Back to Camp... Phones & Camp: Are schools finally figuring out what we’ve always known?

Tues, Nov 11th, 2025

Phones & Camp: Are schools finally figuring out what we’ve always known?

I like my phone. Ok, I LOVE my phone.

I love being able to contact people easily, to reach my family and friends over in the UK, or simply ask a peer at another camp how they do things.

Having my phone while I’m on the go during the camp season makes life so much easier - I can answer parent questions immediately, capture a quick insta story, or do a last minute Amazon order when I realize we’re almost out of shaving cream.

But I also definitely spend way too much time on it and, like most people, the majority of that time is spent mindlessly scrolling through social media. I even have an instagram for my dog (yes, he’s insta famous).

I also see how detrimental our phones are to our lives, to our abilities to form relationships and, most importantly, to our kids.

I have vowed that my son (currently 2 years old) will not have a smartphone or social media until he’s 16. I’m hoping by then that social media won’t have the obsessive hold over teenagers like it does today.

Phones Are Making Our Kids Anxious

Right now I am kind of obsessed with Jonathan Haidt’s book ‘The Anxious Generation’, and the movement it has started in schools across America. 

There are now 39 states that have some sort of school phone ban policy in place, 19 with full ‘bell-to-bell’ restrictions. I’m sure many of you have seen it in your kid’s schools this Fall, and I’m curious how you (and your kids) feel about it. 

I know that teachers are saying it’s changing everything for the better - behavior, attention, increased socialization.

At camp, we already see this everyday. Without phones, all interactions are face-to-face, your day becomes about the things you’re doing and the people you’re with, and you are free from the pressures of gaining likes and views, or keeping up with the latest trends.

Haidt says, “The phone-based life makes it difficult for people to be fully present with others when they are with others, and to sit silently with themselves when they are alone.”

Take the phones away and a whole world of experiences, self-growth, and relationship building opens up.

What The Kids Want

This summer I spent some time getting a pulse on what kids really think about camp being a phone-free place. 

I asked a bunch of our teenagers “What if you could have your phones at camp?”

They really thought about it. They discussed it, they made pros and cons lists.

“Maybe once a week?” “Like an hour on Sundays?” “We could check in with friends back home…”

They worked through the possibilities, and after talking it through, they landed somewhere around this:

“I could handle it, but other people couldn’t…”

There was no right answer, but they could for sure see what phones might compromise at a place they loved. I recently asked on our Instagram stories, 'Would you want to have your phone at camp?' And an overwhelming 82% said 'No!'

These are kids who spend most of their year glued to their devices, making a clear choice about what they want their summer to be like.

The Camp Advantage

I know that parents and families are drowning in screen time battles. It’s already a struggle for me as the parent of a toddler.

Managing usage apps, parental controls (that kids know how to get around), negotiating daily limits, monitoring online info. It’s exhausting.

Camp is a relief valve for all of it. And most importantly, the kids WANT it.

To put it simply, when kids were asked if phones would make camp better, the answer was easy.

No.

This from the group who understands, uses, and can wield tech way better than almost anyone running a camp.

Schools are finally catching on to what we’ve always known. Everything is better when we’re engaging with the world around us, and not glued to a screen.

But while schools are places where phones are now ‘banned’ in various forms, camp is different - we don’t use phones because the kids don’t want to use phones.

And that’s enough of a reason for me.

See you in Summer 2026,

Ru

Sign up here to receive these newsletters straight into your inbox!