<html><head><style> p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'} </style></head><body><h1>We allow smart phones at our camps - it's all about balance</h1> <p>Smart phones are a huge part of our modern lives and we need to get the right balance of usage at our summer camps. Last year it was announced that 25% of children under the age of six own smartphones and we know that a large majority of our campers own smart phones so we need to get the balance right. Unlike most summer camps in the USA, we do allow campers to bring their own smart phones to camp. To achieve a balance of communicating with other campers and still be able to stay in touch with home, we have developed and improved our ‘Mobile Phone & Electronic Devices Use Policy’ over the years.<span> </span></p>

Finding the balance: smart phones at summer camp

Smart phones are a huge part of our modern lives and we need to get the right balance of usage at our summer camps. Last year it was announced that 25% of children under the age of six own smartphones and we know that a large majority of our campers own smart phones so we need to get the balance right. Unlike most summer camps in the USA, we do allow campers to bring their own smart phones to camp. To achieve a balance of communicating with other campers and still be able to stay in touch with home, we have developed and improved our ‘Mobile Phone & Electronic Devices Use Policy’ over the years.

Used in the right way, smart phones are amazing devices. They connect us to friends and family around the world, give us a wealth information on demand and come with lots of useful tools. We know that most of our camper’s parents want their children to have a smart phone with them during their time at camp. It is a big deal sending your child half way across the world so quite rightly, you will want to talk to them, however, we need to ensure there is the perfect balance of times when phones can and can’t be used...

Summer camp is all about making friends. If a camper is fully engrossed at a smart phone it’s hard for those around them to communicate with them. That’s why we only allow our campers to use their phones during their free time. We want to see our campers engaging in face to face conversations during meal times and showing our staff respect by listening to their activity instructions, rather than scrolling through social media. It gives them a chance to unplug throughout the day.

Allowing our campers to bring their smart phones to camp means they need to be independent and responsible when it comes to looking after them. XUK Camps would take no responsibility if a phone was to go missing. It is up to our campers and their families to decide if they want that responsibility at camp, after all, smart phones are valuable and expensive items.

One of the challenges of allowing smart phones at camp is when campers communicate problems with their parents first before talking to our staff. As humans, it is a natural reaction to go to your parents for help, however, by the time a camper has contacted their parent, who has then called our office and we have had a chat with the camper, the issue could have been resolved a long time ago! It is vital that parents remind their children to speak to our staff team first, they are incredibly approachable people and most of the time and fix problems straight away!

We are human too and most of our staff team wouldn’t want to be disconnected from the outside world during their time at camp either, that is why we want to get the balance right. By having a complete ban, we would have a lot of parents on the edge of their seats wondering what their children have been up to and our team would probably spend a lots of time policing the ban. We would prefer them to spend their time running amazing activities for our campers. With our balance, our campers respect the rules and we get the best of both worlds – a chance to unplug for much of each day, but we still have that connection to life outside of the camp bubble.