Digital Well-being

Talk to at least one new person this week, when waiting for a class or meeting to start, instead of looking at your phone.

The term “weak ties” is used to describe casual connections formed with acquaintances through daily life. Forming these connections can be easily overlooked, but creating weak ties helps build community and positively impacts your overall well-being. Although it can be a habit to check your messages or scroll on social media while waiting for classes or club meetings to begin, this week the challenge is to put your phone away and talk to someone sitting next to you instead. Use a simple opening like asking about a class, event, or compliment something about them.

Start forming those weak ties now and experience the benefits in the future.

For tips on how to start a conversation read or listen.

• Keep it positive.
• Start with introducing yourself.

Read more about the benefits of “weak ties” in this article.

• Improves mood.
• Broadens horizons.
• Vital for networking.

Learn about how online communication may be less satisfying than face-to-face.

• 7 reasons interactions may be lower quality online.

Trash that app! Delete one app that you feel wastes your time for the week.

We all have that one app we love to go to when we have a couple of extra minutes between classes, or we just don’t want to get started on that thing at the top of our to-do list. It’s our comfort app, our procrastination app, our escape from awkward app, and it can steal all our time.

This week’s challenge, Delete one app that you feel wastes your time for the week, can have big impacts. If you are struggling to identify which app to trash for the week, here are a few ideas to get your started.

Try to think about apps that not only cause time-suck but also impact your mood!

Consider deleting apps that contribute to:

• excessive scrolling
• comparison to others
• negative news consumption
• Gaming that leads to excessive play

Set boundaries:

If you choose to keep certain social media apps, set time limits to manage your usage.

Find healthy alternatives:

Replace time spent on your deleted apps with activities that promote well-being like exercise, reading, socializing, hobbies, schoolwork, or spending time in nature.

• If you like this challenge and want to do more app trashing – join us for a FREE Virtual Digital House-cleaning Party, Tuesday, February 4 at 3 p.m under DIGITAL DECLUTTER WEBINARS. This event is hosted by our friends from JOMO(campus).
• Interested in taking more control of your technology use and experiencing great benefits? Check out The Center for Humane Technology’s tips.

Replace morning scrolling with purposeful planning: start each day writing your key 3 priorities.

Clarify & Commit: Choose Your Key 3

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by everything on your plate, but you can take control by identifying your Key 3—your top three priorities for the week that will move you closer to your goals. This challenge will help you clarify your focus and take deliberate action!

Here’s how to take on this week’s challenge:

• Reflect on Your Goals: What are your big-picture priorities for the semester, month, or beyond?
• Choose Your Weekly Key 3: Select the three most important tasks or actions you want to accomplish this week to move forward on your goals. Write them down and keep them visible!
• Take Action: Each day, identify your Daily Key 3—three tasks that will help you make progress toward your weekly Key 3.

Why It Matters:

Focusing on your Key 3 creates clarity, reduces overwhelm, and gives you a sense of accomplishment as you tackle what matters most. Small, consistent steps add up to big progress!

To get help setting goals and using the Key 3 system:

• Sign up for ExperienceVT Coaching.
• Download and Complete the ExperienceVT Key Practices Worksheets.
• Bonus Action: Write your Weekly Key 3 as a lock screen on your phone or laptop to remind yourself of what matters most this week.

Stay focused, take action, and move closer to your goals—one week at a time!

Turn off non-essential app notifications for the week and check them only during set times.

Challenge yourself to turn off any notifications outside of school, work, or emergency contacts for the week and see how it goes. Limiting notifications can help to improve focus and overall mental health.

In the digital world we live in, it is easy to have a constant feeling of FOMO (fear of missing out), but this week try to embrace JOMO (joy of missing out). Give yourself permission to miss the likes and comments on Instagram, or the new text in the group chat. Take note of the thoughts and feelings that arise during the week and reflect at the end on any differences in your phone use and your mindset around your phone.

Article: A Psychiatrist Explains the Benefits of Turning Off Your Phone for Mental Health

• Decrease in focus/
• Notification anxiety.
• FOMO.

Article: Don’t let phone notifications stress you out. Here’s how

• How do phone notifications interfere with daily life?
• Tips on how to successfully change your behavior around your phone.

Article: The Joy Of Missing Out

• Tech-free time.
• Live in the present.
• Be intentional with your time.

Refer to these videos to learn how to set focus mode for iPhone and Android.

Be a positive influence for connection! Ask friends to Hang Up and Hang Out at least once this week – phone free.

This week, challenge yourself to positively influence your friends into a more rewarding social experience. At some point, most of us have used our phones when in conversation with people right in front of us. When we do that, it decreases our connection and can sometimes be frustrating to others in that social situation. Ditch phubbing (phone snubbing) and get others to do it too. Ask your friends to “Hang up and hang out” or come up with other creative ways to get phones out of the conversation setting. Be inspired by this quick post on harnessing the Power of Positive Peer Pressure to help create a more digitally well Hokie environment.

Research article: The iPhone Effect: The Quality of In-Person Social Interactions in the Presence of Mobile Devices

• Learn more about how even just the presence of your phone can lead to lower quality conversations.

Article: Conversations are powerful. Here are ways to embrace the awkward and deepen relationship

• How to take a conversation deeper.
• Listen a segment on to how to have great conversations.
• Hearing other points of view.

Article: Smartphones, Phubbing, and Relationship Satisfaction

• Definition of phubbing.
• The effects of phubbing.
• Tips for how to get others to stop.

Article: Our need for true connection is giving rise to phone-free spaces

• How phone use shapes our environments.
• Prioritizing social interaction.

There are so many ways to have a more present, rewarding experience by choosing to put your phone away. Try them all! You can Hang Up and Hang Out with:

• Nature.
• Your student organization.
• Classes.
• The Drillfield.
• Your books.
• Your food.
• With games.

Follow a body gratitude or other positive account on social media. Notice how that content influences your social media experience.

Get out of the social comparison trap. Change your feed to stop comparing yourself to others on social media and start filling it with content that makes you feel good. Think of your feed as a garden that needs new plants and weeding. This process may include unfollowing people you tend to compare yourself to and trying to follow a more diverse range of people, perhaps including more people who look like you or who are more authentic about their negative and positive experiences. If a social media account makes you feel bad, consider muting or unfollowing it.

When thinking about the content you see in your feed, ask yourself these questions. If the answers are not positive, replace negative accounts with positive ones.

• Does it bring me joy, laughter, stress, anger?
• Does it add value to my life? How?
• Am I making meaningful connections here?

Article: Understanding Social Comparison on Social Media

• What are some ways social comparison can harm us?
• How to help a friend who’s socially comparing.
• Getting support.

Article: Is There a Relationship between Social Media and Body Image?

• Unrealistic beauty standards.
• Understanding the positive effects social media can have on body image through support, community, and representation.
• Tips for navigating social media and cultivating a healthy relationship with self.
• Resources.

Explore Eating Disorders and Body Image Issues Resources on and off Virginia Tech Campus.

Register for a Body Project workshop to increase your body image and embrace who you are.

Here are some Body Activism account suggestions to get you started!

• @victoriagarrickbrowne
• @thenutritiontea
• @sander_jennings
• @jennifer_rollin
• @eatingrecovery
• @dianne.bondy
• @alliancefored
• @find.food.freedom
• @bodypositivityformen
• @drjoshuawolrich
• @stephgrassodietitian

Name it, don't numb it. The next time you notice yourself using your phone to avoid your feelings, try a CRM skill instead.

Give yourself room to feel. It is very easy now, with the constant stream of stimulation available to us all, to avoid feeling. Whether you’re having a bad day, nervous about a big test, or avoiding a tough conversation it has become the norm to pick up our phone and scroll to avoid these uncomfortable emotions. We use our phones as a protective shield to avoid feeling, but avoiding feelings doesn’t make us feel better, it makes us feel nothing. You can't selectively numb, so when you numb the bad, you also numb the good, with this in mind use the challenge this week to take a break from numbing and take the time to check in with yourself about why you might be feeling the need to numb.

CRM skills are a great resource to use to recenter and ground yourself which can aid you in checking on how you’re feeling and what you need in the moment.

Podcast: Numbing With Our Phones: Why We REALLY Do It, and How to Begin to Change

• Understand why we use phones to numb.
• Explore alternative ways to cope with emotions.

Article: Your phone, your emotions and everyday life

• Using your phone to regulate emotions.
• Emotional state can predict which app you will use next.
• Using technology not designed for emotional regulation to escape feeling.

Article: Are You “Zenning” Out or Numbing Out?

• Don't think about or feel your stress.
• Immediate relief but reinforces stress long term.
• Leads to poor coping strategies .

Article: 8 Steps to Stop Numbing Your Emotions

• Name that feeling.
• Carve out time to feel.
• Accept that the experience may be confusing.
• Acknowledge that your feelings are worthy.
• Notice if you’re taking on other people’s feelings.
• Get curious about your feelings.
• Talk about your feelings.
• Learn to trust your feelings and yourself Use The Feelings Wheel to help identify your feelings.

CRM Skills

• YouTube playlist: CRM Crash Course
• Website: Community Resilience Model (CRM)

Experience JOMO – invest in relationships and practice pro-social behaviors.

Digital well-being expert, Christina Crook, describes JOMO best. “Take FOMO and flip it on its head. That’s JOMO – the Joy of Missing Out. JOMO encourages people to find joy in missing out on things like scrolling social media or binge-watching so you can make space for what really matters most to you.”

If you are looking to feel more connected, try these three things:

• Invest in your current relationships by reaching out, making plans, and making time for people who mean the most to you.
• Practice pro-social behaviors to make new connections and experience the benefits of using your time with purpose.
• Try your best to put your phone away when trying to connect with someone in person.

Prosocial behavior is something that we choose to do that helps or benefits another person or group of people. Empathy is at the core of prosocial behaviors and when we look at examples of prosocial behaviors, they really look like what it means to be a Hokie, our motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve). Examples include:

• Helping: Helping a peer with a school assignment or offering to help someone.
• Sharing: Sharing toys, treats, or food with friends.
• Donating: Donating money.
• Volunteering: Volunteering time to an organization.
• Comforting: Comforting someone who is sad or hurt.
• Cooperating: Cooperating with others to complete a task or play a game.
• Protecting: Protecting others from harm.
• Showing kindness: Speaking gently to someone.
• Showing care: Showing care for animals and the environment.

Atricle: The Basics or Prosocial Behavior.

• Benefits
• Types
• How to take action

Podcast: How to Make America's Young People Happier Again, The Happiness Lab.

Report: World Happiness Report 2024.

Event: Volunteer for the Big Event with VT Engage April 5, 2025.