ST. PETER — When Jonas Doerr was 16 years old, he got his first phone.
Fast forward five years, and Doerr is a senior at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter. He now tries to average about two hours or less on his phone daily, a reduction from four hours.
He spends about a half hour on personal things and an hour to an hour and a half on a Chinese learning app. “I”m pretty happy with it right now,” he said. “I prefer spending time with friends.”
Doerr isn’t just your average college student, however. He’s also a peer mentor for the college’s Digital Wellbeing program. As such he’s positioned to help other students foster a healthier relationship with their electronic devices, especially with their phones.
“We’ve really zeroed in on the phone because it is the primary device students are on all the time,” said Charlie Potts, creator of the Digital Wellbeing program and interim dean of students at Gustavus. “We’ve honed in on the idea of managing your relationship with your phone.”
Under his direction, Gustavus has established the Digital Wellbeing program and designed it to improve students’ academic focus, in-person relationships and mental health while reducing the types of distractions that often detract from these goals, according to a Gustavus press release.
Digital Wellbeing Week was being observed all week at Gustavus with campuswide programming, including events and activities featuring staff and a network of peer mentors
Doerr started as a peer mentor in fall of 2022 when the Digital Wellbeing program began. He is paid for his work through his student employment hours.
“We do a few things,” he said of peer mentors. “The main idea is to get people to be more aware of the relationship they’re having with phones and computers and get them to be more thoughtful about the choices they’re making. How is it impacting relationships with school, friends?”
As he’s encouraging fellow students to have a healthier relationship with their devices, he finds himself taking the lessons to heart and wanting to be better himself.
Potts said students are, for the first time, managing their time as adults and are at the ideal juncture to have a conversation about the role technology plays in their lives.
“We’re not scolding anyone,” he said. “We’re just saying here are some ideas for how to be healthier and letting them find a behavior change that will be long lasting.
“We’re helping students find what’s best for them. We’re just trying to help them and empower them to do it on their own. They’re the ones saying they want to change.”
Potts values the college’s peer mentors like Doerr because they’re influential. “We’re finding peer mentors are doing great work,” he said. “Students listen to friends and peers more often than others. If peers can lead this charge, then their friends will follow.”
Emilie Chapdelaine is a friend of Doerr’s and is definitely giving more thought to her relationship with technology. She has a phone she uses constantly and a laptop.
A senior at Gustavus, Chapdelaine has had a phone since she was 12 years old. These days, when she’s not in class, she’s listening to music on her phone or talking to friends and family.
Her personal time go-tos are the social media platforms of Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, she said.
She calls the Digital Wellbeing program a “really important initiative. It’s really good work as we remain in a time when you can’t escape technology. It’s all around us.”