University awards a limited number of scholarships to students promising not to use their phones
According to Fox News, Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio is awarding scholarships to students who are willing to give up using their smartphones and turn to prayer, religion, and contact with fellow students. The school had a limit of thirty scholarships which it reached. But unexpectedly, 50 additional students got rid of their smartphones even though they were not awarded scholarships.
The school is not checking up on the students to make sure that they continue to stay off their smartphones after being given the scholarship and are on "the honor system." The students must remain off their phones for all four years at the University and created a group called "Humans Engaging Reality." Franciscan University doesn't want to be the only University with such a program so it's looking for partners.
Fox News Chief Religion Correspondent Lauren Green, who reported the story on the cable news station, passed along what she thought was a funny story. It seems that one of the students who agreed to give up his phone was in an airport and had to ask a person for directions (I'm not sure where the humor is in that anecdote). Noting that the depression rate of 15-34-year-olds is 30% of the online generation, Green reported how one young woman diagnosed with depression gave up her smartphone and the depression went away.
The school's website says, "Franciscan University of Steubenville is no ordinary university, and a Franciscan education is no ordinary education. Rather, it’s an education as rigorous and demanding as it is faithful — an education that challenges you intellectually, forms you professionally, and feeds you spiritually." The Fox Religion Correspondent says that the students who are receiving the scholarships "are finding that they have this different kind of life because they don't have a smartphone."
The school has said that it wants its students to have relationships with people, not machines. Green added, "We are made to have relationships with each other and with God. And when you ditch your smartphone that encourages that kind of relationship-not only for the students at Franciscan, but for the world. They're going to change the world."
Green also mentions some data that she claims shows how smartphones are affecting the developing brains of those who are on social media and constantly using their phones. And as far as artificial intelligence is concerned, the Fox reporter states, "We're made to have relationships with each other. You can't have that with artificial intelligence. That's just not happening."
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