Tech Confessions
February sleet taps the windows听of the classroom as students share听the joys and burdens of group听texts, following, and liking.
鈥淥k, let鈥檚 regroup!鈥� I say over听the din. But no one chooses to听hear me.
I turn to the computer and pull听up the slides.
鈥淟et鈥檚 take a look at the screen听time data you submitted.鈥�
Words are clipped mid-syllable.听Students turn away from each听other and toward the screen at听the front of the room, where a bar听chart slams down like an anvil.
鈥淥k, what do we think about听鈥榯otal time on phone鈥� and 鈥榙aily听pickups鈥�?鈥�
The radiator hisses. I watch听my students as they watch听the screen.
Drew squints and leans toward听the screen.
Pooja blinks at the data in disgust.
Sophie rescues us: 鈥淲e are听all rotting!鈥�
The room fills with laughter and听affirmation. 鈥淵es we are!鈥�
Liam presents his palms and听confesses, 鈥淵eah, ok. Fine, it鈥檚 me.听I鈥檓 the 250!鈥�
The Balancing Act
I teach a senior seminar at md传媒国产剧 College called 鈥淭he Balancing Act.鈥� Limited to 16 students, the small-group format and reflective environment, grounded in Jesuit principles such as the Examen and Cura personalis, enables us to create a space for reflection, connection, and growth as we examine pressing post-grad topics: work and academics, relationships and family, faith and discernment, civic engagement, physical and emotional wellness, and flow activities/hobbies. Each module leverages an Examen-inspired format: glance back, assess now, look forward, and take action.
It鈥檚 important to read research, assess, and reflect, but ultimately we have to do something. Based on the notion of Jesuits as 鈥渃ontemplatives in action,鈥� students in my course must complete six Take Action Challenges during the semester. The most daunting and transformative work has been the Technology & Social Media Challenge, where students confront their technology use and work to reclaim small, sacred moments in their day.
The Tech Challenge
Our approach during the semester is to focus on small wins that add up overtime. My goal is to help students optimize tech that supports their values and goals and limit tech that does not.
We start by discussing our relationships and values. Students analyze their social circles, reflect on the notion of dormant, active, and commemorative friendships, then focus on what anthropologist Robin Dunbar calls our Core Group.
This group consists of the three to five people we go to for support鈥攖he people we truly rely on. Naming these people and reflecting on how we feel most connected to them presents opportunities for students to reallocate their social capital, focus on reciprocity, perform less, and bring more of their authentic selves to all of their relationships.
The Rise of the Pickup
Students anonymously submit their screen time data so we can review and discuss it. By discussing it and confronting it, students express a wide range of emotions: horror, anger, solidarity, and motivation. Most of these emotions trigger some form of action.
When I first started doing this in 2019, I was focused on total screen time. While screen time grew from under three to over four hours per day, the more troubling number is 鈥減ickups.鈥�
A pickup is simply any time we pickup our phone and use it. Pickups are particularly damaging because they steal small moments that could otherwise be allocated for prayer, gratitude, reflection, creativity, or connection.
Pickups have skyrocketed in recent years. In 2019, I had a single student peaking at 150 pickups per day. Now, the median daily number of pickups is nearly 150. That鈥檚 every six minutes, every waking hour. Recently, three students like Liam cracked 250鈥攅very three minutes, every waking hour.
How Did We Get Here?
Students often beat themselves up, saying, 鈥淚 have no willpower. I can't resist it.鈥� But that鈥檚 not it. As they learn in my class, there are a thousand engineers behind every app who are paid to make it more engaging and addictive. Those engineers leverage the latest neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics research to create features that trigger the full spectrum of human emotions: companionship, love, social acceptance, fear, boredom, and anxiety. Willpower doesn鈥檛 stand a chance.
Research shows that frequent pickups train our brain to be distracted. As we perform hundreds of daily microshifts in attention, our capacity for sustained concentration and deep thought erodes. App features flood us with a cocktail of dopamine and cortisol鈥攚e鈥檙e excited and anxious and outraged and hurt by what our phones spray at us. For many, it becomes a limb with colors, sounds, and animations. Moments of separation can be excruciating.
A key part of our work in class is untangling this and developing alternative, contextual coping strategies, like seeking out or creating phone-free spaces and leaning into activities that students say bring them peace, such as prayer, solitude, and personal connection. Communicating changing expectations with our friends and family is an essential part of the process.
听
Small Moments
Students are required to implement a half-dozen small changes from a collection of 30 鈥淭ech Tactics鈥� that I have compiled from research, my own experience, and students鈥� past successes. They write a reflection paper on their efforts, examining what worked, what didn't, and how to move forward. Students鈥� reflection papers express a range of emotions and experiences: small wins, epic fails, epiphanies, peer criticism, and frustration.
- Implementing a regular walk with friends instead of a group text made one student 鈥渇eel so much more peaceful and connected.鈥�
- Another marveled at his success: 鈥淲alked to Sunday night Mass, enjoyed Mass, and then got chicken nugs鈥�2 hours, no phone!鈥�
- 鈥淔or the four days, I replaced my wake-up scroll with an Examen. I really don鈥檛 miss TikTok at all!鈥�
- 鈥淭he first time I sat in the dining hall eating without my phone, total shame! They made a reel of me鈥�'Pooja being awwwkward!' But now, three of us do it all the time.鈥�
For many students, the most rewarding gains often come by reclaiming the small moments sprinkled throughout their day:
- Right when we wake up
- Waiting for the coffee to brew
- The five minutes before a meetingor class begins
- Walking to class or work
- Waiting in line
- Immediately after a workout
- In the elevator
When we鈥檙e bored or anxious or selfconscious,we often hide behind screens.And then it becomes the social norm,and to not do it becomes awkward鈥攋ustask Pooja.
Looking Beyond Ourselves
Perhaps the most inspiring and surprising motivation for many students comes from their future children. Yes, that鈥檚 right.
In an anonymous poll on relationships, students are asked to share their future dreams and goals. In each of the last two semesters, 100% of my students expressed a desire to get married, and 100% of students stated they would like to have a child. This is far above national averages and reflects the values and goals of our students.
When students start discussing children, it鈥檚 no longer about them. They want to do better for the next generation.
As one student named Anna explained in our small-group discussion, 鈥淚t's only going to be worse for my kids. I鈥檓 not going to be one of those parents throwing an iPad in front of my kid while they鈥檙e in the stroller using my iPhone. This ends now.鈥�
Every semester I'm inspired by their maturity, empathy, self-awareness, and courage. Anna鈥檚 next reservoir walk was phone free, with a friend, and she reported that it was 鈥渘ot that awkward.鈥� An emerging social norm.
Scott Olivieri is managing director of web services in the Office of University Communication and a professor in the Capstone program at md传媒国产剧 College.
