Criminal justice 302 Research Methods students were challenged to turn their phones off for an entire week.

The students were required to turn their phones off from 4:00 p.m. Tuesday March 29 until this Tuesday at 4:00 p.m.

To prove to their professor Whitney Flesher their phones were off for an entire week, students had to turn their phones off in front of the professor and then back on the following Tuesday and show notifications rolling in.

Flesher said the goal was for the students to realize there is more to life than being engulfed with their phones and consistently checking social media.

Junior psychology major Ellen McNamara said not having her phone was very eye opening.

“I had had it off for 20 minutes and just walking through campus and seeing that literally every single person was looking at their phone was surprising,” McNamara said.

McNamara said she had 318 texts and over 3,000 GroupMe notifications when she turned her phone back on.

“I really didn’t miss social media,” McNamara said. “I realized that social media browsing is more of a habit and muscle memory at this point. Whenever I open my phone I immediately check my texts, then Instagram, then Twitter and then Snapchat in that order.”

Sophomore business major Stephen Son said keeping his phone off was more of an inconvenience than anything else.

“I didn’t know how to get ahold of people and I really missed having the security of having my phone in case there was an emergency,” Son said. “Part of what made it so hard was that we were the only ones without phones so we were the only ones that were inconvenienced.”

Students who successfully completed this challenge will receive a free A on an upcoming exam.

Flesher said the majority of the class did not complete the challenge.

Emily Wood can be contacted at [email protected].