By Olivia Sugg, Online-Editor-in-Chief 

Wake up at 10, throw on a bathing suit, grab breakfast and then spend the whole day at the beach with your friends. This is the normal summer routine for teenagers on the Outer Banks, but some people do it a little differently. 

Growing up in this area, most of us went to week-long surf “camps” from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. with all of our friends. Yet on the Outer Banks, “traditional” residential summer camps are thought of as an archaic idea limited to “The Parent Trap” and Disney Channel shows.

I went to my first week of residential summer camp the summer after third grade and never imagined the influence it would have on my life. Every time I tell someone that I spent five weeks this past summer without my phone, I always get the same response: “Wow, I could never do that.” But really, that is one of the most impactful parts about summer camp. 

It is rather odd not having a phone or even looking at a screen for five weeks each summer, but after a few days, I completely forget about it. Not having a phone or any access to information about the outside world is just one of the things that makes camp so special to me. 

I had many conversations this summer along the lines of “imagine how many TikTok trends we are missing right now.” But it’s not all about missing TikTok trends or the newest Britney Spears updates. 

For me, camp is its own bubble where I don’t worry about anything except what is happening at that moment. This summer when I left for camp, everyone thought that COVID-19 was basically over and the mask-wearing and constant COVID-related newscasts were steadily decreasing. But when I got home, the Delta variant was in full swing and North Carolina’s positive case rates were at their highest since winter — and I had no idea. 

Being away from the news and social media turned out to be such a good thing for me and everyone at my all-girls summer camp. So many young girls are greatly influenced by social media, and a lot of times the result is not always a good thing.

In a recent Time Magazine article, researchers have found large amounts of correlation between social media use and rising rates of mental health issues, including anxiety, depression, suicidal behavior and eating disorders, especially in teenage girls. 

As someone who takes anxiety medication and has an ongoing struggle with anxiety, I can attest to this statement. Social media definitely plays a large role in that part of my life; whether it’s worrying why someone looks better in a bikini than me or getting upset when I see a Snapchat story and wish I could have that many friends. 

I find myself getting caught up in these toxic thoughts more often than not, and I know I am not alone in that. Even though I realize that people only share the good parts of their life on social media and none of the bad, I still find myself wanting that “picture perfect” life that I see on Instagram. But at camp, the worries and the constant comparing yourself to others all disappear. 

I never wake up at camp and worry about what outfit I am going to wear or worry about getting the best Instagram picture. 

Even though life returns to normal when I get home and Instagram and Snapchat suddenly appear again, I try to not get caught back up in the toxic cycle of comparing myself to others. That is just one way that camp has shaped me into the person that I am. 

I truly believe that I would be a very different person if I did not spend my summers at camp and I will be forever thankful for the opportunities and joy that it has given me. 

Camp Illahee has given me so much more than lifelong friendships and summer companions as an only child. The time I have spent at camp has taught me independence, self worth, the importance of kindness and so much more that I can’t even begin to put into words. 

The people and counselors who taught me these lessons and shaped me into the person I am will forever be ingrained in my brain. I still admire and look up to the counselors that I had at age 9 and they will forever be my biggest role models: Chis, Elizabeth, Kelsey, Kate, Natalie, Martha, Jamie, Ann, Hays, Mary, Emme, Ellie, Laurie, Grechen, Lindsey, Gardner. 

These are all names that will forever be etched into my memory. These people truly changed my life and made me feel more loved and important than I could ever imagine possible. I still follow the counselors that I had my first summer on Instagram and they still continue to shape me, even though they have long graduated college and started their adult lives.

This past summer at camp had the greatest impact on me that any summer has ever had, but in a much different way. After being there for four weeks as a camper, I got home and was contacted about coming back to be a counselor for the five-day junior camp session that is held as an introduction to camp for younger girls.

My mom and I knew it would be hard to make this work because I live nine hours away and had already missed so much work this summer, but I wanted to go more than anything and my mom knew how much I needed it. 

So I bought a last-minute plane ticket and five days later left the Norfolk airport by myself at five in the morning. That week at camp was easily the most impactful of my summer, if not my life. 

Even though it sounds like a cliche, I wanted to pour the energy and kindness into those girls the way my counselors had once poured it into me. When I got to camp (for the second time that summer), I realized that I was going to be in a cabin with 14 girls (opposed to the normal eight) who were 9 and 10 — the same age I was when I first attended camp at that same session.

While being a “mom” to 14 girls for a week was difficult, to say the least, I would not trade the experience for anything. The feeling that I would get when one of the girls sat on my bed and gave me the biggest hug made all of the middle-of-the-night wake-ups so worth it. 

I saw so much of myself in those girls this summer and just wanted them to get the same experience that I had at that age. Each and every one of the girls was so special and I hope that I inspired them to continue to come to camp each summer and get the same experiences out of it as I did. 

Whenever one of my campers would get homesick, I would find myself telling the girls my favorite stories from when I was a camper (many of which took place two weeks before). All of these stories would never fail to put a smile on my girls’ faces as well as my own. The endless stories about fights in the mud, random jumps in the canoe lake and talking about anything and everything with my best friends in the dining hall made me realize how much camp really means to me. 

My co-counselor Mary and I would always find ourselves laughing during that week and telling the girls that they were “strong, powerful women” whenever they said that they could not do something or were upset. Even though comments like that were funny at the moment, that is what I want to stick with those girls, whether or not they come back to camp. 

I truly hope that my influence in those few days will at least take away a small amount of the toxic thoughts that social media puts into young girls’ heads, because camp has truly done that for me.

I understand that spending that much time away from home or “off the grid” with only letters as communication is not in the picture for everyone, but I challenge you to at least take a step back and not worry about the constant stream of social media and sharing every moment on the internet. 

One of my favorite moments this summer was when my 20 best friends from camp and I were laying on the ground late at night looking up at the most beautiful, bright stars I had ever seen while we all smiled and laughed. One of my friends said that we should take a picture of the stars but a counselor instantly interjected saying, “No, don’t take a picture, just look up and take a mental image of this exact moment.” 

I can still close my eyes and see exactly what the stars looked like that night. In that moment, I realized the importance of living in the moment and not getting inundated with the idea of sharing every moment on social media just so people think that you have a “perfect life” or a “perfect body” (both of which do not exist).

After almost two years of being stuck at home and spending even more time on social media than normal, I needed camp this summer more than ever and I know I am not the only one who was (or still is) in need of a “detox.”

In a blog post from March of 2021, one of my camp directors talked about how we are all in need of a technology “detox” and mentioned “replacing Instagram likes with big hugs.” That quote is something that I have thought a lot about these past few months as I posted on Instagram and reminded myself not to constantly check how many likes I had or see how many people viewed my story. 

When my campers download Instagram or Snapchat in the next few years, maybe they will think of how much they matter and how beautiful they are and not that they wish they could look like the newest Instagram model, because I know that camp has done that for me. 

Junior Olivia Sugg can be reached at 23suggol52@daretolearn.org.