In many countries, children and teenagers spend far less time outdoors than previous generations did. Why is this happening, and what can be done to encourage young people to spend more time outside?

The principal reason young people stay inside is the entertainment now available on their phones. Games, videos and social networks are designed to hold attention for hours, and,

consequently

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, a park has little chance against a screen that never runs out of content. In Casablanca,

for instance

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, cafés near schools are full of teenagers, each sitting silently with a handset, where their parents once played football in the street. Closely linked to

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is the anxiety of adults. Traffic has grown heavier, and news reports exaggerate the dangers of strangers, so many mothers and fathers now forbid their sons and daughters from going out alone, even in neighbourhoods that remain perfectly safe.

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,

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trend can be reversed if families and local authorities act together. The most effective measure lies with the home, since parents who set clear rules,

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as no phones before homework and none at the dinner table, give their children both the time and the reason to go outside.

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, towns must offer places worth going to. Rabat,

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, transformed a stretch of its riverbank into a public promenade, and within months it was crowded with families and cyclists every evening.

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, a city that invests in safe, attractive open spaces finds that young people return to them without being told.