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Whoopee, They’re Phone and Screen Free
Whoopee, They’re Phone and Screen Free
By Tom Northrup
“Summer Camp! It’s the most effective way I know of to reverse the phone-based childhood and restore a playful, real-world childhood, at least for a few weeks each summer.”
For my last three ZEST articles I’ve been joined by Mike Wipfler, a friend, former colleague, and parent of two young children. With his brother Rob, Mike directs an overnight summer camp for boys in New Hampshire.
The topic of our last conversation was Jonathan Haidt’s new book, “The Anxious Generation,” which argues that two trends—the decline of play-based childhoods in the 1980s and the rise of phone-based childhoods that began in the early 2010s—are transforming “childhood” and causing some children to miss out on important developmental experiences that will prepare them for healthy adulthoods.
Dr. Haidt emphasizes that parents and educators have the responsibility and the ability to provide the structure to curb children’s smartphone use at home and in schools. He recommends the following guidelines:
› no smartphones before high school
› no social media until 16
› phone-free schools
› more time each day for independent free play
Tom: Haidt is a strong advocate for overnight camps. Dr. Michael Thompson in “Homesick and Happy” (2012) also makes a strong case for the value of overnight camps. His main point is that children benefit from being away from their parents—many are often not offering them the latitude to learn from their mistakes and make independent decisions.
It seems to me that overnight camps address all four of Haidt’s recommendations. Am I missing something?
Mike: I don’t think you are. Technology-free overnight camps provide an ideal environment to give children a break from a “phone-based childhood.” I feel fortunate to have our family spend our summers in one.
When at home, we’re all creatures of habit. Any new restriction—a reduction in screen time or access to social media—will likely be met with some resistance (to put it mildly) from our children.... especially if their friends don’t have the same rules. But camp is different. Everyone here is screen-free, so it’s not seen as punishment, but rather is accepted as the normal way of life.
Tom: Do your campers ever talk about missing their phones or screens?
Mike: Every Sunday we have an all-camp meeting. Last week I asked the campers to share their thoughts about being screen-free here. The first response came from Andrew, a 12-year-old from St. Louis. He said, “There are a lot of things I miss from home. But surprisingly, the thing I miss the least are my devices.” When I asked if others felt the same way, over half the group raised their hands.
Tom: Why do you think that is?
Mike: Two main reasons: community and opportunity. Campers are surrounded by their peers and all interactions are in person. So there are always people to talk to and play with. Secondly, camps keep campers busy with all sorts of fun, novel experiences, and campers have free time as well.
Tom: Did your campers have other insights about life without devices?
Mike: I wish I had recorded last Sunday’s meeting. It would have been great material for Haidt’s book tour or our camp’s website!
A 15-year-old from Connecticut shared how social media had the tendency to make him feel lonely— seeing everyone else having fun together. But at camp, he felt less lonely because he was constantly with his friends, hanging out and participating in activities.
A boy from New York City shared that he’s more willing to take risks and try new activities, knowing that his camp friends would support him and that no one was going to post his early struggles or make fun of him on social media.
A 13-year-old from Los Angeles talked about how much easier it was to communicate and joke with his friends at camp, when they were together and could hear each other’s tone of voice and see each other’s body language—compared to home, where most of his communication was via text.
And a 14-year-old from New York City noted how nice it was to be able to do nothing. At home, whenever he had a free moment or some down time, he would grab his phone and start scrolling through social media or play on-line games. But at camp, he really enjoyed having the chance to just lie around and chill out.
Tom: Were there any responses that surprised you?
Mike: When I asked the group how camp would be different if campers were allowed to have phones, two campers gave me humorous and unexpected answers: a 10-year-old from Illinois said that campers would be constantly late; this seemed counterintuitive as most people use their phones to keep track of the time.
But he argued that campers would be too busy playing video games, and would need to finish certain levels, before they could put away their phone and move to the next activity.
And a 12-year-old from Brooklyn said we’d be overrun with random food deliveries arriving from GrubHub and UberEats...little does he know that such services would never travel to our remote location!
Tom: I hope you’ll continue these discussions with your campers. When they return home, it seems to me that they could be valuable consultants for their parents and friends to help educate them on the benefits of limiting screen time. When they return next summer, it will be instructive to learn if they and their friends have limited their screen time.
