Teens go phone-free at summer camp in Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - For five days, teens in Santa Barbara are getting a chance to experience life without screens.

No computers, no ipads, no phones.

It's called the Digital Cleanse Camp, the brainchild of family therapist Dr. Jennifer Freed in 2019.

Freed created the camp for youth who were deeply suffering from screen absorption, and a lack of meaningful, creative in-person interactions.

She believes teens are experiencing rising depression, anxiety, and feeling more alienated from others.

Freed and the AHA! team created the first five-day camp in June of 2021 during the pandemic to address this profound loneliness.

Together, they worked carefully within those constraints to provide youth experiences of adventure, dance, artistic expression, social and emotional learning, and an intergenerational deep listening and sharing without devices present.

Nonprofit AHA! of Santa Barbara raised the money for this camp so that most youth were on a total scholarship for all five days of vital and joyful community bonding.

Youth and the adult facilitators expressed enormous relief and gratitude to be in an environment of physical, mental, emotional, and creative health with one another.

The heightened spirits and bright smiles of everyone involved encouraged AHA! to make this an annual event and it continues to be one of the most memorable and transformative offerings for the youth and the adult facilitators, in terms of true emotional restoration and mental rest.

Teen participants remark on how freeing it is to be without devices for consecutive days, how great it feels to get in touch with their "inner child", and the significance of fostering deep connections with people they might not otherwise have met.

Parents often speak to the beauty of reconnecting with their teens on a deeper level following the cleanse and how this has given them an opportunity to reflect upon their own unhealthy habits when it comes to their use of digital devices.

Dr. Jennifer Freed is a retired psychotherapist and she spends her time writing bestselling books and leading retreats for adults.

Freed was the executive director of AHA! from 1999-2019 and now consults with the organization about training.

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