Embracing a Screen-free Summer

Why camp? One reason is the opportunity for children to experience a screen-free summer.

BY CURTIS HINES

A 2021 study of media use by teens found the average child received their first cellphone by 12 years old. In another survey in 2019, 42% of children aged 4 to 14 spent 30 hours on their phones each week. Most parents grew up in a very different world than their children, and technology seems to have developed faster than our ability to understand its long-range impact, especially on children. Even now as we begin to see links between excessive screen use and delays in cognitive and social/emotional development, screens are becoming more and more ubiquitous in everyday life.

I hope I don’t sound like Chicken Little; I acknowledge our devices have benefits, that they help us learn more and learn faster. But most parents seem to share some of the same concerns, and most households have their own systems for managing and monitoring screen time. But what happens during the summer, without the routine of school, when children are left to their own devices (literally)? We all know the answer: more time at home equals more time on the phone.

There is one last refuge in our chronically online world, a place still holding the line and keeping technology at bay: overnight summer camp. Most overnight camp directors have been saying the same thing for more than 30 years: leave your phone/iPod/electronic games at home, because too often they distract from the community and nature around us. Summertime is fleeting, so it’s important to cherish every minute of it. These programs have often made solemn vows to stand against the tide of “progress” to protect tradition from technology. Not every overnight camp enforces this rule, but the average camp experience tends to emphasize face-to-face connection over time spent on screens.

You’d think kids today would hate it, but they don’t. The last day of camp is always full of tearful goodbyes from children wishing camp would never end. “Something feels different here,” they say, but they struggle to explain to it to their family and to their friends. It may be that in the absence of technology, people must rely on each other for entertainment and companionship. In that environment, friendships are easier to make, and a spirit of bonhomie pervades.

Returning campers invariably tell the same story: Once they get home, they realize how addicted they are to their phone. Some of them take the lesson to heart and become more intentional with their screen time, an insight they gain after the experience of a summer-long detox. Even camp staff members say that distance from their devices was freeing.

If you ask camp directors about their technology policy (and you should), you’re likely to get a thoughtful and considered response. Camp people care deeply about serving the needs of all children, and right now, all children could use a break from their devices (adults, too). Twenty years from now, the technology will be different; a new generation will have grown up with artificial intelligence and we’ll be concerned about new things, I’m sure. Hopefully, traditional camp programs will still be around, will remain true to their ideals and will provide us with the option of being less plugged-in.

Curtis Hines has spent more than 25 summers at Windsor Mountain Summer Camp in Windsor, first as a camper, then later joined the staff and eventually became assistant director. Curtis is a poet and writer, a mentor with the Inspiring Men Project, and works with Zebra Crossings, a nonprofit that creates camps for children with chronic illness.