{"id":149731,"date":"2026-03-02T15:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T15:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/149731\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T15:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T15:22:10","slug":"nyu-launches-device-free-spaces-for-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/149731\/","title":{"rendered":"NYU Launches Device-Free Spaces for Students"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kristie Patten was alarmed when Grant Callahan, a fourth-year student at New York University<\/a>, told her he has \u201cnever been in a class where the professor had to shush students to get started because we were already quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because they were glued to their phones, said Patten, who serves as NYU\u2019s counselor to the president.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was so striking, because those connections you make just by turning and talking to your neighbor\u2014where did that go?\u201d Patten said.<\/p>\n

The exchange underscored what Patten and university leaders see as a growing challenge on campus: how to create space for students to have meaningful, face-to-face connections in a device-saturated world.<\/p>\n

Inspired by NYU professor Jonathan Haidt\u2019s book The Anxious Generation<\/a>, the institution launched NYU IRL<\/a>, or In Real Life, a universitywide initiative that encourages students to put their phones down, connect with friends and engage fully in the present. Launched last week, the effort provides faculty resources for device-free classroom practices, supports extracurricular programming and establishes device-free spaces across all three NYU campuses\u2014in New York City, Abu Dhabi and Shanghai.<\/p>\n

Patten said the initiative brought together faculty, staff, alumni and students, with students serving as the driving force behind the way it ultimately took shape.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not saying NYU is completely device-free,\u201d Patten said. \u201cWe\u2019re taking lessons from [Haidt\u2019s] book on how social media and scrolling\u2014and the time you spend on your devices\u2014can impact your productivity, your attention, your sleep. Those are all things that need to be in check so you can make real connections while you\u2019re here on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

The initiative comes amid mounting concerns about student loneliness and mental health nationwide. Drawing on data from nearly 44,000 college students, a recent report<\/a> from Trellis Strategies, a nonprofit research organization focused on student success and higher education policy, found that 57\u00a0percent said they felt lonely, while only 15\u00a0percent reported never feeling lonely.<\/p>\n

Other research reinforces that pattern. A recent study<\/a> from the University of Cincinnati found that more than half of college students nationwide report feeling lonely, with heavy social media users particularly likely to experience isolation.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents recognize there\u2019s something fundamentally missing,\u201d Callahan, the fourth-year student, said. \u201cSocial media was initially framed as this great connector, and yet somewhere in the process that was totally lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one\u2019s actually interacting with each other, and I think there\u2019s something deeply human\u2014a desire within all of us\u2014to feel that connection and really engage with one another,\u201d he added. \u201cWhen you go to a college like NYU, the largest private university, there are thousands of students everywhere, and yet students feel so alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, Inside Higher Ed\u2019s most recent Student Voice survey<\/a> of more than 5,000 students across 260 two- and four-year institutions found that only 27\u00a0percent of undergraduates described their mental health as above average or excellent\u2014down from 42\u00a0percent the prior year. The same share rated their sense of social belonging as above average or excellent.<\/p>\n

Patten said the goal of NYU IRL is to create device-free areas where students can connect face-to-face.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve tried to really be thoughtful and conscious about making sure that this initiative truly is comprehensive, and we\u2019ve looked at all the angles,\u201d Patten said.<\/p>\n

Fun and games: A new space at NYU\u2019s Kimmel Center, called The Nest<\/a>, allows students to put their phones in a charging locker, meet friends, make crafts, play board games and connect with one another.<\/p>\n

In addition, NYU Abu Dhabi is debuting a device-free space\u2014called Al\u2011\u2018Ush, meaning \u201cThe Nest\u201d in Arabic\u2014which will offer a range of community programming. NYU Shanghai will have its own outdoor version, featuring seasonal planter boxes, lounge seating and picnic tables to create a relaxed, open-air environment.<\/p>\n

Device-free spaces have become a growing trend on college campuses. Student groups at institutions like the University of Central Florida<\/a> have organized \u201chuman connection habitats,\u201d where participants surrender their devices to socialize in person. Some professors and departments at the University of Maryland<\/a> and the University of California, Los Angeles<\/a>, also encourage\u2014or require\u2014students to leave laptops and phones behind to improve engagement and promote note taking by hand.<\/p>\n

Patten said the spaces are designed to create structured opportunities for students to engage with one another.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not about us older people wagging our finger and telling students to get off their phones,\u201d Patten said. \u201cNo, they\u2019re the ones leading the way here, and we just need to help provide the ease of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

NYU students have even expanded on the university\u2019s efforts. This semester, Callahan and fellow fourth-year student Hannah Swartz launched the Human Connection Club to provide more occasions for in-person interaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up using technology and having our social connection be through social media, we\u2019ve struggled to build the skills to interact with each other,\u201d Swartz said. \u201cOne of the reasons people have been interested in the club is that we\u2019re providing a space where it\u2019s normal to talk to someone next to you, and those people are there to meet you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Callahan added that their first public appearance at NYU\u2019s club fest drew more than 100 signatures from interested students, noting that many approached them without the need for extensive outreach.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to remember that we\u2019re the first generation who don\u2019t recall a time in elementary or middle school without phones,\u201d Callahan said. \u201cOur generation is really starting to recognize how detrimental it\u2019s been on us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Students<\/p>\n

Nearly 90 students gathered at The Nest for a game night hosted by NYU\u2019s Human Connection Club.<\/p>\n

Hannah Swartz\/New York University<\/p>\n

Building in-person connections: Swartz said The Nest is already helping students make casual, meaningful connections. She noted that a Human Connection Club board member recently texted her after passing The Nest and said, \u201c\u2018It makes me so happy to see people just sitting around and playing games together.\u2019 I\u2019ve had that experience, too,\u201d Swartz said. \u201cAnd even if you\u2019re not there in person, just passing by and seeing connections on campus can have that butterfly effect of students wanting to go to class and talk to somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Callahan said, the initiative is about more than just putting down phones; it\u2019s about reclaiming the human connections that can get lost in everyday campus life.<\/p>\n

\u201cA fundamental part of this is the importance of play,\u201d Callahan said. \u201cYou lose that because everyone\u2019s so worried about their grades and their tests and networking and internships and jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because we\u2019re 18, 19, 20 years old doesn\u2019t mean we lose that desire\u2014that need,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s like we get to have recess all over again because we missed it during COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get more content like this directly to your inbox. Subscribe here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kristie Patten was alarmed when Grant Callahan, a fourth-year student at New York University, told her he has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10069,67,4619,20272,3415,9,11,10,49,51,50,12],"class_list":["post-149731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-career","tag-education","tag-events","tag-higher","tag-jobs","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}