Cornell Unplugged

Cornell Unplugged

From September 14-20, Cornell students, faculty, and staff are invited to go off-line, off-screen, and off-tech to participate in Cornell Unplugged 2026.   

The initiative encourages participants to explore how mindful technology use can support personal well-being and meaningful connection, more human-centered forms of teaching and learning, and more thoughtful and sustainable modes of computing and AI use. Throughout the week, participants are encouraged to unplug from phones, computers, televisions, and other electronic devices to the greatest extent possible. Whether participants choose to unplug for a day, an hour, or an evening, every effort counts.  
 
The initiative encourages participants to reflect on how much time they spend connected to technology, and to bring awareness to three key issues:   

Unplug and connect logo
  1. How excessive technology use can contribute to feelings of disconnection and social isolation
  2. How unplugging can encourage thoughtful, innovative and human-centered forms of teaching and learning
  3. How indiscriminate technology use can challenge sustainability goals and raise the environmental costs of computing and AI. 

Wondering how to unplug?

If you are interested in connecting with community consider putting away devices during meals, holding in-person meetups and meetings, leaving your phone at home, or turning off social media notifications. You can also join in a wide range of in-person and off-line activities that week:

 

If you are interested in exploring the environmental footprint of your computing:

  • Website Carbon Calculator is the best starting point for anyone curious about everyday browsing. Paste in any URL - It can be your favorite news site, your own homepage, whatever you have open right now, and it estimates that page's carbon footprint per visit. 
  • EcoLogits is great if you want to understand the footprint of your AI use specifically. It works with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and other similar tools. Select a provider and model, and it estimates the carbon, energy, and water impact of that query. 
  • CodeCarbon is a good resource for anyone who writes code or runs computational work - students, researchers, and IT teams. It's a free, open-source tool that measures the actual energy draw and emissions of a script or model as it runs on your own machine, rather than estimating from the outside.

Getting Ready to Unplug 

 

  • Decide when and how you want to unplug. (A day? An evening? Some classes but not others?). Do what feels reasonable and a little is okay – every bit helps.
  • Let people know your plans, especially people (your friends, your mom, your colleagues) who might otherwise expect to hear from you. Consider autoreplies, status updates, or notes on social media accounts.  
  • Where needed, make plans to meet up with friends in advance, or consider alternate modes of communication.
  • Consider a day (a week?) without AI. (Claude will forgive you).
  • Prepare for needed work during any period of unplugging.  Accumulate necessary materials in advance. Prepare to work from paper where needed (readings, notes, assignments, etc.).
  • Talk with friends and colleagues about any collective changes you might want to try (‘for this week’s club/floor/department meeting, House Dinner, etc. let’s…’)
  • Reflect on and record (on paper!) your experiences. (What was hard? What was easy? What did you learn?). Talk about it with friends. Share your experiences afterwards in the Unplugged Survey.  

 

  • Watch for (and get involved with!) a wide variety of Unplugged events happening across campus that week. Once Unplugged has started, watch for signage at Olin and Mann Libraries, Toni Morrison and the West Campus dining halls for updates and reminders. 
  • If you’re an instructor, consider consulting the tech-lite classroom strategies at CTI.
Students chatting

 

  • If you’re struggling, STOP. Tech is built deeply into our lives, and unplugging (even a little) can be complicated and no joke. The goal here is not hard stops and absolute rules (unless that’s your jam), but to build more mindful and intentional tech practices around campus.  

 

Cornell Unplugged Strategies

Teaching and Learning Strategies

We encourage instructors and students to experiment and reflect on how unplugging in the classroom can encourage thoughtful, innovative, and human-centered forms of teaching and learning.  

If you are interested in exploring tech-free or tech-lite teaching and learning, consider trying one of the following mini-experiments. At the end of the week, invite students to reflect and discuss how, whether, and the extent to which anything felt different for their learning or sense of community in the class.

Try teaching without slides for a day or a week. Some options include:

  • Use the board for a ‘chalk talk’ style class.
  • Hold class discussions in small groups or as a whole class. 
  • Do a concept mapping activity with student groups using post-it notes, paper, or the board to map out and show relationships between concepts.
  • Create handouts for problem-solving or question prompts.
  • Have students work on in-class writing on paper, such as outlining a paper, or starting a draft.
  • Read passages aloud together (or quietly) and discuss.
  • Create a zine or a collage in class related to a class topic or reading. Bring magazines, paper, markers, scissors, tape, and glue sticks. At the end, ask students in pairs or small groups to discuss and reflect on what they created. Read more about a zine activity used in Spanish classes at Cornell.
Grit Matthias Phelps, German language instructor, has her students use an old manual typewriter for writing assignments, without screens
Grit Matthias Phelps, German language instructor, has her students use an old manual typewriter for writing assignments, without screens

Try a tech-lite week: 

  • Encourage students to put away their laptops, tablets, and phones for a class discussion. At the end, ask them if the discussion felt different.
  • Suggest that students take notes on paper for a week and then see if they feel it made a difference in their learning or focus.
  • Explore more strategies for tech-lite classrooms.

Foster interpersonal connections:

  • Take a few minutes at the beginning of class to invite students to turn to people near them and introduce themselves.
  • Mix up student groups or encourage students to sit in a different part of the classroom and talk with at least one person new to them.
  • Help students get to know each other by asking a pair discussion question that connects class topics to their experiences or interests.

Activities outside the classroom:

The instructor, Melissa Conroy, leads students to visit the Brooktondale Sheep Farm for the class FSAD 4370: Knitwear Design and Other Knit Applications.
The instructor, Melissa Conroy, leads students to visit the Brooktondale Sheep Farm for the class FSAD 4370: Knitwear Design and Other Knit Applications.
  • Walking peer discussion or think-pair-share: Give students a question prompt and the option of going outside for a peer discussion or a think-pair-share activity. Suggest they stroll around a quad—for example, it takes around 10 minutes to walk around the Ag Quad—and then return to the classroom by a certain time. Students can also choose to sit outside or stay indoors for their discussion. When they come back inside, ask volunteers to share ideas from their discussions.
  • Close observation: Ask students to walk in certain areas of campus to observe, discuss, take notes, or collect data. Some options include observing nature, public art, architecture, people, or signs & posters.
  • Ask students to do an awe-walk or a sensory-savoring activity, such as Anthony Ong does in his psychology course. Then come back to class to discuss their experiences in small groups. Some examples of prompts for this type of activity are:
    • Pick one of your senses and focus on how you experience a walk, building, area of campus, or field trip through this sense. How do things smell? What do you hear? What textures can you touch? How does your body feel in different spaces (achy, tense, relaxed)? Were there any surprises?
    • Pick a color or a shape and pay attention to when you see this color or shape (orange? pointy? circular? purple?). What did you notice by focusing on a color or shape? Were there any surprises?
    • Look for three things you find beautiful during a walk or visit. What makes each one beautiful to you?
    • Find three things you have never noticed before in a place you go to frequently
  • With some advanced planning, you could take students on a field trip within Cornell (e.g., one of the libraries, the Johnson Museum, Cornell Botanic Gardens, Lab of Ornithology, etc.), within Ithaca, or locally. For example, Kathryn Fiorella arranges field trips to multiple locations at Cornell, as well as to local grocery stores, for her students to learn about local food systems.
  • Send student groups on a class-related scavenger hunt. For example, Brian Kirby asks student groups to find examples on campus of Engineering concepts they are learning in class. 

This week is an opportunity to try some mini-experiments in tech-free or tech-lite learning. You might start by noticing when technology helps with your learning and connecting with others in class, and when it may be distracting or hindering connections. Try picking one strategy to be more intentional with your technology use during class and one strategy to connect with others. At the end of the week, reflect on whether anything felt different for your learning or sense of community in class.

Try a tech-lite week in class: 

  • Try putting away your devices during class and take notes on paper. Experiment with using the Cornell notetaking system. 
  • Place your phone out of sight when you are in class or studying
  • If you do use a laptop to take notes, try closing other applications or notifications so that you are not tempted to respond to a text or email during class.

Build interpersonal connections with your classroom community

CTI workshop at the Johnson Art Museum: Teaching About the Climate Change: Art, Action, Reflection. Lead by: Melina Ivanchikova
CTI workshop at the Johnson Art Museum: Teaching About the Climate Change: Art, Action, Reflection. Lead by: Melina Ivanchikova
  • Say hello to someone sitting near you, especially someone you don’t know yet.
  • During group or pair discussions, look around you in class to make sure no one is left out. Invite them into your group
  • Ask someone if they would like to study together or find a study partner through the Learning Strategies Center
  • During class discussions, affirm and build on what someone else has said
  • Ask your instructor a question before or after class
  • Go to office hours to talk about class and to get to know your instructor

Cultivate focus

  • Set an intention for how you want to show up in class. It could be a word or phrase like (curious, ask a question, friendly, focused). Jot it down at the top of your notes. 
  • Take a minute at the beginning of class to put your feet on the floor and take a few deep breaths.
  • Ask yourself - what do you need to set aside to focus in class today?

Reflect and notice

  • In what ways is technology helping your learning and connections with others, and in what ways might it be hindering or distracting you?
  • What have you been learning about yourself this week? About others?
  • What’s something you learned from another student in class discussions this week?
  • What felt like your most meaningful discussion or interaction this week?

 

Strategies at work

While we know that technology is essential in many of our roles at work and can help us connect across distance, it can also be distracting, limit healthy movement, or hinder making personal connections. Consider trying one of these mini-experiments for the week. At the end of the week, reflect on how it felt, and if you would like to continue or try something different.

Strategies to unplug at work

  • Get up every hour for a stretch break, a stroll down the hall, or step outside and breathe
  • Set limits or a schedule for how often you check e-mail, Slack, Teams, or text messages. Turn off notifications
  • Put your phone out of sight while working or in meetings
  • Take notes on paper during a meeting instead of using your laptop
  • Take a ‘thinking walk’ around Beebe Lake, around one of the quads, or over to the Botanic Gardens. Choose a topic you need to think about, and then write down your ideas, decisions, or next steps when you come back inside.
  • See if you can meet in person instead of Zoom
  • Check a book out of the Cornell library and read for professional development or for pleasure
  • Use paper or sticky notes for a team brainstorming or planning activity
  • Start a notebook for work-related ideas, task lists, journaling, or reflection
  • Turn off lights and equipment when not needed
  • Start an end-of-the-day routine to close out of email and your laptop before the evening

Strategies to connect at work

  • Schedule a walking meeting with a colleague or find a place to sit outside
  • Ask a colleague you have not seen for a while to meet for coffee/tea/lunch/ice cream
  • Show a new colleague one of your favorite places on campus
  • Explore a building or part of campus that is unfamiliar to you
  • Take time for a real lunch break away from your desk. Invite a colleague
  • Organize a lunchtime gathering with colleagues or students such as a book club (share what you are each reading), play a board game, or discuss unplugging strategies 
  • Write a note of appreciation and mail it through campus mail
  • Try a new activity or attend an event with one of Cornell’s campus groups (e.g., take a beginning dance class, go on a hike with the Outing Club, take a tour at the Cornell Botanic Garden, attend a music or sports event).