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The average college student spends up to nine hours or more on screens each day, driven by a combination of academic tasks and recreational use. Research reported by Inside Higher Ed found that 54 percent of college-aged students in the U.S. use screens five hours or more per day for non-class activities alone, such as social media, gaming and streaming.
While digital technology may be a useful, enjoyable and integral part of campus life, the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries are inviting Vanderbilt community members to reconsider their relationship with screens this academic year, especially during their down time. The Heard Libraries, in collaboration with key university partners, are making 2026–27 the Year to Unplug—a sustained, institution-wide effort to cultivate a campus culture of reading, reflection and community.
Programming will center not only on books, reading and connecting with others but also on resources and alternative activities to help participants build healthy habits around technology use. Students, faculty and staff can track their participation for a chance to win prizes and other incentives.
“Our students are increasingly seeking analog opportunities to connect with one another, and books, authors and shared reading experiences offer an ideal counterbalance to the fragmentation of modern life,” said Jon Shaw, dean of libraries and letters and Connie Vinita Dowell University Librarian. “The Heard Libraries are uniquely positioned, by our mission, our spaces and our community relationships, to anchor a campus-wide initiative to help students and others unplug from their digital devices.”
The libraries will work with a student advisory committee recruited across class years, residential colleges and academic programs to help design, promote and lead the initiative. Other campus partners include the Vanderbilt Graduate School, Residential Colleges and the Writing Studio.
A cornerstone of the programming is a series of silent reading clubs, modeled after the Vanderbilt Bookstore’s Silent Book Club, to take place at designated times and locations around campus. These include “The Grad” space on the sixth floor of Central Library, Zeppos College, Library Lawn, music-filled lunch hours at Special Collections and University Archives in collaboration with the Blair School of Music, and others. Participants are encouraged to bring their own reading material to enjoy in fellowship with other independent readers. While the initiative discourages screen use, those who prefer Kindles and e-readers for their long-form and leisure reading should feel welcome to participate. The Year to Unplug also will lend support to established Vanderbilt reading clubs like the Inclusive Book Group, the K.C. Potter Center Book Club, and the Dare to Read Collective.
To celebrate the conversations that arise from books, reading and the exchange of ideas, the libraries are hosting a series of talks on campus by prominent authors in collaboration with Nashville’s Parnassus Books and Dialogue Vanderbilt. Bestselling novelist Jodi Picoult, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pulitzer Prize winner Barbara Kingsolver, and acclaimed journalist Malcolm Gladwell are just some of the authors that audiences can hear discuss their latest works in person this fall. And Vanderbilt University will present the 38th annual Southern Festival of Books in partnership with Humanities Tennessee on Oct. 17–18. This free event in downtown Nashville will feature nearly 200 national authors as well as vendors, entertainment, food trucks and family-friendly activities.
The Year to Unplug includes a workshop series designed to help participants be more intentional with technology. Initial sessions feature tips to “dumbify” one’s smartphone, a discussion on reconciling technology use with personal values, and how to shift to more analog organizational practices like bullet journaling. Central Library also will establish a dedicated “device-free zone” in the sixth-floor Periodicals Room where devices can be locked away to eliminate distractions.
“When we unplug, we sleep deeper, think more clearly, and worry less. Putting devices away during meals and gatherings fosters more meaningful connections with classmates, family and friends,” said Melissa Mallon, associate university librarian for Teaching and Learning, the library unit spearheading the Year to Unplug initiative.
A key component of the initiative is the Unplug It! challenge, where students, faculty and staff are invited to track their participation for the chance to win prizes such as Brick devices, retro-inspired media, analog activities and more, culminating in an end-of-semester pizza party.
“Our goal is to encourage the Vanderbilt community to be more intentional about how and when they engage with technology, and to facilitate opportunities to connect over shared activities and with each other,” Mallon said.
This mission ideally complements Beyond the Core, the hands-on learning piece of A&S College Core, the College of Arts and Science’s general education curriculum. Beyond the Core allows first-year students to choose how they want to earn credit from a variety of options, ranging from attending campus events to writing articles to using the university’s academic support services. The Year to Unplug’s collaboration with College Core will prioritize intentional space for students to sit with Core course readings and foster engagement with the kind of deliberate, reflective thinking the Core is designed to cultivate.
“We’re very excited to collaborate on this initiative with the libraries,” said Elizabeth Catania, associate professor of the practice of neuroscience and associate director of A&S College Core. “Core 1010 classrooms are already technology-free to encourage careful reading and thoughtful discussion. Having the Year to Unplug activities in Beyond the Core will encourage our freshmen to reflect on how their experiences with technology in and out of the classroom affect their learning as well as allow them to make thoughtful choices about how they use technology in the future.”
Additional partnerships with Residential Colleges, Live. Learn. Lead Academy, the Center for Student Wellbeing and the Vanderbilt Bookstore will extend the Year to Unplug initiative into students’ living communities, academic departments, wellness programming and more.
“The Year to Unplug is an opportunity to shape the Vanderbilt student experience in ways that will outlast any single academic year,” Shaw said. “By inviting students to set aside their devices and rediscover the pleasures of reading, conversation and undistracted thought, our hope is that the libraries help cultivate habits of mind and connection that students carry with them long after graduation.”