Do Iowans Even Do ‘Real’ Camping Anymore?

Glmaping... my spellcheck is angry. Says it's not a word. It is! It means glamorous camping. That's the only way to get some... erm, most maybe... folks to go camping anymore. Iowa has so many nice places to glamp, P.S...

The website DigitalHub claims that when we go camping these days, we prefer streaming movies and listening to music to sitting around the fire and telling ghost stories. I mean, I love a good ghost story, but can't I just stream the podcast and let it play by the fire?

For their study, they asked 2,000 campers questions about camping and, 37% said their kids fancy traditions like putting up a tent or sitting around a campfire boring. Families in 2020 prefer instead to gather around a screen and watch a movie.

The study also found that 83% of campers bring devices like a smart phone or iPad with them camping, while 41% suggested they would not be comfortable going away without their smart phones. I mean... I agree. I'm in that group. Plus, if a bear comes to your campsite, how else would get a selfie with it? At the end of the day, it seems as though in 2020, gadgets and screens make us happy campers. Kudos to those who rough it and don't even bring a Bluetooth speaker. You're my hero. I'll just be over here on my phone Googling pictures of campfires.

See more from the study here.