OMU study reveals urban children draw technology while rural children draw nature

Prof. Dr. Çağatay İnam Karahan of Ondokuz Mayıs University (OMU) stated that a recent study revealed that children living in rural areas tend to depict nature-related themes in their drawings, while children living in city centers produce technology-oriented illustrations.

“The results did not surprise us very much. We observed that children in cities mostly drew phones, tablets, and game characters, whereas children in rural areas depicted nature, animals, and the games they play with their friends,” she said.

The research was conducted within the scope of the thesis titled “The Reflection of Technology Use in Primary School Students’ Drawings: A Comparative Study of Village and Urban Schools,” prepared by art teacher Betül Kılıç under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Çağatay İnam Karahan, faculty member at OMU Faculty of Education, Department of Fine Arts Education.

The study involved 15 students aged 6–9 from rural schools and 15 students from urban schools, who were asked to draw scenes from their daily lives. Prof. Dr. Karahan explained that a total of 90 drawings were analyzed.

“This study also showed us that if we want to understand children, we need to look at their drawings. As screen time increases, we noticed that children’s worlds become somewhat more enclosed. They begin portraying themselves as more introverted and within confined spaces. In fact, children draw what they experience. If technology dominates city life, they draw technology; if nature surrounds them in rural settings, nature is naturally reflected in their drawings,” she said.

“The findings did not surprise us”

Speaking about the methodology and findings related to children living in urban areas, Prof. Dr. Karahan said:

“Our study focused on how technology is reflected in primary school students’ drawings, using village and city samples. We worked with 30 students in total, 15 from urban areas and 15 from rural setting, and analyzed 90 drawings.

We did not assign any specific topics. We simply asked the children to freely depict how they spend a typical day, what they do, and how they spend time with friends.

Today, we live in a screen-based digital world that affects children just as much as adults. Children are in constant contact with smartphones, computers, and gaming consoles. Through these devices, they consume cartoons and digital games that shape their visual worlds and imagination.

Through content analysis, we examined each drawing individually, categorizing technological elements under specific themes and making comparisons. The results were not surprising. Children in urban areas drew phones, tablets, and game characters more frequently. Their drawings generally reflected indoor environments and solitary activities, suggesting a more individualistic structure. They also tended to use paler colors, and their compositions appeared less cheerful and more static.”

“Children in rural areas depict more colorful and social lives”

Prof. Dr. Karahan noted that children living in rural settings focused more on social life and nature in their drawings:

“Children in rural areas depicted nature, animals, and games played with friends. They illustrated outdoor activities and group interactions. Their drawings reflected more social settings and included less technological content.

Green tones, rural landscapes, and warm colors were more dominant, resulting in brighter and more cheerful compositions. The environment children grow up in, and their relationship with technology, clearly shape their imagination and are reflected in their artwork. As their worlds change, so do their dreams and drawings.

We are not approaching technology entirely negatively. We are not psychologists; however, we believe it is important for children’s imagination to be nourished more by nature and real-life experiences. For this reason, we can say that children’s relationship with technology should be made more balanced.”

“It was exciting to explore how children distinguish between the real and digital worlds”

Betül Kılıç, who conducted the thesis project, explained the inspiration behind the research:

“There is actually a story behind how this idea emerged. It all started when one of my students, during an art class, drew only a tiny figure right in the middle of a large drawing sheet. Despite having such a large piece of paper, the child had allocated only a very small space for themselves.

At that moment, I wondered whether their imagination had become as small as a phone screen. When I later spoke with the child’s family, they confirmed that the child spent a great deal of time in front of screens.

That was when I decided to investigate whether this was merely a coincidence. It was a very enjoyable process for me. I was particularly excited to explore how students living in rural and urban environments reflected these differences through their use of color, spatial composition, and the ways they distinguished between the real and digital worlds.”