Call(s) waiting; Summer camps place cell phones, electronics on hold.Byline: Linda Bock Noun 1. bock - a very strong lager traditionally brewed in the fall and aged through the winter for consumption in the spring bock beer lager beer, lager - a general term for beer made with bottom fermenting yeast (usually by decoction mashing); originally Talk about survival. Children and teens on their way to camp this summer have to survive without being able to text-message friends, call home, listen to iPods, check out the latest YouTube video or play a few rounds of their favorite game on their PlayStation portable. Most sleep-away campers are encouraged to pack bathing suits, shorts, T-shirts, pillow, towels, sneakers sneakers Noun, pl US, Canad, Austral & NZ canvas shoes with rubber soles sneakers npl (US) → zapatos mpl de lona; zapatillas fpl , sweatshirt, sunscreen sunscreen /sun·screen/ (-skren) a substance applied to the skin to protect it from the effects of the sun's rays. sun·screen n. , bug spray and jeans. They are encouraged not to pack their personal stereos, cell phones, hand-held video games See video game console. or laptops. Douglas Boy Scout Troop 134 leader Dennis Montanari said about 20 boys in his troop attend Camp Wanocksett Camp Wanocksett is a 250-acre Boy Scouts of America camp located in Dublin, New Hampshire, about two miles east of Monadnock State Park. It is used by the Nashua Valley Council which is based in mid-northern Massachusetts and the Order of the Arrow Grand Monadnock Lodge 309. in Dublin, N.H., where the camp policy is no cell phones. "Even adults are encouraged not to use their cell phones, and if they do, we are urged to use them discreetly," Mr. Montanari said. He said electronics are discouraged, but they do allow personal listening devices. "If I hear them at night and it's very quiet - then I take them away." A longtime Boy Scout troop leader, Mr. Montanari said there is so much to do at summer camp - swimming, sailboating, canoeing, water skiing water skiing, sport of riding on skis along the water's surface while being towed by a motorboat. It probably originated on the French Riviera in the early 1920s, and was known in the United States by 1927. , shotgun shooting, campfires at night - that the boys do not miss their personal electronic devices, computers or watching television. "They get used to it very fast," Mr. Montanari said. "Camp Wanocksett does not want cell phones at camp, because if they're calling home, it promotes homesickness, and they miss out on nature." Joey Gifford, 13, a member of Troop 134, went to his fourth year of summer camps the second week of July. "I don't mind leaving my cell phone at home," Joey said. "I love the wilderness." Another Boy Scout in Troop 134, Jeffrey E. Talbot, 13, headed to his third year of summer camp this summer. He said he has had a cell phone for a couple of years, an iPod and a handheld PlayStation portable. "I don't bring them because I just don't want them stolen or broken," Jeffrey said. Their buddy, Johnny Wright Johnny Wright is a successful American music manager. He has managed groups including New Kids on the Block, the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, the solo acts Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears. , 15, finished his freshman year and said he was happy to have a chance to just hang out with his friends. "I'm happy to have a break." Ann M. McCarron oversees sports camps for 6- to 15-year-olds all summer at Assumption College in Worcester, and she said that even at day camp, counselors want the cell phones left at home. "We want the kids to get the most out of camp, and it doesn't help to have the distraction of cell phones ringing or teens text messaging Sending short messages to a smartphone, pager, PDA or other handheld device. Text messaging implies sending short messages generally no more than a couple of hundred characters in length. ," Ms. McCarron said. Ms. McCarron said some campers try to sneak cell phones in, and more and more parents want their children to have cell phones with them for emergency contact. "But kids texting and a ball coming at them could be a potential injury, or liability," Ms. McCarron said. She said teens have made text messaging an art, but the electronic technology comes at a cost. "Technology is great, but we're losing our communication skills," Ms. McCarron said. "At camp, kids actually have to interact with each other ... the kids actually have to talk to each other." Sometimes it is the mothers, accustomed to constant access with their offspring through modern technology, who find it challenging to be disconnected from their children while they are at camp. Just because campers have to rough it without their personal electronics does not always mean total withdrawal from the wired world. Some camps have set up e-mail service See Internet e-mail service. , and others allow laptops for older campers. E. Allan Walker, interim executive director of Worcester County Worcester County is the name of several counties in the United States of America:
Camp Marshall has day campers and sleepover campers ages 8 to 16. Besidestraditional camp, Camp Marshall also offers a Massachusetts State 4-H horse camp. "Kids don't really have the opportunity to be on cell phones. We keep them busy from morning to night at summer camp," Mr. Walker said. "A lot of kids have their horses at camp, so there's horseback riding horseback riding: see equestrianism. , and then we have swimming, archery, arts and crafts arts and crafts, term for that general field of applied design in which hand fabrication is dominant. The term was coined in England in the late 19th cent. as a label for the then-current movement directed toward the revivifying of the decorative arts. , nature, farm projects, garden projects." Moira D. Kelly, executive director of the Exploration Summer programs at St. Mark's St. Mark's could refer to:
"You have to imagine what it looks like to the other kids if some kids are on cell phones talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to friends back home," Ms. Kelly said. "When a kid is on a cell phone instead of making friends at camp, it sends a message that they're more interested in other kids than the ones they're with. And sometimes text messaging is mindless ... These kids have a great opportunity to meet so many interesting kids from so many different places." Seniors in the program are allowed to bring their cell phones and laptops. Ms. Kelly said the children and teens who attend the Exploration programs are fully aware of the policies. "They're incredulous at first," Ms. Kelly said. "There are two sides to this: Will the child be OK without the cell phones and other devices, and will the parents be OK without constant contact with their kids? We tell parents that it's far more difficult for you than for your kids. "We're not anti-technology," Ms. Kelly said. "We just want kids to really take advantage of the unique opportunities summers away present - a great chance to really get to know them and to get to know other kids." ART: PHOTOS CUTLINE: (1) Assistant Scoutmaster Tony St. Pierre, center, calls out names and checks off the Scouts heading for the bus. (2) E. Allan Walker, interim executive director of Worcester County 4-H Center Camp Marshall, left, and Assistant Director Robert Lesley, seated, match up campers with their paperwork as registration began recently for week one at the camp. PHOTOG pho·tog n. Informal A person who takes photographs, especially as a profession; a photographer. : Photos by RICH DUGAS |
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