Want your kid to get off their phone? Try summer camp

Swapping screens for shooting stars at phone-free sleepaway camps

In a world where the average American teen moves through life with one hand glued to a smartphone, more and more summer camps are adopting screen-free policies. It offers a rare and ideal opportunity for kids to exchange their digital worlds for a few days of renewed imagination.

Two years ago, then 16-year-old Kate Kubacki decided to train as a camp counselor. She marveled at how much everyone enjoyed the time without their phones. “We were all together in the party room, just talking, hanging out, playing Uno, having so much fun,” Kubacki told the Washington Post. “I just sat there for a moment, and I thought: Wow, we would never get this close; we would never have these random conversations about our schools or our favorite movies or these funny little moments. …  If we’d had our phones, we would have been on them.”

Without the distractions of texts and social media, campers feel relieved and more socially connected. “I feel a little bit more awake,” said 13-year-old Mason Daley. “I tend to care more about what’s going on in the moment, and I stop planning ahead a lot. Some things just feel more real – you start to enjoy things like the sunset or just sitting around.”

Research further affirms Daley’s experience, said Jason Nagata, a professor who studies adolescent screen use. Researchers have found that teens who attend camps with phone restrictions report less bullying and “drama,” but stronger peer relationships.  “Once they’re at camp for just a short time, 48 or 72 hours … the more they start to look like teenagers from the early 2000s,” said Matthew Pines, co-director of Maine Teen Camp in Porter, Maine. “After a few days, they are more social, more gregarious, more physical. We see kids get much more creative. They get loads of sleep. They eat well. We hear them say, ‘Oh my God, I can remember things at camp! I can’t remember things at home.’”

There have been some challenges: Older teens worry about what they’re missing from their social circles back home; others miss listening to their own music. Still, Nagata said that teens were, overall, “pretty positive.” Parents, once they get used to not keeping up, are pleased — and also benefit from a break in monitoring their teens. “If parents can watch you every day, you’re still in their world,” said author Lenore Skenazy. “Time apart is when both generations can evolve.” Giving teens unmonitored time also helps them build independence.

The irony is in the development of what Pines calls “the new digital divide.” Multi-week summer camps tend to be unaffordable for low-income households, where screen use tends to be higher. Today, only well-off parents tend to have enough money to buy their kids “the time and space to put away their phone … and just be with friends.” Nagata did note, though, that even small breaks – like a “screen-free Saturday” – have benefits; screen-time limits just work best when they apply to everyone around, be that parents or fellow camper.

New research links Head Start to gun violence prevention. The Trump administration wants to eliminate the program

The United States’ problem with gun violence – uniquely deadly among wealthy countries –  is well-documented. Yet a program that has shown surprising success in reducing handgun carrying and violence among young adults is squarely in the Trump administration’s crosshairs: Head Start, the free, federally funded preschool program for low-income children that is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

A leaked document from the White House to the Department of Health and Human Services called for the elimination of the Head Start program. After a National Head Start Association campaign prompted 52,000 petition signatures and more than 300,000 supportive letters sent to Congress, the program was saved from the chopping block – at least for the time being. But it is not yet out of the woods – the Trump administration and DOGE have already made crippling cuts to regional offices, and advocates fear that more are coming.

This is especially frustrating because scientists have long documented links between high-quality childcare programs, including Head Start, and improved academic outcomes, employment, reduced depression, substance use and crime. Perhaps even more significant – especially at a time when gun violence is high on the national radar – is that new research has linked Head Start with a reduced risk of gun violence in later life. Read the full story here.

—Diana Hembree

Trump’s proposed Medicaid requirements spell trouble for vulnerable people – and their kids

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s recent speech about the value of work for people on Medicaid conveniently ignores an inconvenient fact – most working-age people using Medicaid are either unable to work, or are already working.   

Specifically, Johnson was praising a bill passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives – one that would require adult Medicaid recipients who enrolled under the Affordable Care Act expansion to prove that they work a minimum of 80 hours per month, or meet exemption criteria, to retain their medical coverage. Work is defined as paid employment, volunteer service, school, or job training, and states would need to implement requirements by December 31, 2026, at the latest.

If passed by the Senate, estimates from the Congressional Budget Office show a $344 billion reduction in Medicaid spending from work requirements over 10 years — largely because 5.2 million fewer people would be covered by Medicaid, KFF Health News reports.

These kinds of ‘workfare’ bills have been tried before in various states, and studies show they rarely, if ever, have a good outcome – for the recipient. To begin with, they’re paperwork nightmares: Since work exemptions and work hours require verification before enrollment and every six months thereafter, people during a mental (or physical) health crisis may simply miss a paperwork submission deadline and lose their healthcare as a result.

In fact, losing Medicaid might cut them off from essential medication or treatment, making recovery and stability even more difficult. When Arkansas implemented work requirements under the first Trump administration, enrollees largely lost coverage not because they were not working, but because they could not meet reporting requirements.

The bill says that “medically frail” Medicaid recipients, like people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or in active treatment for substance use disorder, will be exempt from the work requirement. But as is the case with many directives from the Trump administration, many of the details are unclear. The bill refers to a number of as-yet-unpublished standards due to be provided by the HHS Secretary. Little clarity has been offered about exactly which conditions will qualify for a work exemption.

At the moment, 29% of all adults with mental health disorders and 20% percent of all adults with substance abuse disorders are covered by Medicaid, while nearly a quarter of Medicaid expansion enrollees have a diagnosed behavioral health condition. And get this: Many of those with mild to moderate conditions already work — in part because Medicaid covers the treatments and medications they need to remain stable and maintain employment.

In other news…

Does your college-bound teen seem more prone to outbursts? Don’t take it personally; they might be “soiling the nest.” The term refers to the way youth – unconsciously – cause more conflict at home, making it easier for them to leave, Samantha Potthoff, MA, LMFT told Parents magazine. “The phrase originates from observations in nature, particularly in birds, where fledglings may disrupt their nests before leaving, signaling readiness for independence,” Potthoff said. “In humans, the transition from child to teenager to adult can be marked with tension or distance to ease the transition.” In some ways, it’s a good thing – they feel safe to test their independence with you.

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In a deeply personal essay, a son makes sense of his father’s emotional legacy.  Alexander Nazaryan’s father grew up in Armenia, in the aftermath of both its genocide and Stalin’s regime, and struggled with lifelong rage, anxiety, and depression. “I know I’ve inherited some of his anxious tendencies,” he writes in the New York Times, “and I wonder every day whether I can overcome them so that my three children remember me as the shelter, not the storm.”