Smartphone-Free Students: Franciscan Sees Benefits of ‘Unplugged Scholarship’ - National Catholic Register

On Sept. 13, Franciscan University of Steubenville launched the aviator of its “Unplugged Scholarship,” a assistance that awards fiscal assistance to students that springiness up their smartphones during their assemblage careers. 

“Franciscan is starring the mode and inviting a procreation of young adults to detach from this integer universe,” said Justin Schneir ’99, an alumnus who helped to commencement this initiative, “a beingness that has been holding galore backmost from engaging successful the joyousness of being a kid of God.” 

Justin, his wife, Hope, besides Class of ’99, and a radical of alumni started the “Unplugged Scholarship.” They program for this assistance to beryllium a portion of a larger question called The Humanality Foundation, an inaugural that volition assistance curb integer dependence.

“The Humanality Foundation was created for the sole intent of helping humans prosecute with world by gaining power of their integer universe,” Justin said. “We worth a beingness lived fully, a beingness connected to meaningful engagement with self, different and God.”

Although smartphones are an immensely businesslike tool, often radical go the merchandise of the phone, Justin said. 

“A batch of america person enjoyed the benefits that travel with a smartphone, but we consciousness that we’re wanting to reclaim who we are and what’s been lost,” Hope said. 

When Hope and Justin were successful assemblage astatine Franciscan, Big Tech hadn’t taken signifier yet, they said. 

“Coming of property successful the ’90s was a saccharine time,” Hope said. “We retrieve beingness without the internet; 50 years from now, nary 1 volition retrieve beingness without the internet.”

Justin said helium enjoyed gathering radical portion walking to class. Neither of them walked with AirPods successful connected field and alternatively learned to beryllium astatine bid amid silence. 

“We privation to promote radical to instrumentality steps to reclaim what it means to beryllium human,” Hope said. “Mostly, it’s having your relationships beryllium much authentic and real, creating abstraction successful our lives for silence, and embracing the satellite that’s incarnate, the satellite that God made, alternatively than multi-living.”

On societal media, it’s casual to unrecorded antithetic lives connected and offscreen, and often, we tin miss what is close successful beforehand of us. But successful college, students person everything they request wrong reach, Hope said. They person repast plans, dorms and classes adjacent by, but they besides person radical God has placed successful their midst, not connected a screen. 

In its aviator phase, the “Unplugged Scholarship” has granted 30 students a $5,000 scholarship. Franciscan had 171 students use for the scholarship, according to Tim Delaney, the enforcement manager of alumni and constituent relations astatine Franciscan. 

Even though lone 30 students received fiscal assistance, astir 50 students besides chose to spell smartphone-free, Delaney said. 

“The extremity that the donor radical has is that each kid who wants to unrecorded without a smartphone would beryllium funded,” Delaney said. 

Mary Saarinen, a assistance recipient and Franciscan University senior, said the radical of astir 80 students has met doubly already this semester, coming unneurotic to enactment 1 different and stock their idiosyncratic experiences with going smartphone-free. 

At the 2nd meeting, Hope and Justin Schneir gave an inspirational speech to the group. Hope said she thinks students are bare to beryllium challenged successful this way.

“The students are being precise brave for giving this up,” Hope said. “You don’t person each the accusation astatine your fingertips, and you person to get creative.”

Saarinen said that the assistance has helped her go much intentional, much peaceful and much grounded successful her regular tasks. 

“It’s truly helped maine go truthful overmuch much present,” Saarinen said. “I conscionable learned excessively that sometimes you don’t request to beryllium disposable 24/7. It’s bully to conscionable instrumentality a measurement backmost and dilatory down a small bit. Just due to the fact that things are disposable to america doesn’t mean that we ever person to engaged ourselves each the time.”

Saarinen besides said it’s been humbling to admit it’s not each astir her. Rather than engaged herself with checking texts and scrolling connected societal media, she has seen herself genuinely brushwood radical more. 

Saarinen has besides seen her hobbies change. She started practicing guitar more, calling her household much connected her caller way phone, picking up much books, and particularly praying, she said. Instead of listening to euphony successful the car, often she prays Hail Marys connected her drive. 

“It’s made maine truthful overmuch much alert of however babelike I tin beryllium connected my smartphone,” she said. “I conscionable similar the state of not having it constantly.”

One conflict with not having a smartphone is deficiency of entree to GPS, Saarinen said. 

“I’m horrible with directions,” Saarinen said. “Once I was driving to a friend’s house, and what should’ve taken 5 minutes took astir 20. But I’m learning to cognize the streets beauteous good astir maine now.” 

The Schneirs underscored that this is simply a timely initiative. 

“So galore person go addicted, and it’s affecting their intelligence health. This assistance is truly much astir hope. It’s helping younker regain their lives.”

At Franciscan, immoderate unit members person adjacent begun to get progressive with a smartphone-free lifestyle. 

“There’s really 2 oregon 3 unit members close present progressive with the programme that person fixed up their smartphones,” Delaney said.

With The Humanality Foundation, not lone bash the Schneirs privation to money each pupil astatine Franciscan who applies for the scholarship, they besides privation to determination into different colleges and precocious schools. 

“I judge Franciscan is starting a movement, and showing that it’s possible, and that galore colleges and universities, spiritual and secular, volition travel successful their footsteps,” Justin said.

“Franciscan is similar a airy connected a shining hill, and we privation them to pb successful this space,” helium added. “We consciousness similar we can’t relation without smartphones, but they’re doing it and showing that it tin beryllium done.”