Yeah, the actual phrase is definitely a social media thing that certain types of journalists have picked up and run with. But I was thinking more along the lines of Percy Crosby’s illustrations for the original Life Magazine’s annual “fresh air fund” in the 1920s, which was a charity drive about sending underprivileged city kids to the country over the summer. A lot of Crosby’s fresh air fund cartoons were about of urban kids finding out that milk and eggs don’t come from the grocery store, so even if he never heard the words, he definitely touched base with the concept of “touching grass”.
Crimes have to have penalties. (shrug)