UM Launches ‘Be Here with Brick’ Initiative to Promote Focus, Connection
The University of Montana is launching a new campus-wide initiative this school year designed to help students, staff and faculty reduce smartphone use and create intentional moments of focus, connection and presence in their daily lives. (UM photo by Ryan Brennecke)
By UM News Service
MISSOULA – The University of Montana is starting a new campus-wide initiative this year designed to help students, staff and faculty create intentional moments of focus, connection and presence in their daily lives by reducing screen time. The promotion, “Be Here with Brick,” provides Brick devices at locations across campus, giving participants a simple way to take a break from smartphone notifications and put themselves in control of smartphone distractions.
Brick is a small physical device that allows users to temporarily lock selected smartphone apps and websites. Users tap their phone to the device to activate Brick and intentionally tap it again when they are ready to unlock their apps. Smartphone users can also use the free Brick app to “brick” their phone during scheduled times without having to tap into a physical device.
The initiative, led by UM’s Curry Health Center Counseling Services and Wellbeing, is designed to help students create periods of focus, presence and connection without completely giving up technology.
“Students are navigating high levels of stress, loneliness and sleep disruption while spending an increasing amount of their lives connected to their phones,” said Ivie English, a clinical psychologist at Curry Health Center. “'Be Here with Brick’ is an opportunity to experiment with getting some of that attention back. Not by rejecting technology, but by creating intentional spaces in which we can connect face-to-face, sleep, notice what is around us, focus on what we want or simply experience a moment without feeling the pull to document, respond or scroll.”
Research shows associations between heavy smartphone and social media use and poor sleep, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and decreased well-being. Moreover, it's also been found that frequent smartphone notifications can interrupt attention and task performance, even when users do not immediately pick up their phones.
Beginning Monday, Sept. 14, communal Brick stations will be available at campus locations including the Mansfield Library, residence halls, the University Center, the Lodge Dining Center, the Student Athlete Academic Center, the Alexander Blewett III School of Law and more. Additional locations may be added throughout the academic year. A limited number of Brick devices also will be available for semester-long checkout through Curry Health Center.
Those who use the Brick devices on campus or check them out will be encouraged to participate in surveys to better understand the impacts of the “Be Here with Brick” initiative on campus. The surveys will explore impacts on well-being, attention, sleep and connection, as well as participants’ relationship with smartphone use.
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Contact: Liv Wilson, marketing and communications manager, Curry Health Center, 406-243-2896, liv2.wilson@umontana.edu; Skylar Rispens, UM communications manager, 406-243-5474, skylar.rispens@umontana.edu.