For many kids, summer means powering down for camp

NEW YORK » If teens are so attached to their phones and all things connected, why do so many of them wind up in no-device summer camps with smiles on their faces?

Thirteen-year-old Daniela Blumenfeld of Scarsdale, New York, just finished her fifth summer at sleepaway camp with no devices beyond a simple iPod. “I didn’t really miss my phone,” she said, especially given camp distractions like banana boating — that is, riding a yellow, banana-shaped inflatable towed by a motorboat.

America’s summer camps have gone device-free in a big way. Most sleepaway camps moved to ban personal electronics years ago, driven by the idea that campers should soak up the scenery, sports, crafts and camaraderie their parents are shelling out hundreds of dollars for, all in service to slower living and a rest for their still-developing brains.

But the big news may be that many kids seem not to mind at all.

About 90 percent of the nearly 8,400 sleepaway camps counted by the American Camp Association are now device free, though some allow limited time with screenless iPods and other internet-free music players.

A few teen-only programs provide cabin Wi-Fi and will let smartphones, laptops or tablets through the door so long as they’re kept in cabins and bunk areas. Some camps provide scheduled computer and internet time — partly for coding, app development or website design classes built into their curricula, and partly for limited time on games such as the immensely popular Fortnite, an online multiplayer survival/shooting experience.

Among other things, camps don’t want to be responsible for loss or damage to pricey technology brought from home, despite sneaky helicopter parents who mail phones in care packages and equally sneaky campers who stash them in their bunks.

Sometimes reverse psychology helps. Nigel Watson, camp director at the French Woods Sports

GRAY WHITLEY — SUN JOURNAL VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS, FILE Children gather at their respective cabins and get ready for the day’s activities during a four-week summer camp session at Camp Sea Gull near Arapahoe, N.C. About 90 percent of the nearly 8,400 sleep away camps counted by the American Camp Association are now device free, though some allow limited time with screenless iPods and other internet-free music players.

JERRY HARMER — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS This July 8, 2018 photo, shows the remains of a fireplace and a missing window, in a ruined cottage in Tyneham, in Dorset, England. The village was commandeered by the military in 1943 and the people evacuated. They were never allowed back and Tyneham remains in the hands of the Ministry of Defense. The village dwellings have slowly fallen apart, as waether rotted the roof beams and upper floors and nature reclaimed the interiors.