CBS News — New JOMO(campus) Program Increases Mindful Tech Use

BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - Virginia Tech has earned a new distinction - the first Certified Digitally Well University in the country.

University officials say they’ve been working on digital wellbeing since 2017. Laurie Fritsch, the assistant director of Hokie Wellness, defines digital wellness as using technology in a way that maximizes life, while minimizing distractions.

This year, students in a freshman residence hall were invited to participated in a four week challenge called Unwind Offline. The students were able to pick some behavioral challenges.

Christina Crook, a digital wellbeing expert, author, and founder of JOMO campus says the result from the pilot program were better than expected.

“So some students reduced their daily social media use in half so from a seven hours to three hours, which is a huge others who kept more to themselves prior to the challenge formed groups of friends for the first time we have some beautiful stories coming out of this challenge. So these are changes that will make significant impacts on students mental health, and overall overall well being, not just in their campus life but beyond,” she said.

Crook and Fritsch say right now they’re focusing on first year students, but the program will be expanding.

“My hope is that we can inspire our students to either focus on relationships, and rather than looking to their phone, when they get onto campus to stay connected to people in their hometown, that they set their phones down to start creating connections on campus. It’s so critical for that first year student success.”

Watch on CBS News.