What's the purpose of having a portable device if you're not allowed to take it with you?

[IBadget]

The discussion about banned/discouraged items on a campout makes me wonder what the purpose of having a portable device is if you're not allowed to take it with you. Walkmans and cell phones by definition are portable. There are also portable radios, stereos, CD players, and MP3 players. IMO banning portable electronic devices defeats the purpose of their portability. What's the purpose of having a portable device if you're forbidden to take it with you?

[Pint]

good question

I usualy take a Radio/Cd player, an MP3 player, Mobile (cell) phone and a few other things, if they get damaged then thats my own problem

but thats as a leader on a camp.

 

there is no banned list for the scout troop im involved with, but generaly items that are discouraged are those that: have a screen, speakers, headphones, or run off batteries.( with the exception of a torch, and some spare batteries)

 

there is the obvious problem that the Scouts/cubs/whatever may break damage or loose their expensive electronic equipment.

 

mobile (cell) phones can cause problems with the scouts texting each other late at night, messing around with ringtones etc, phoning home for some unnesecary reasons, at all the campsites i have been to there have been pay phone facilities, and if its a real emergency then the parents can contact the leaders, and the leaders can contact the parents.

 

 

MP3 players these are easily broken and csome are quite expensive, the last thing you want is a parent complaining that its your fault that their little darling has broken his/her new Ipod and its your fault.

 

Radios and other things with loud speakers:

these can cause a noise problem, especialy if they are aloud them in their own tents, also if theres more than one radio on camp, that can cause a few arguments on who gets to hear what.

 

 

 

[evmori]

All portable means is you can take it with you. But just because it is portable doesn't mean you have to take it with you. I have a portable TV but I don't take it camping!

 

If you can't live without your Gameboy or Walkman for a weekend, stay home!

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[OldGreyEagle]

Ibadget, welcome to the forums, I am going to make a huge leap here and assume (never a good idea) that you are a youth in scouting. As a youth I hope you have had a wonderful experience and get out of scouting every you want. And I hope in later years you will give back to scouting something of yourself.

 

I am not sure, but mayhaps you have come across adults who only have one vision of the world, and that includes scouting and will exert all their "adult" power on trying to force this vision on you, dont fall for it. If you ever think somebody is trying to force something on you, ask them, very respectfully, where that is written in the BSA publications. If you dont see it there, then there is no such rule.

 

BTW Troop bylaws dont count, submit only to official BSA publications, Good Scouting!!!

And, do you like The Killers? Mr Brightside?

[IBadget]

I was a boy scout in 1987. My family and I were living in Germany at the time. My father was in the Army. I didn't even have a walkman at home back then. On the campouts, there were a few scouts who had casette walkmans, and no one fussed about them. There was also a portable stereo that played background music while we were cooking, eating, washing dishes, or just relaxing in the woods. The leader did have to tell one of the scouts to turn off the portable stereo at night before bed, which is reasonable because we don't want to be distracted while we're sleeping.

 

I'm currently in my late 20s. What I'm looking for is a rule of thumb about where portable electronic devices should and should not be allowed.

[scoutldr]

While Ed's response was blunt, it was to the point. Such devices are portable, but they are generally not allowed in your school classroom, either. There is a time and place for everything, and things get "banned" usually because someone did not have the common sense to be discrete, and was using the device when they should be doing something else. In the troop I serve, anything is permitted, as long as it is used in the privacy of one's own bunk (with headphones on low volume), or during designated "free time". If it interferes with the program, or I can hear it, then it gets locked in the car and returned when we get home.(This message has been edited by scoutldr)(This message has been edited by scoutldr)

[OldGreyEagle]

Ah, so the lesson learned is that if one scout screws up in deciding an appropriate volume, or time of use, all scouts get penalized. Lets not have the scoutmaster talk it over with the individual scout, lets treat them all like sheep.

[SemperParatus]

It's for the scouts to decide...not old men.

[scoutldr]

OGE - I merely stated what is...not that I agreed with it. Chill!

[SR540Beaver]

We don't really restrict what boys can bring to camp. However, we really don't like seeing a kid on a 5 mile hike with head phones on and so engrossed on grooving onthe latest tunes to be oblivious to what is going on around him. Geez, there are situations where it is simply a safety issue. Do you want them rappeling with headphones and not able to hear what is going on? Don't think that some of these boys wouldn't do it if allowed. Many people find the easiest policy is simply to say they don't fit with what we are doing rather than have to counsel individual scouts all the time. We expect our boys to bring pencil and paper to each meeting....however it is for taking notes, not for drawing pictures and passing notes. We constantly have to ask for their attention. Kind of the same thing with buds poking out of ears all weekend long.

[Eamonn]

Me thinks that as I agree with the wise OGE,I will join him in the chiller!!

Eamonn

Hey OGE can I use your cell phone to call Her Who Must Be Obeyed? Burrrr It's Cold in here!!

[evmori]

I'll answer the question as it was posed. The purpose of a portable device is you can take it from place to place & have the ability to use it. That's the purpose. If you're not allowed to take it with you that doesn't take away the portability of the device. It's still portable. It will always be portable unless you nail it to your wall.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[le Voyageur]

hmmmm....when I'm in the outdoors I really like having these portable devices with me....

 

map and compass

fishing pole

canoe

binoculars

a book on birds, or plants, or trees, etc.

 

However, if I was sightseeing in DC, it would be out of place for me to be portaging a canoe. Guess it comes down to common sense......hey

[SWScouter]

I have an iPod, I'm using it right now. Last winter, my daughter and I were preparing for a backpacking trip down (and up) the Grand Canyon. We were doing a lot of day hikes. One time, we (I) planned to do a hike with our packs. We got to the park and I started to get ready. Dear Daughter says she isn't going to hike and wants me to take her home. I say I'm going, she can come with me or sit around and wait for me. She hedges. I get my pack on and she decides she would rather hike than sit by herself for an hour but wasn't about to carry her pack. She was planning on carrying my iPod. I said no pack, no iPod, she carried both. She flew, I knew she was ready for the canyon. These little portable devices can be great bargaining tools.

 

SWScouter

[red feather]

Hearing the rain hitting the lakes up on the Boundary Waters... sounded like little bells. The sound of the bear that rummaged through our campsite. The sound of the wilds waking up of a morning. The sound of the wind whistling through the woods and fields. The sounds of the scouts enjoying themselves as they learned how to be scouts out camping. Hearing the sound of the campfire as it played out its life for my enjoyment. Hearing the evening sounds of the world as it wound down for the night. The lonely sound of the owl as it started its nightly hunts and the sound of its wings as it wound its way through the woods. The comforting sounds of a stream over rocks after a hard portage. The sounds of a light rain as it hit my tent. The sound of a train whistle way off in the distance as the fire burns down. The 3 whistle blast of a scout in trouble. The cry of a scout needing comfort as night.

 

Yep, I sure am glad that just because something is portable, small and lightweight, I did not bring to camping something that is better enjoyed in different surroundings. Scouts camping is, imho, a situation that is supposed to expand their horizons and experiences. Not to make it something that they can pigeon hole as another place to text message and listen to their current favorite band.

 

Outdoors has its own music and enjoyments. Hopefully in the short time that scouts go camping as scouts we can help them learn to listen to it.

 

Sorry for the soap box, putting it away for now.

 

yis