Touch Grass Week at NUS College encourages learning without screens

Students and faculty take the opportunity to reflect on how they use technology

- Shermaine Ang

(From far left) Students Zhuo Zhuzhen, Aayush Arya and Low Zhi Yi in a class conducted outdoors during NUS College's Touch Grass Week initiative from Jan 26 to 30. Classes were encouraged to go screen-free where possible, relying on discussion, physical texts, handwritten notes and other offline approaches.

(ST PHOTO: GIN TAY)

Six college students sit in a circle on the grass, discussing a short story and jotting down notes in their course books on their laps.

In another creative writing class, students pick out objects like a sponge or eggshells and write about a character made from that material — an exercise meant to encourage them to engage their senses and observe the world more closely.

These activities were part of a new initiative called Touch Grass Week. From Jan 26 to 30, classes were encouraged to go screen-free where possible, relying on discussion, physical texts, handwritten notes and other offline approaches.

NUS College dean Simon Chesterman said: “Touch grass’ is about stepping away from screens and back into the real world. In that spirit, the week is not about rejecting technology, but about noticing how it shapes our time, attention and connections, as well as what we might gain by occasionally putting it aside.”

He told The Sunday Times that the idea first came to him when the National University of Singapore (NUS) had e-learning weeks in the past and he joked that there should be a “zero tech week”.

Faculty and students he spoke to at NUS College liked the idea of having time to reflect on the way they use technology.

Professor Chesterman said more students are realising the impact of social media on mental health.