Posted by: Birch Rock Camp

Families of Birch Rock campers, pat yourselves on the back! You’ve chosen for your boys the most highly recommended antidote to negative pressure and anxiety experienced by kids today. Sending children and teenagers to a traditional camp like Birch Rock ticks all the boxes that psychologists say promote emotional health. These include getting seven or more hours of sleep each night, exercising an hour or more every day, spending time in the great outdoors, hanging out with friends, and engaging in creative pursuits. Limiting time on the internet, social media and television is also beneficial for kids (or as Birch Rock finds, eliminating it altogether is hunky dory).

Young people today are participating in an inescapable experiment, as the omnipresence of the internet and social media influences their development. There is evidence that anxiety and depression have increased sharply among teenagers during the last 15 years, the period that marks the ubiquity of digital technologies.

Researchers from the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Center for Digital Thriving are studying this interplay, aiming to detail the pressures teens face and to discover the role electronic devices might be playing. The researchers surveyed more than 1,500 American teenagers in 2023, asking about 6 areas in their lives that are potential sources of negative pressure, including academics and social interactions. More than 50% of the respondents felt distress in 3 or more of the study areas. This gave the Center a detailed picture of how teens experience the “grind culture,” which Emily Weinstein, co-director of the Center described as “this sense of always needing to be productive, to be striving in all these different areas, even at the expense of your health.”

The adolescent years used to be a critical time for self-discovery, for figuring out who you are and what you might want to do in life. “But we have teens telling us there is no time for that,” said Weinstein. She added: “Teens literally described feeling guilty for reading a book for pleasure.” Furthermore, 25% of the teens surveyed reported feeling burned out, a problem more typical for adults struggling after years in high-pressure jobs.

Because you have chosen Birch Rock Camp for your boys, you’re helping them take a much-needed break from this grind culture. What a gift to give! Fun and games, immersion in nature, reading for pleasure, camaraderie and relaxation abound at Camp. Negative pressures (and cell phones) are forgotten as campers revel in confidence-boosting activities on the shores of idyllic Lake McWain.

By Francie Campbell (based on “Teen Grind Culture,” by Erin O’Donnell, Harvard Magazine March-April 2025).