The Second Scourge Of Electronic Technology
And new strategic countermeasures that directors can use to thwart the threat
By Chris Thurber
Most day and overnight camps forbid campers from using their phones. Most camps also forbid staff members from the same—at least in front of campers. Since the inception of organized summer camps, most directors have shared the conviction that camp is a place where in-person social interactions flourish, where the encroachment of electronic technology detracts from camps’ core mission. Most parents share that conviction, including Alexander Graham Bell, who in 1916 famously remarked to C. Hanford Henderson, the director of Camp Marienfeld in South Carolina, “It may surprise you, but I congratulate you on the fact that you have no telephone.”
© Can Stock Photo / HighwayStarz
Bell was so concerned with the telephone’s distracting nature that he refused to have one in his study, despite his having invented and patented the device. (Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t use Facebook, either. A team of employees manages his page so he can—you guessed it— do the creative work he loves and spend in-person time with his friends and family.) I feel like a sucker.
Today, a little more than a century after Bell’s death, his words and wise choice could not be more prescient. Yet, however united camps may be in their creation of a protected space for face-to-face friending to flourish, none can escape the second scourge of electronic technology: stunted social skills, depression, anxiety, obesity, sleep deprivation, academic underachievement, and social stress (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2023). Thanks to chronic online binging, many campers and staff members have been showing up with a new kind of social-emotional frailty.
Modern Blights
In 2010, the Kaiser Family Foundation’s national survey of more than 2,000 young people reported recreational media use averaged 7 hours and 38 minutes per day. (Rideout, 2010). Note this statistic did not include time online doing homework. More than a decade and one pandemic later, that figure is estimated to be higher. And although certain online activities can be beneficial, most recreational media use is sedentary, passive, solitary, and distorted, which can be harmful.
I understand: You already knew the stats, and you already knew the risks. But did you know how best to remediate them at camp? Have you thought beyond the century-old ban on electronic technology and considered how to care for the impaired humans that you hire as staff members and enroll as campers?
In my work as a child- and adolescent psychologist, I have become most concerned about two painful consequences of young people’s excessive hours online, especially their engagement in social media: self-loathing and weak in-person communication skills. Although the other consequences cited by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) all deserve attention, I will focus my reflections and recommendations on these two issues because of camps’ power to remedy them.
I’m Deficient
I like funny memes and reels as much as the next person. And I enjoy keeping in touch with old and far-flung friends. Yet I must constantly remind myself that everyone carefully curates their virtual image. Videos are edited; photos are cropped, warped, and retouched; text is meticulously written for maximal wit; and true struggles are rarely shared (the one-upping practice of trauma bragging being one pathological exception). Even Zoom has a “touch up my appearance” setting to help us all look less haggard and wrinkled.
People have been managing their images since time immemorial, but the ubiquity of smartphones and the hegemony of social media have combined to dramatically alter our perception of others. Before this convergence, kids compared notes on who they thought was the most attractive celebrity—people they glimpsed once or twice a month on television or at the movies. Since the convergence, kids spend hours every day ogling at peers who seem more clever, athletic, artistic, funny, beautiful, and popular than they are. As a consequence, their self-esteem takes a serious hit.
Sure, you can explain to young people that what they see online—from posts to porn—is not an accurate representation of most people, but that bit of logic cannot stem the tidal wave of talent and attractiveness kids witness daily for 5 to 7 hours or more. In the last decade, I have seen more and more young clients who feel utterly deficient, largely because they have come to believe (and how could they not?) that the average kid their age is an amazing dancer, has thousands of followers, runs a successful business, is perpetually happy (or, ironically, happy to have a serious mental illness), is a sexual dynamo, showcases what’s cool before it’s too mainstream to be cool anymore, has a blistering sense of humor, knows just what to say to seduce romantic partners, spends most of their time in trendy spots, and—here’s the kicker—is constantly sought after by others.
A generation ago, your counselors’ and campers’ self-esteem ranged from low to high, with most feeling they were above average (Zell, 2020). Today, I suspect most of them are arriving for staff-training week or opening day feeling deficient. Certainly, rates of childhood and adolescent depression have risen steadily in the past 15 years. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). It’s not enough anymore to keep people offline while they are working and participating in your wonderful programs. Directors these days need to take additional steps:
Ensure that staff members understand why they were hired, with reference not only to the concrete skills they possess, but to the character strengths you identified in selecting them over other candidates.
Place staff in a variety of leadership roles, at least one of which allows them to showcase one of their concrete skills.
Describe, during staff-training workshops, what different character strengths look like in practice and explain why those specific behaviors are most important to you.
Design diverse programs that give all types of campers a chance to shine once in a while, remembering that one kid’s challenge zone is another kid’s panic zone.
Create a relaxed daily schedule that helps young people downshift from the frenetic pace of TikTok, Snapchat, and the like. Rather than dashing from one pressurized activity to the next, offer fewer but longer activity periods.
Provide supervised but unstructured free time to allow interpersonal interactions to be spontaneous, creative, and—yes—messy. Not every moment at camp needs to be planned.
Downplay or eliminate comments about physiques and food; talk instead about values, such as sportsmanship, kindness, and creative problem-solving.
Praise counselors’ and campers’ efforts, rather than achievements, as a way of thwarting the constant comparisons they make online.
© Can Stock Photo / 1STunningArt
I’m Delicate
True, daily recreational screen time of an hour or less may be relaxing, entertaining, and help people stay socially and emotionally connected. Indeed, during the pandemic quarantine, it was one of the only ways for people to stay connected. Some forms of recreational media are actually healthy. Minecraft and other video games that allow players to co-create the game and/or collaborate to solve problems have been shown to boost young people’s creativity and visuospatial problem-solving skills (Froehling, 2022). The repetitive, focused, mental gymnastics required to play the classic game Tetris have been shown to decrease symptoms of PTSD (Iyadurai, 2018). Moderate, selective consumption of recreational media can clearly have social, cognitive, and emotional benefits.
We must think, therefore, in a nuanced way about the problems associated with recreational screen time. It is as misguided to claim “The Internet is bad,” as it is to claim “Hammers are bad.” Both are value-neutral tools that people can use for good or evil. Equally misguided is to assert “Social-media apps create cyberbullies” or “Video games cause ADHD.” The reality is that young people who already bully others in person use social media to extend their reach. Children who already have ADHD experience a worsening of symptoms after months of excessive video-game play. To harness the power of recreational-media consumption for good, we must be careful not to participate in conspiracy theories and wholesale vilification.
A nuanced understanding of recreational media begins with recognizing that anything can be overdone. You can even eat too many vegetables, causing muscle atrophy and bone weakness, as a result of protein and vitamin D deficiency (AMP Floracel, 2019). One unambiguous result of binging on virtual recreational media is social isolation. Even massively multiplayer, online role-playing games (MMORPGs), where players can talk with each other over headsets and interact with one another’s avatars, are devoid of in-person social interactions. Thus, excessive online play slows social maturation. Also true is that young people with delayed social skills are more likely to spend excessive time online (Hygen, 2020). Many children, adolescents, and young adults are caught in this cycle. Caught, but not trapped, thanks to camp.
At camp, delayed social skills take many forms. Counselors and campers may be less patient and more easily frustrated with one another. Their short fuses may reflect a delayed ability to read social cues, a mistaken expectation that they can control complex situations like they do with a handheld controller, a bias to interpret others’ words and deeds as hostile, an underdeveloped capacity for empathy, and even more underdeveloped abilities to collaborate, cooperate, and compromise.
Counselors and campers with delayed social skills also burn out more quickly than their socially skilled peers. Many directors with whom I consult report a marked increase in staff members and campers requesting to opt-out of activities, even begging to go home. Primarily, this is because in-person social interactions are far more taxing for them. Those with delayed social skills must work harder to understand jokes, participate in conversations, contribute to teams, resolve everyday conflicts, live and play in non-virtual groups, and make friends. Many come to think of themselves as delicate; a few mislabel themselves as traumatized. (I am not referring, of course, to staff members or children who are actual trauma survivors.)
The truth is, those with delayed social skills are not as fragile as they might imagine. They are underestimating their capacity for resilience, so they lack confidence. It’s understandable. And solvable, thanks to camps. I recommend directors take these steps:
Include questions in staff-hiring interviews that ask applicants to give recent examples of times when they collaborated, cooperated, and compromised with others. Listen carefully for descriptions of adept social skills.
Include staff-training workshops that develop explicit skills needed to collaborate, cooperate, and compromise with others. For example, Dr. Ross Greene has outstanding resources on Cooperative and Proactive Solutions on LivesInTheBalance.com.
Coach families on healthy ways to prepare for and cope with the adventure of time apart. For example, the content on Prep4Camp.com is a proven way to boost the social and emotional skills kids need for a successful summer.
Advise parents and other caregivers to give young people ample exposure to in-person group activities prior to opening day. Overnights and friends’ houses, as well as participation in competitive and non-competitive sports, hobby meetings, and affinity groups can all nurture social skills.
Think of camp as a socially immersive laboratory that allows everyone to benefit from everyday conflicts by pausing, reflecting, and working hard to understand others’ needs.
Praise pro-social staff behavior that you might have taken for granted a decade ago. Likewise, encourage staff members to praise pro-social camper behavior. Everyone feels more motivated when they know what to do, compared to their being admonished for exhibiting what not to do.
Recognize that all staff members and campers will experience online withdrawal symptoms, such as irritability, loneliness, fear of missing out, homesickness, and anxiety when they enter your tech-free zone. Counteract these symptoms, not by relaxing electronic technology policies but by advising a gradual weaning off devices in the weeks prior to camp.
Provide healthy options for free time. For staff members, create a three-ring binder of healthy options for off time, and leave it in the staff lounge. For campers, print a one-page, 20-item list titled What to do when there’s “nothing to do,” and post these ideas inside bathroom stalls and buildings where campers will see them.
© Can Stock Photo / diego_cervo
Mission Upgrade
Organized summer camp was created in the 1860s to provide a modest, outdoor retreat. The magic combination of living in community, being away from home (for a day, a week, or more), immersion in nature, and playing together has a storied history of strengthening character, forging friendships, teaching leadership, and building confidence. Never has it been more important than now, during this second scourge of electronic technology. The 16 recommendations above, plus your own thoughtful countermeasures, are the new keys to successfully strengthening campers and staff members, the new keys to leveraging the power of camp to accelerate positive development in a fraught world.
Christopher Thurber, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and faculty member at Phillips Exeter Academy. He created Prep4Camp.com, the only evidence-based homesickness prevention program, and co-authored the best-selling Summer Camp Handbook with Dr. Jon Malinowski. His newest book, The Unlikely Art of Parental Pressure, includes eight ways adults can transform harmful pressure to healthy pressure. Learn more about the work that Chris does with schools, camps, and companies on DrChrisThurber.com.
References
American Academy of Pediatrics. (2023, February 25). Screen Time and Children. Retrieved from https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Children-And-Watching-TV-054.aspx
AMP Floracel. (2019, February 6). AMP Floracel. Retrieved from What happens if you eat too many veggies: https://www.ampfloracel.com/blog/too-many-vegetables/#:~:text=Vegetables%20are%20rich%20in%20fiber,to%20the%20high%20fiber%20concentration.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, June 3). Children's Mental health. Retrieved from Data and Statistics on Children's Mental Health: https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/data.html
Froehling, A. (2022, October 5). How video games boost creativity. Retrieved from Filament Games: https://www.filamentgames.com/blog/how-video-games-boost-creativity/
Hygen, B. B.-T. (2020). Time spent gaming and social competence in children: Reciprocal effects across childhood. Child Development, 91, 861-875.
Iyadurai, L. B.-S. (2018). Preventing intrusive memories after trauma via a brief intervention involving Tetris computer game play in the emergency department: a proof-of-concept randomized controlled trial. Molecular Psychiatry, 674–682.
Rideout, V. F. (2010). Generation M2: Media in the lives of 8- to 18-year-olds. Washington, DC: The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Retrieved February 26, 2023, from chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.kff.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/8010.pdf
Zell, E. S. (2020). The better-than-average effect in comparative self-evaluation: A comprehensive review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 146(2), 118–149. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000218