(This email was sent to enrolled parents on May 20, 2026, as part of our “Behind the Scenes” series)

We live in a world that runs on technology. And honestly? So does Ramah Boston — in some ways more than you might expect. You likely already know our policy for campers and technology – and maybe even picked Ramah Boston because we do not allow campers to have screens or internet connecting devices at camp.

But now we’re making a change to our staff technology policy, and I want to share our thinking with you.

Let’s start with what technology allows us to do that we simply couldn’t do without it.

• Safety. Every morning, when your child gets on the bus, we take attendance digitally. We know exactly who is on which bus; and at the end of every day, our system ensures that each camper is released only to an approved adult.
• Communication. When something happens at camp that you need to know about, we can get information to you quickly and clearly. Technology lets us communicate with our entire parent community in minutes, and we take that responsibility seriously. (To that end, please make sure you’ve downloaded our Campanion App and opted into Text Messaging)
• Staff Preparation. This year, we built a brand new virtual staff training portal. It is a comprehensive resource that our entire team engages with before they arrive for staff week. It houses our handbooks, policies, safety protocols, and training materials, keeps everything organized and accessible, and means that when our staff shows up on day one, they arrive prepared. I can track who has watched which training video, taken which quiz, and fulfilled which assignments – and then follow up with people who haven’t.

Here’s something you may not expect to hear from a camp director in 2026: this summer, we are putting the phones away. Not just for the campers, but for our staff as well.

If you have read Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation, you already know the argument: the shift to a smartphone-based childhood, and the constant connectivity, social comparison, and dopamine loops that come with it, has had a profound effect on the mental health and development of young people.

But here’s what I’ve been noticing: it’s not just about mental health. It’s about capability and confidence.

One of our core goals at Ramah Boston is to send campers & staff home in August as slightly more capable, more self-sufficient humans than they were in June. To do that, we are asking them to spend a summer solving problems, navigating disagreements, and figuring things out without calling a parent, texting a friend, or Googling the answer.

That same principle applies to our staff. We are hiring young adults, many of them 15 to 18 years old, and we want this summer to be formative for them too. A counselor who reaches for their phone every time they’re unsure what to do is not building the instincts they need to become a great educator, or a great anything. We want our staff to look up, look around, and figure it out.

This summer, every staff member is receiving a walkie-talkie. That’s how we will communicate across camp. No more texting a thought to a colleague across the field. No more firing off a question to a rosh edah when the answer is standing right next to you. We pick up the walkie, we use your voices, and we talk to real people.

During the camp day, staff phones are put away. We are incentivizing staff to turn them in at the beginning of the day. Attendance is taken on paper. Announcements are posted. We are giving ourselves a beat to think before reaching for a device.

We’ve also built a staff lounge stocked with board games, books, and other tools designed to encourage our staff to actually talk to each other and decompress in person. The goal is to build the kinds of relationships that make a camp staff a real community.

Reduced phone use is associated with better sleep, stronger face-to-face relationships, lower anxiety, and greater capacity for independent thinking. We want that for our staff. And we want it modeled for your children every single day.

Technology is a powerful tool. We use it where it makes us safer and better connected to you. And then we put it down, because some of the most important things that happen at camp happen in the space between the notifications.

Next week, we’ll be sharing all about our swim program – why we chose it, what it accomplishes, and what you can expect.

As always, we’re here if you have questions.

Rabbi Silverman

Director, Ramah Boston