30 Days of Less Tech

a guided digital detox adventure in using less tech and living more life

University Program Overview

The Big Idea

A 30-day campus reset that rebuilds focus, learning conditions, and digital wellbeing across students, faculty, and staff.

30 Days of Less Tech is a structured, campus-friendly program that helps people reclaim attention and build realistic norms without shaming technology and without asking for impossible perfection.

On the modern campus, distraction isn’t just a student problem. It’s a learning environment problem. A teaching effectiveness problem. A staff capacity problem.

When attention is constantly pulled into devices, notifications, and rapid context switching, the result is predictable:

  • students struggle to study deeply and retain material

  • faculty lose uninterrupted blocks for prep, grading, and research

  • staff spend their days in reactive loops (email, Teams, Slack, interruptions, meetings)

  • everyone feels busy… yet the most meaningful work takes longer than it should

Includes: 90-min kickoff + workbook + weekly touchpoints + 90-min integration/closing

What this program
actually does

This isn’t a lecture about screen time. It’s a behavior-change sprint designed for real academic life.

Over 30 days, participants learn how to:

  • interrupt distraction loops without relying on willpower

  • protect deep focus (study blocks, research blocks, grading blocks, administrative work blocks)

  • reduce interruption-driven work and “always-on” communication pressure

  • design better conditions for learning, teaching, and collaboration

This is a workbook-guided container with a clear beginning, middle, and end, so the change has a chance to stick.

Who is this for?

You can run this as a blended cohort or a targeted cohort.
Great fit for:
Student Success, Wellness, Faculty Development, Staff Development/HR, First-Year Experience, Honors, Learning Communities, and department-level initiatives.

Students

  • stronger study focus and follow-through

  • better attention habits in class and during study sessions

  • a realistic system for boundaries and recovery during a semester

Faculty

  • clearer learning norms that improve classroom conditions

  • fewer attention leaks during prep/grading/research time

  • more present teaching (and less cognitive drag)

Staff

  • reduced interruption loops and “reactive day” patterns

  • more effective meetings and communication expectations

  • better capacity for complex work that requires sustained attention

What’s included

30-Day format

1) 90-minute Live Kickoff 

We set the baseline and build momentum:

  • attention audit: where time and focus leak on your campus

  • habit map: the patterns behind “I can’t stop checking.”

  • choose 2-3 friction fixes aligned to your cohort (classrooms, offices, hybrid work)

2) The Workbook 

Participants get a guided workbook with:

  • daily themes + prompts

  • small experiments that fit life

  • simple tracking to make progress visible (without shame)

3) Support Touchpoints 

Designed to keep momentum without creating new meetings:

  • Monday/Wednesday/Friday email prompt (this can be offered as an opt-in for participants)

  • midway live 60-minute AMA (ask me anything)

4) 90-minute Live Integration  

We consolidate and lock in:

  • what worked, what didn’t

  • agreements to carry forward (class norms, meeting norms, communication norms)

  • a “relapse plan” for midterms, finals, crunch periods, and high-stress cycles

Measurement (simple, useful, not burdensome)

If your campus wants a before/after snapshot, we use lightweight measures:

2-minute pulse (pre + post):

  • focus + overwhelm + recovery habits

  • perceived effectiveness of study/teaching/work blocks

  • confidence in maintaining boundaries

Optional add-ons (depending on program home):

  • classroom or meeting norms adoption checklist

  • self-reported deep focus minutes (baseline vs. week 4)

  • attendance/assignment follow-through (when appropriate)

What changes in 30 days?

This is what participants notice when the program lands well:

🎯 Better learning conditions

Less multitasking creep. More “single-tasking” during class and study.

🎯 Stronger focus stamina

Participants learn how to get back into depth quickly and stay there longer.

🎯 Healthier digital norms

Not “no tech.” More like: intentional tech with clear boundaries, fewer compulsive checks.

🎯 Improved meeting and communication quality

Less noise, clearer expectations, and better decisions (especially for staff teams).

🎯 A shared campus language around attention

So you’re not relying on individual willpower, you’re shifting the culture.

What this is not

  • Not a moral lecture about phones

  • Not a “ban devices” policy push

  • Not another app or platform

  • Not a high-effort program that creates more work for your team

  • Not a one-off talk that evaporates after the session

This is structured change, designed to fit campus reality.

Implementation options

Pick the version that makes adoption easiest:

  1. Blended Campus Cohort (Students + Faculty + Staff)
    Builds shared norms and a shared language across roles.

  2. Faculty + Staff Cohort
    Best for improving meeting culture, communication expectations, overwhelm, and deep work protection.

  3. Student Success Cohort
    Best for study habits, self-regulation, overwhelm, and learning conditions.

  4. Embedded in a course or program
    Perfect for FYE, Honors, Learning Communities, or a departmental initiative.

How deployment works

  1. Fit call (20 minutes): confirm the audience, goals, and schedule

  2. Kickoff scheduled: we choose the 30-day window

  3. Delivery: kickoff → weekly touchpoints → closing session

  4. Outcome summary: you get a simple before/after snapshot based on agreed measures

Most programs can launch within 2-3 weeks of scheduling.

Digital Wellbeing Gallery

What participants say:

  • “For the first time in years, I felt as if I had finally been unchained… The hold that these apps had on me was finally released.”

  • “I was just letting myself be bored until I wasn’t anymore… I genuinely haven’t done that in years.”

  • “The first time I went on social media after the detox week was over, I was only on Instagram for a few minutes because I quickly got bored with it. I thought to myself, ‘What’s the point?’”

  • “For the first time in a long time, my brain felt very quiet… my brain wasn’t buzzing like it normally is.”

  • “I felt extremely productive and not distracted… The time flew.”

  • “I was able to fully immerse myself in the moment… an amazing feeling.”

  • “I’ve been feeling much more productive and overall feeling mentally lighter.”

  • “It resulted in an 18% increase in my daily sleep duration and improved productivity during the day.”

  • “This week, I saved an average of 2 hours and 45 minutes by not scrolling.”

  • “I… reduced my average screen time from over 5 hours to just over 3 hours.”

  • “I succeeded in not using TikTok at all… only spent 22 total minutes on Instagram… and did not scroll through any reels.”

  • “I began to focus more on tasks and multitasked less… amazing to see how much focused work I was doing.”

  • “I could remember more details since I was distracted less.”

  • “When I was around my friends and doing activities I loved, I didn’t miss social media one bit!”

  • “I’ve set a daily time limit… and I’ll always remember that big tech benefits most when I scroll.”

  • “I also had an overall sense of positivity about myself and my life… because I didn’t have the opportunity to compare…”

  • “Initially, I felt a strong sense of FOMO… the detox made me anxious… However… I focused on being productive…”

  • “Deleting these apps has made me feel mentally lighter. I no longer rely on social media to fill downtime.”

  • “After deleting the app, I still found myself trying to open it unconsciously. It made me see how automatic my habits had become.”

  • “Although my detox is over… this is only the start of my journey… I can only hope it’s away from a screen.”

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