Many folks look at Trackers and see a skills program\u2014offering camps where kids learn archery, wilderness survival, fishing, woodworking, and more. Others know us for our fantastical themes\u2014secret agents, elf quests, zombie survival, and so on\u2014sparking imagination in young minds. Still more parents trust us for something simple but profound: getting kids outside playing like it\u2019s the 1980s all over again (cue the Gen X fist pump).<\/p>\n
But here\u2019s the thing\u2014Trackers is our name. And tracking is at the heart of everything we do.<\/p>\n
My first job as a Tracker is to teach awareness. Not awareness of ideas, ideologies, or schools of thought, but awareness of the real world all around us. That includes the spectacular diversity of the more-than-human world\u2014trees, birds, the smell of dry moss before the rain. It also includes people and what they do in this strange, dense society we call the modern world.<\/p>\n
One of the clearest changes I\u2019ve noticed over the past 20 years is how differently people Pay Attention.<\/p>\n
I know some people push back against Jonathan Haidt\u2019s The Anxious Generation<\/em>, an incredible book about how healthy\u2014or not healthy\u2014smartphones are for kids. I understand that how we frame things can be relative to context, especially regarding how the internet provides more connection to groups who may need it. Nevertheless, I am a fan of the book, and I see real-life alignment with my own observations as an educator.<\/p>\n But I\u2019m not here to weigh in on youth mental health and correlation versus causation. While that\u2019s an important conversation, I instead want to hone in on something more foundational. And something that\u2019s not limited to kids. I\u2019m talking about attention and awareness\u2014our most basic ways of perceiving the world. Where they go, how they\u2019ve been shaped, and what\u2019s currently shaping them now.<\/p>\n Like anything in life, our technology comes with painful trade-offs. Smartphones\u2014and more specifically, the always-on internet connection\u2014co-opt how we Pay Attention. They take our moment-to-moment awareness and redirect it to a device, pulling us out of the subtle, rich world around us.<\/p>\n One thing that\u2019s just… weird? Being out in public and watching it unfold all around you: Toddlers locked into Paw Patrol on an iPad while the real world marches past. Teenagers sitting together but not speaking, each furiously messaging someone somewhere else online. Grandfathers scrolling TikTok while their grandkids play right in front of them\u2014unseen.<\/p>\n And most of the apps they\u2019re on are specifically engineered to co-opt our attention. I\u2019ve seen grown adults of every generation progressively lose the situational awareness they once possessed, not realizing that those moments used to belong to noticing.<\/p>\n Smartphones and the always-on internet are hyper-engaging by design, co-opting our attention and rewiring how we relate to the world. Most apps are engineered like digital slot machines. They hijack our deep evolutionary instincts for social connection, tribal belonging, and novelty. They distract us, but also they replace the fundamental human experience of noticing the world with a hyper-targeted drip feed of dopamine.<\/p>\n Just like donuts.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t get me wrong. I love donuts. Donuts fill a very specific human craving for sugar and fat\u2014a biological urge we all have from evolving as foragers. Originally, you would get that sweetness fix from berries, and the fat from salmon. But now we have donuts. Sadly, if donuts were all you ever ate, you would not be healthy.<\/p>\n With smartphones, it\u2019s even worse. You don\u2019t just eat the donut, you carry it in your pocket. That donut constantly updates its flavor to match your mood, your algorithm, and your browsing habits.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not food. That\u2019s programming. And here\u2019s what we\u2019ve noticed, not just in kids, but in everyone.<\/p>\n Fewer people look up. Fewer people notice. We\u2019re losing a core human ability to notice real things.<\/p>\n Those once-idle moments, such as waiting in line, walking in the forest, and standing on a street corner, used to be time for our minds to see and sense. And that kind of casual awareness? It\u2019s essential to how we build intuition and common sense.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s not enough to just put down your device. Because the variable reward systems used in many apps (including those designed for kids) are modeled on gambling psychology. They are constantly working to rewire our attention, training our brains away from the present moment. This kind of habituation isn\u2019t just a distraction; it\u2019s conditioning. And breaking the cycle requires an even stronger antidote, one rooted in presence, patience, and wild awareness.<\/p>\n That antidote can be Tracking.<\/p>\n Tracking is not just reading animal footprints. It\u2019s not just traveling through the wilderness. It\u2019s an immersive method for strengthening awareness. It teaches us to see what’s going on around us in the real world. It\u2019s the skill of noticing subtleties, cataloging them, and using patterns to make better decisions:<\/p>\n This common-sense skill, tracking the environment with our senses, is our human heritage. But that innate human capacity is being dulled in all of us. By passive screen time and by the chronic redirection of our attention away from the real world and into an artificial one that is optimized to addict us.<\/p>\n We practice. Like a martial art, tracking can be broken down into hundreds of techniques. But if you want to start strengthening your awareness today, here are four core routines that will set a strong foundation:<\/p>\n Whiskers:<\/strong> Wherever you’re waiting, put your phone in your pocket and take account of all your senses. Let them stretch out as far as they can go. Try to see movement on the edges of your vision instead of focusing in on one thing. Listen for the quietest sound, something far away, or close by, and faint. Smell and taste the air. Feel how your feet contact the ground, heel, toe, and weight shift. Notice which direction the wind is blowing, how it moves across your skin, or rustles nearby leaves. This is how you start tuning back in.<\/p>\n Shifting:<\/strong> Move your body at different speeds. Eat breakfast at half your normal speed. Feel each movement, each bite. Stop just outside a doorway, take account of the space, and then walk in at one-quarter speed. Practice slow. Practice quiet. Notice how the human world responds to how strangely deliberate you\u2019re being. Some people will ignore you, others might look up, curious. Then take that same awareness into the wilder world and notice how animals and birds react. You\u2019ll start to understand which speed belongs to which place.<\/p>\n Secret Camp:<\/strong> Pick a spot. Go there every morning and every evening for at least 20 minutes. Every day\u2026 sit. Listen. Watch. Use all your senses (see Whiskers). This is your baseline. This is how you recalibrate. You\u2019re supposed to feel bored by the familiarity. That boredom trains your brain to find the novelty it craves. Not in flashing screens, but in subtle natural shifts. Eventually, you\u2019ll hear the song sparrow alarm call and, soon after, spot the cat stalking through the brush. Or the birds will stop worrying about you altogether, and you\u2019ll find them close enough to eat from your hand.<\/p>\n Counter Tracking:<\/strong> Try to move through an area without being noticed. Not sneaking like a cartoon villain, but watching out for where others’ focus their awareness, both human and animal, so you can evade their visual and auditory attention. Try not to set off alarm signals (such as birds scolding you). Counter Tracking includes not leaving any sign (tracks) of your presence. Blend in. Camouflage. I intentionally dress as boring as possible in public so I often go unnoticed.<\/p>\n Try these techniques for 2\u20133 days, on your own or with your whole family. If you feel like it, report back. I\u2019d love to hear what you notice.<\/p>\n And we haven\u2019t even gotten into what most people think of as \u201ctracks.\u201d Footprints, markings, disturbances, those are important, but they come after. They\u2019re the next part of the map. Because when you train your mind to look for signs, subtle or obvious, fleeting or persistent, you begin to build a mental map of the world that is layered, rich, and real.<\/p>\n Tracking starts before tracks. Learning to read what\u2019s left behind, what\u2019s just beneath the surface, is what opens the door to deeper perception. When we catalog those signs, store them in memory, and link them to each other, we begin to see the world not just as a landscape… but as maps in maps in maps.<\/p>\n This is where real attention lives. It\u2019s how we step out of the digital fog and back into our senses. It\u2019s how we begin to see what\u2019s really going on around us and find our way back to nature, to each other, and ourselves.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n See you in the forest,<\/p>\n Tony Deis<\/strong> At Trackers, our Rangers Guild follows the code to Pay Attention. This is a great Rangers game to play anywhere, forest, a restaurant, street. Sitting with your kids, have them close their eyes while you keep yours open. As their \u201cRangers Guide,\u201d ask them questions about the environment you\u2019re in:<\/p>\n Then everyone opens their eyes and checks their answers. Take turns. Play slow. This game sharpens awareness by turning the ordinary into something worth noticing. My 9-year-old daughter\u2019s favorite question: \u201cWho would you choose for your Zombie apocalypse team?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Paying Attention in an Age That Profits When We Don\u2019t Many folks look at Trackers and see a skills program\u2014offering camps where kids learn archery, wilderness survival, fishing, woodworking, and more. Others know us for our fantastical themes\u2014secret agents, elf quests, zombie survival, and so on\u2014sparking imagination in young minds. Still more parents trust us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":5102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,24,18,11,20,33,29,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camping","category-camps","category-mentoring-programs","category-nature-awareness","category-outdoor-school","category-parenting","category-summer-camps","category-trackers-lore"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackersearth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackersearth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackersearth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackersearth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackersearth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5094"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/trackersearth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5103,"href":"http:\/\/trackersearth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5094\/revisions\/5103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackersearth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackersearth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackersearth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackersearth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}This Is About Awareness<\/h3>\n
Phones Aren\u2019t the Problem. Awareness Hijack Is.<\/h3>\n
Donuts in the Wilderness<\/h3>\n
What Is Tracking, Really?<\/h3>\n
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So\u2026 How Do We Get It Back?<\/h3>\n
Four Ways to Reclaim Your Awareness<\/h3>\n
Trackers Earth
Founder & Dad<\/em><\/p>\nBONUS \u2013 Rangers Game<\/h3>\n
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