The gift of a cell-phone free week

I spent three summers working at week-long Christian outdoor camp. I LOVE camp. Something special happens when kids are taken out of their everyday environments and are thrown into a cabin with people they may or may not know. They spend nearly 100% of the time in community with peers as well as fun (usually crazy) college students and adults. There are boundaries and rules, but from my experience, the boundaries serve to enhance the fun and community life.

Despite being out of college for awhile, I've still managed to make it to one week-long camp nearly every summer. This summer I went to Woodleaf with Young Life and one of my favorite parts of the camp is when we collect all the students' technology, except for cameras. Though this is seen as a dreaded rule by most students, I see it as a beautiful gift.

In a world of texting and Facebook and Twitter, teenagers are rarely not attached to their phone. But for 7 days at camp they aren't obsessing about Facebook posts, or posting pictures, or having text conversations. They're having real, face to face conversations. They wake up with the sound of the whistle or a leader gently tapping them on the shoulder. If they don't know where their friends are, they go look for them and run into other friends along the way. If they want to talk to someone not at camp, they bring a calling card and wait in line for a pay phone.

No TVs, no computers, no iPods, no PS3s, no Angry Birds, no Farmville. They get to interact with real life. Instead of Words with Friends they are sitting in a circle playing Banagrams. Instead of driving a car on a video game, they're driving ridge runners around the track. They meet up at the soda fountain, or the basketball courts, or the lake, or the whiffle ball field, or the giant swing, or the craft room, or the game room. For one glorious week they are not attached to any electronic device. Amazingly, life goes on even when they don't update their status every hour.

Sadly I could not join my friends for a complete 7-days away from my phone. Adult responsibilities called for its occasional use. But what a treat it was for me too, when I could turn if off and focus on what was in front of me.