Summer camps cure phone addiction

Most summer camps ban cell phones. The long driveway into Cape Cod Sea Camps in Brewster, Massachusetts, is lined with signs welcoming campers and warning, "Send your last Snapchat" and "Last chance to text!" But many campers say it takes them two or three weeks to detox from social media. One teen said it gave him the shakes, sort of.  He felt phantom vibrations from his empty pockets! Parents are sometimes the biggest offenders, giving Junior a dead phone to turn in at camp, but hiding a charged phone in carved out pages of a book, or inside a stuffed animal like this.

But teens are finding detox from social media can be healthy. "I haven't read a book for five years," said one, "and I just started reading one. I forgot how much I love reading." Another camper, after six weeks without selfies, says she's able to be more herself. Being phone free has led her to make friends with teens she would never talk to at home. Some campers have come so far that when they get their phones back after camp and are free to check social media, they don't. One camper explained, "You have this slew of texts, and it just doesn't matter. My brain just isn't there."