At Taejae University, almost everything happens online – classes, readings, assignments, even office hours. Of course, there are good sides to this, but the downsides are becoming hard to ignore. If I look closely at our daily lives, we are glued to our laptops all day, every minute. Endless blue light, hunched shoulders and necks… these are a big deal to us now.

My brain was heating up trying to figure out how to ease this even a little. And the idea I finally came up with was: Digital Detox Workshop! Taking away all digital devices and bringing ourselves back into reality. At first I thought, “Will anyone even join?” But in the end, students gathered one by one, and everyone was satisfied by the Digital Detox sessions sponsored by Taejae University’s Wellness Center.

In each of the three Digital Detox sessions, students surrendered their digital devices and we put them together into one bag. I even brought my own analog camera so I could take photos without having to touch my phone.

The first workshop was held indoors. We did a short meditation and I led my peers through eye exercises so we could relax our eyes which were tired from staring into blue light for our long classes. We then discussed our digital habits such as how much time we actually spend on our phones.

Throughout the session, students mentioned that it was tough at first to resist reaching for their phones but we managed to make it through. We enjoyed connecting and truly being present for the first time in a long time.

The second workshop was held outdoors as a picnic at Golden Gate Park before the weather got too cold. For students who were constantly anxious from classes and assignments, I wanted them to fully feel the moment through San Francisco’s parks and nature.

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I thought it was absolutely necessary for them to truly experience a moment of the global rotation with their own bodies.

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Without our phones, students spent time alone reading books, drawing, writing in their diaries, or birdwatching, while others gathered in small groups and played fun games using Post-it notes.

Spacing out, without a single notification.

The third and final workshop was when you could see students exhausted from final exams. We rented a large room on the USF campus and enjoyed eating Korean food we had been missing together. We spent the entire session talking, laughing, and having fun without a single phone in sight.