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FRIENDSHIPS Get Them While You Can, and Get Them at SUMMER CAMP
By Andy Pritikin

Recent research on the lack of adult friendships and the sad trend towards social isolation has given youth development experts serious cause for concern. Childhood is when we learn the skills of making and keeping friends, and our net result, adulthood, is not showing dividends. The data and its conclusions come from two renowned, identical studies—done 20 years apart.

American adults are far more socially isolated today than they were two decades ago. From 1985 to 2004, the number of people saying they have no one with whom they discuss important matters nearly tripled. Twenty three percent of Americans now report they have no confidants, family or non-family. Another 20 percent say they have just one confidant. That’s 43 percent of Americans who have either no close friends or just one, a percentage that has doubled in the past 20 years, and half do not have any confidants who aren’t family. 

We have gone from one quarter of the American population feeling isolated to almost half of the adult population. Think about that for a second. Almost half the people you know have at most one person they feel they can talk to about what is most important to them. Some 20 year olds may have hundreds of friends on MySpace or Facebook and e-mail or text 25 people a day, but most of these communications are not with “close friends” that they would confide in. 

What are parents doing at home to help the next generation of adults? Generally, not enough. Increased responsibilities, working more to make ends meet, and long commutes leave many parents too exhausted or busy to seek social or family connections. Families eat together less, and watch TV more. Typical neighbors have cordial “waving” relationships, with no true connections or close friendships. Automatic garage doors open up, cars sneak in, and the door closes behind. 

Some kids spend summer days in central air-conditioned homes, insulated, or is that isolated, from the outside. But, it doesn’t have to be that way this summer…some friendships made at camp last a lifetime.

As we’re seeing, society is making it more challenging for our kids to become the kind of well-adjusted adults we strive for them to be. Camp can be a summertime oasis, providing a safe environment for children to relax and play without the pressures they have during the school year. Camp creates a temporary community each summer in which campers participate in all kinds of activities with all kinds of kids, with a staff of positive role models monitoring the “friendship making” process. Good camps teach children important life skills, including communication and social skills like the art of making and keeping friends. These skills will help them in childhood, adulthood, the workplace and beyond.

Andy Pritikin is the director of Liberty Lake Day Camp and a board member for the American Camp Association.