Adult overnight camps are working to combat the loneliness epidemic
Inside a trendy all-inclusive overnight camp where adults show up as strangers and leave as friends
Everyone wants a village, but no one wants to be a villager.
This is a phrase often used to describe the phenomenon of community decline.
But according to a number of social media posts, the recent situation is particularly pronounced among Gen Z. Arguably the most therapy and mental health-savvy generation in history, Gen Z has made work-life balance and self-care a top priority, sometimes at the expense of friendships.
At the same time, daily life has moved online. People are increasingly able to work and attend school remotely. As a result, young people are losing the “village people” that previous generations relied on.
Gen Z is good at boundaries. Have they gone too far?
Generation Z, the generation born between 1997 and 2012, has made great strides in setting boundaries and being aware of mental health.
Need proof? Jamil Zaki, professor of psychology at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Institute for Social Neuroscience, says look no further than often-repeated viral advice like “You don’t owe anyone anything” and “Be safe.” The problem is that these phrases are spread by people who aren’t mental health experts and are used in all kinds of situations, explains Jamil Zaki, a professor of psychology at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Institute for Social Neuroscience.
In that case, “keeping your peace” can become selfish or make you a bad friend.
“I think it’s really harmful to use therapy to justify essentially being socially inactive, being socially withdrawn, or having the right to be socially withdrawn,” Zaki says.
As a 24-year-old Gen Zer, I too have seen this among my co-workers. When my roommate and I planned a potluck-style party on a recent night, several attendees either left at the last minute or didn’t respond to our invitation at all.
That’s not unusual. A friend gets hurt on another’s birthday and conjures up excuses that border on therapy. In some cases, young people avoid conflicts and unpleasant situations in the name of putting themselves first, Zaki added.
I wondered what previous generations would have called this. Selfishness? Lazy? Zaki says previous generations wouldn’t have canceled it in the first place.
One way sociologists used to assess people’s social connections was to ask how many people they could count on to pick them up from the airport at 1 a.m., he says. Today, we have Uber for that. When Joey moves out of his apartment with Chandler in Friends, everyone helps him pack, but in 2026 Joey could have used TaskRabbit. And instead of asking your neighbors for help, there are delivery services like Postmates and Instacart.
While we gained convenience, we lost community.
How we lost our “village”
Former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy talks a lot about loneliness. Even before the pandemic, about half of adults reported experiencing loneliness, but in spring 2023, Murthy declared America’s loneliness epidemic a public health crisis.
In an Oct. 25 speech during the New Yorker Festival, he said there has been a “significant and steady decline” in participation in faith groups, recreational leagues and service organizations over the past half century. They also point out that fewer people are attending school, getting jobs and raising families in the towns where they grew up.
“Every time we make a move like this, we leave a community behind. We have to build a new community,” Murthy said during the festival.
There is also a third factor. Rapid reliance on technology has reduced the need for face-to-face interactions.
“Many of the defaults that made social connections part of our life infrastructure are gone. This is difficult because it requires more individual effort to make it happen,” Zaki says.
The effort can sometimes be burdensome or inconvenient. However, in reality, friendship sometimes requires inconvenience.
“On the other side of that anxiety is a connection that is essential for health and well-being,” says Zaki. “I think if you focus on being comfortable, you’re missing out on important opportunities.”
Additionally, research shows that connections and friendships are good for our health and longevity.
“Doing things for others reduces stress, increases ownership and autonomy, and increases feelings of well-being. So when you focus on highly individualistic, mostly one-shot happiness, you’re actually depriving yourself of one of the great sources of happiness,” says Zaki.
How can young people build community?
The reality is that most people would like to make more friends.
When I moved to New York a year ago, I challenged myself to meet new people. Understandably, it felt uncomfortable. Part of the struggle with loneliness is the fear of looking out of place. Attending events alone, whether it was a media happy hour or a collage production event, pushed me out of my comfort zone. In the process, I realized there was a whole anti-loneliness movement.
In September, I traveled to the Poconos and spent a weekend at Camp Social, a women-only overnight camp for solo campers looking to make new friends. A range of options like Bumble BFF, Frider, and Yubo advertise themselves as Tinder-like apps for meeting friends, while others like Pie and Partiful help users find events in their area, many of which encourage you to go alone.
The clear demand for these groups shows that the elusive village exists if we are willing to put in the effort.
Zaki likened building community to making a resolution to go to the gym more – being intentional about going to the gym and taking responsibility for your health.
“Statistically speaking, people want to connect with you more than you realize,” Zaki says. “I think we have a lot of life together.”
Rachel Hale’s role covering youth mental health for USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Pivotal and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
Contact X at rhale@usatoday.com and @rachelleighhale.
