Scouting America

As an Eagle Scout and active father in a local troop, I have found that scouts has always had the tools to develop in-person relationships. The new and more inclusive, co-ed perspective of scouts has only improved the organization.

The troop I am in has a scoutmaster that has been leading the troop for 25 years. He is a wise man but I noticed he was allowing kids to bring their devices on camping trips. I asked him about this and his response was, “lot’s kids won’t come on a trip if I restrict the devices and, after all, their batteries will wear out by Saturday morning and they will forget all about what they are missing until Sunday when we come driving back into town.” Of course, he’s exactly right…he knows what he is doing. Most troops have a campout every month of the year and it is a great time for kids to interact with each other, solve problems, and leave the digital world behind.

At scout camp this summer, after 3 days of not having devices that could access the Internet, the kids were crawling the walls like a smoker who was trying to quit. By the 4th day, the FOMO (fear of missing out) had started to go away and by the end of the week, kids had gladly left behind most of their on-line world. But, as we drove out of camp and got devices charged and Internet access, the addictive nature of the digital world crept back in quickly.