience. 

Research conducted on NOLS 

expeditions showed participants learned 

ill-structured problem solving (solving 

problems with unclear goals and 

incomplete information) better than their 

peers who had only learned in a classroom 

setting. 

Learning to cope with these types 

of problems in a limited-information 

environment helped those students 

perform better when they returned to 

campus. 

Maybe your next expedition is an 

opportunity for this type of creative 

problem solving… 

YOU CONNECT BETTER WITH THE 

PEOPLE AROUND YOU: Many of us 

now rely on our phones for communication 

and maintaining a sense of community. 

This is often the most difficult part of the 

beginning of a NOLS expedition—figuring 

out how to deal with not being a part of the 

conversation, or not being able to contact 

who you want when you want to. 

It can be really hard. But it’s also an 

opportunity. Because you’re outside of your 

normal support network, your expedition 

mates become the people you turn to for 

advice, for jokes, and for encouragement 

when the trip gets difficult. With no 

distractions, relationships form quickly. 

Liz Blair remembers from her Outdoor 

Educator course that “At the beginning 

of our trip, we were 12 strangers, and 

now we know each other as if we've been 

friends for years. That's what happens 

when you sleep, eat, sweat, and hike with 

one another non-stop for three weeks.” 

And more research is showing that 

“conversations with no smartphones 

present are rated as significantly higherquality 

than those with smartphones 

around, regardless of people’s age, 

ethnicity, gender, or mood. We feel more 

empathy when smartphones are put 

away.” 

Looking at your phone, on the other 

hand, signals that your attention is 

elsewhere—don’t interrupt me, I’m not 

listening, I’m doing something else right 

now. 

When you’re in the outdoors, the 

people you’re with are the people 

you’re with. For better or worse. You’re 

committed to this group and your 

shared goal of moving through a wild 

place together. This opportunity to 

focus on building connection outside 

the phone doesn’t just stay with you in 

the wilderness—it’s something you can 

practice and build upon at home. 

76//WHERE ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS/#217

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Adventure Magazine December 2019/January 2020

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