Digital Well-being

That’s right – we challenge you! While this may seem out of the question, research shows that talking to strangers is beneficial to us all. People often underestimate how enjoyable and positive conversations with strangers can be – so we avoid them. Talking to strangers helps us feel like we are part of a community, increases our sense of well-being and could possibly help us meet a new friend! Remember, your closest friend was likely once a stranger! Here’s what we know from research about talking to strangers:

• Strangers are more willing to talk than people anticipate.
• Conversations tend to go overwhelmingly better than people predict.
• People are more conversationally competent than they expect.

Article: This Is Why You Ignore Everybody On The Subway -- And Why You Should Stop

Podcast: Talking to Strangers Makes You Happy

College Relationships 101: Building Connections

Here are some great situations to start talking to strangers new Hokies:

• In class
• On the bus
• At the bus stop
• Standing in line
• In your residence hall
• In an elevator
• Go up to a booth on campus

Pro tip: ask people questions or give compliments (where did you get that food? I like the pin on your bag) Research suggests that people who ask questions are perceived as more likable. The same study found that asking follow-up questions builds rapport.

According to Gallup, 81% of 18–29-year-olds believe they are using their phones too much.

According to the Hokies we interviewed, the best way to get off their phones is to find a better alternative. Fortunately, Virginia Tech has so much happening everyday!

Finding ways to be creative is easy with these resources:

• Go to the GobblerConnect events page to find events, organizations, and track your involvement.
• Get inspired by engaging with creative performances and exhibits. Explore the town of Blacksburg’s festival and events page.

Are you more of a stay-at-home kind of person? No problem – put alternative creative activities out in the open ready for you to see.

• Paints
• Crayons
• Pencils
• Paper
• Find free downloads, like coloring sheets, online and print them out so they are convenient
• Journal with a favorite pen
• Buy cooking supplies - cook a meal or dessert
• Play an instrument if you have one

Bonus – share your creation with someone else in person!

Once you have decided, do your best to create a phone-free space. Phone-free spaces and events are growing in popularity because of the benefits that research has found through increased connections and happiness. Because of the dopamine feedback loop your phone creates, it is important to be intentional with establishing phone free spaces. Relying on your ability to just ignore your device is setting yourself up to fail. This week establish one space in your life that will be completely phone free. It could be your bedroom, or if you live in a residence hall maybe just your bed, or your common area where you could invite your roommates to join in on this challenge and hold each other accountable.

• Learn about this company who advocates for phone free space.
• Article: Our need for true connection is giving rise to phone-free spaces.
• Create Tech-Free Spaces: Control Your Tech Use

Tips from the Center for Humane Technology:

We use our tech from the moment we wake up until we fall asleep at night. Designating certain areas in your home as tech-free can open up more time for other things, and allow your brain to decompress from all the stimulation throughout the day.

• Clear your morning & evenings: Schedule tech-free blocks of time. First thing in the morning is especially helpful.
• Device-free dinners: Play a game where the first person to check their device does the dishes, or make them pay for the whole meal if you’re out to dinner.
• Charge devices outside of the bed(room): Charge your phone out of sight and out of the bedroom (or away from your bed).
• Use a dedicated alarm clock: Wake up without getting sucked into your phone first thing in the morning.

At this point most people know that phones are designed to keep us engaged and the desire to pick it up and scroll is way stronger than our desire to study, do homework, or simply go to sleep, revenge bedtime procrastination is real!

We asked Hokies their best tips for avoiding their phone when studying or sleeping and several responded with this clever trick - “I throw it across the room because I know I won’t want to get up and get it.” There’s something to be said for the concept of “out of sight out of mind,” Give it a try!

• Atricle: Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity
• To learn more about why our scrolling/tech use keeps us up at night check out these two resources:
• Article: Revenge Bedtime Procrastination
• Article: Screen Time and Sleep—It’s Different for Adults

Using AI or social media to answer all your questions? Did you know that when AI doesn’t have an answer, it creates false information to fill in the gaps? These are called hallucinations. It is easy to see these when looking at images, but with text responses, unless you are well informed on the topic, you may not be able to tell what’s true and what’s not. This can easily lead to the consumption of misinformation. To avoid this, make sure to check your sources and look for the same information on reputable pages. Social media is also a culprit of overgeneralized and inaccurate information. Try to practice being a mindful consumer and od your research before taking information at face value.

Want to learn more about AI and misinformation?

• Article: Why you’re more likely to solve your problems on a therapist’s sofa than on social media
• Article: Ask an Expert: How Has AI Changed Misinformation — And What Does That Mean for Consumers?
• Article: Health information on TikTok: The good, the bad and the ugly

Interested in learning how to become a more critical consumer of health information?

• Check out the Twella app.

Wondering where to find reputable health information?

• Evaluating Health Information from Medline Plus

Explore the Timely Care app – it's available at no extra cost to all Virginia Tech students.

Students will have access to:

• unlimited on-demand mental health support 24/7, available to all Virginia Tech students throughout the world, through TalkNow,
• unlimited access to health coaching, available to all Virginia Tech students throughout the world,
• and scheduled counseling sessions, limited to 12 sessions per academic year, available to all Virginia Tech students throughout the United States.

Register for TimelyCare online or download the app. It only takes a few minutes to register.

Most of us have a tendency to pull out our phone as soon as we have a short pause in our day. What if, instead of scrolling, we used that time intentionally, to make a fun plan, connect with someone, check off an item on our to-do list, or simply give our brain a break? Technology has the possibility to make us more efficient, yet we feel more time-poor than ever.

What apps are using your moments of time confetti and how can you make the most of that time?

• Article: Time Confetti and the Broken Promise of Leisure
  "Working toward time affluence is about recognizing and overcoming the time traps in our lives and intentionally carving out happier and more meaningful moments each day."
• Article: What is the Opposite of “Distraction?” The Single Word that Will Change Your Life This Year
  If you are tired of being distracted by your phone, learn to gain traction! Traction is the actions that move us towards what we really want.
• TEDX Talk: The Battle for Your Time: Exposing the Costs of Social Media
• How much time is spent on screens
• How social media defines us and our experiences
• “While trying to avoid FOMO you missed out on living”

How much time do you spend on your phone? How much time do you spend on your Hobbies? How do you want to spend your life?

There’s no question about it – phones are great tools and help us with so many aspects of life. The downside is because of its utility, we often find ourselves with a phone in our hand and once we use it for the tool part, we then slide right into the scroll. This can leave us wondering, what am I doing with my time? What am I doing for fun? Would we ever say, “phone is my hobby” as a response if someone asked how we like to spend our free time? Likely not. How do we resist the temptation of our phone to pass time and invest in real hobbies and goals?

Try this strategy from Catherine Price, author of How to Break Up With Your Phone.

Each time you pick your phone up, ask yourself - What for? Why now? What else?

• What for? What are you picking up your phone to do? (Is there a purpose?)
• Why now? Why are you picking up your phone now instead of later?
• What else? What else could you do right now besides check your phone?

This is not a strategy to never use your phone, the goal of WWW is to make your phone use more mindful.

Here are some more tips and resources to get you started:

If you have been experiencing loneliness, you are not alone. Gen Z is currently the loneliest generation, and technology can play a big role in how connected we feel.

Atricle: 3 Things Making Gen Z the Loneliest Generation

• If we know phones distract us, what can each one of us do to create a new, more connected culture on campus?

We asked some Hokies what their best strategy to get friends off their phone is and many said they suggest something else to do...

• Have a prepared, printed out list of conversation topics.
• Do something active like play pickleball.
• Explore new parts of campus.
• Go to the duckpond.
• Do a craft, color, cook something.
• Play a boardgame.
• Get a deck of cards.
• Go to Gobblerconnect and find something to do – invite people to do it with you.

Video Podcast: How to Get a Friend to Put Away Their Phone Without Being a Jerk

Want to develop your connection skills as part of a Virginia Tech Class?

• Register for the one-credit course, The Connection Project (TCP)!
  Registration is open from 10/21/25-11/4/25
• The four goals of TCP are to:
• Change the way you think about relationships.
• Give you skills that you can use in all your relationships.
• Form relationships with some nice, interesting people.
• Do this is in a fun, low stress way.

PDF: Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation 2023 - The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community

• Invest time in nurturing your relationships.
• Minimize distractions during conversation – put your phone away.
• Seek out opportunities to serve and support others – Embrace Ut Prosim (That I May Serve).
• Practice Gratitude.
• Actively engage with people of different backgrounds and experiences.
• Participate in social and community groups – visit GobblerConnect and find an org to find your people today.
• Reduce practices that lead to feelings of disconnection from others.
• Seek help during times of struggle – Explore the Timely Care app – it's available at no extra cost to all Virginia Tech students.
• Reflect on your core values and how they do or do not align with your phone use.

College is such a busy time in life, it is so easy to collapse at the end of the day, in the middle of the day, at the start the day, and relax by the blue light of a screen. It gives us instant gratification, entertainment and soothes us. This is a hard cycle to give up without a strong plan. Most people want to spend less time on screens but don’t know where to find the motivation or strategies to successfully do it.

• TEDx Talk: How to motivate yourself to change your behavior
• Video Podcast: How to Stop Screwing Yourself Over
• Article: 615 Tiny Habits Recipes for Flow in Your Work Life
• Articles: Sign up for free articles on forming habits that stick by author of Atomic Habits, James Clear.

Dating apps can be a great way to meet people but sometimes things can get lost in translation – is this person looking for a hookup, relationship, friendship, situationship? Are they on apps because they’re looking for entertainment and swiping left or right is fun? All valid reasons to use dating apps! BUT... If one person wants sex and the other love, that can get awkward. It can also get kind of depressing and anxiety producing when we get swiped left.

Article: Dating apps might be messing with your mental health

5 things that can help

• Limit time on dating apps — only check apps or sites once a day.
• Decide what’s important to you in a partner and ask for it.
• Seek someone with common goals (e.g., make sure you’re both looking for the same thing, like a relationship leading to marriage, sex).
• Try to avoid seeking validation through a dating app.
• If you’re prone to depression, be aware of how online dating is affecting your mental state.

Article: Exploring The Best Dating Apps For College Students

Article: Are Dating Apps Safe? How to use online dating apps safely

Article: Five Action Steps to Good Sexual Health - 3 Treat Your Partners Well and Expect Them to Treat You Well

• Remember, sexual health is health too – let's reduce the stigma and talk about it!

Have specific questions about STIs or Contraception? Use some of our favorite resources:

• Planned Parenthood
• Bedsider Birth Control Support Network

In his report Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation - The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community, former surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy sums up the profound outcomes of loneliness beautifully. “Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day,4 and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity. And the harmful consequences of a society that lacks social connection can be felt in our schools, workplaces, and civic organizations, where performance, productivity, and engagement are diminished.”

Try something new with friends, reach out to someone you haven’t spoken to in a while, talk to a stranger, say hello to someone new in your residence hall or class, open a door for someone, join a club, it all matters.

• TED Talk: What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness.
• Video: Simon Sinek & Trevor Noah on Friendship, Loneliness, Vulnerability, and More

Some more food for thought – how is AI impacting or replacing human connection? Here are two great reads:

• Article: The Rise of AI Relationships: Are We Replacing Human Connection?
• She Is in Love With ChatGPT

Social media creates a perfect storm of never-ending content, influencers without credentials, and editing that fuels constant comparison of never feeling enough – thin enough, big enough, blond enough, toned enough, healthy enough. ENOUGH.

Article: How Diet Culture Contributes to Eating Disorders – and What We Can Do About It

What would it be like to have a feed that was filled with credible nutrition content and expressions of body gratitude? You can do it with some of these tips and resources!

Check out these resources from NEDA (National Eating Disorders Association) about social media and self-care when it comes to body image.

• PDF: Tips for Media Self-Care
• PDF: Research on Body Image
• PDF: Body Acceptance Affirmations
• Article: New Equip Research Reveals How Fitness Culture Impacts Body Image and Disordered Eating Among Men
• Podcast: Bite Back with Abbey Sharp
• Abbey Sharp is a Registered Dietitian and serves as a credible voice in the nutrition, health, and wellness space.

Content to Follow – fill your feed with good stuff!

• @stephgrassodietitian
• @abbeyskitchen
• @victoriagarrickbrowne
• @thenutritiontea
• @drjoshuawolrich
• @alliancefored
• @neda

Trying to change your eating habits? Use credible campus services!

• Sign up for Nutrition Counseling Services: These sessions offer individualized nutrition guidance and healthy lifestyle behavior change counseling facilitated by senior and graduate-level nutrition and dietetics students and under the supervision of a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN).
• Explore the Timely Care app: It's available at no extra cost to all Virginia Tech students
  Students will have access to:
• unlimited on-demand mental health support 24/7, available to all Virginia Tech students throughout the world, through TalkNow,
• unlimited access to health coaching, available to all Virginia Tech students throughout the world
• and scheduled counseling sessions, limited to 12 sessions per academic year, available to all Virginia Tech students throughout the United States.
• The Self-Care for Healthy Eating section provides education on the basics of eating, setting SMART goals, basic residence hall cooking recipes with videos, basic cooking skill videso, mindful eating tips, and several mindful eating meditations.
• Schedule sessions for health coaching for Nutrition/healthy eating, exercise/movement, sleep improvement, stress management, or time management

A lot of the time people believe that they just need more willpower to help achieve their goals. Whether that be studying more or using social media less, we put too much stake in our willpower. If you’re relying purely on willpower to help control your phone use, most likely it’s going to fail. What we need to do is find ways to make our non-productive use more challenging. This is known as adding friction. You can try to delete social media and access it only through your web browser or put a lockscreen that asks you to think about why you are going into your phone. Increasing friction will force extra time to think about what you are going into your phone to do rather than automatically doing it.

This week try to find ways to increase the friction for any non-productive uses of your phone and decrease friction for positive use.

Here are several great articles about how to increase friction and make changes for good.

• Article: Willpower Doesn’t Work. Here’s How to Actually Change Your Life.
• Article: Manipulate Friction to Control Your Phone Rather than Letting It Control You
• Article: Why Intentional Friction Is A Game-Changer
• Article: Adding Friction is Key to Breaking a Habit of Distraction
• Article: Managing screen time by making phones slightly more annoying to use
• Try using an app like Opal: It blocks apps, tracks usage, and gives you tools to focus. The interface feels rewarding to use, and the analytics are helpful if you're trying to build better habits.

Digital well-being is more than just lowering screen times and using our devices less. The reality is technology is a part of our lives, and it is here to stay, so it's time to learn how to embrace positive digital wellness. Finding ways to use our devices to help different aspects of our lives is just as important as recognizing uses that may not be adding value. This week, take some time to explore apps that are used to improve your mood or headspace, or even just used to check in on how you are feeling. Be intentional about using these apps throughout the week and try not to check any other notifications or apps when you open your phone to do this.

Some of Virginia Tech Student’s favorite apps for mental health check-ins include:

• How we feel
• Calm
• Headspace
• Insight Timer
• Ten Percent Happier

Why do we choose brain rot sessions? The brain associates scrolling with a feeling of gratification, even when we are aware of its negative consequences. While it is gratifying in the immediate moment, the aftereffects are ick.

Effects of brain rot can include:

• Impaired memory
• Lower problem-solving abilities and attention span
• Increased mental fatigue
• Emotional and psychological impacts
• Social effects
• Impact on performance

If you find yourself doomscrolling choose an activity to help refresh your brain and get off your phone:

• Go outside – walk, run, sit.
• Meet up with a friend.
• Do something creative.
• Read.
• Move your body.
• Leave your space/clean your space.

Want to learn more about brain rot?

• Article: Brain Rot: The Impact on Young Adult Mental Health
• Article: Do you have brain rot? Here's how to know

Great tips for Coping with brain rot

• Reduce screen time.
• Curate your feed.
• Engage in mentally stimulating activities.
• Practice regular physical exercise.
• Maintain a balanced diet.
• Create a structured routine.
• Practice mindfulness and mediation.
• Practice mindful consumption of media.
• Take mindful breaks to reduce mental exhaustion.
• Get support if you need it.