New certificate supports students who want to unplug

Starting in fall 2026, Boise State students wanting to unplug can add a digital detox certificate to their degree plan. The certificate, created by College of Innovation + Design Interim Dean Jen Schneider and faculty members Jill Heney (Department of Writing Studies) and Alexis Kenyon (Interdisciplinary Professional Studies), will be part of the School for the Digital Future. The idea is not to abandon technology, but to help students develop healthy tech habits to thrive in an increasingly online world.

Heney and Kenyon designed the cornerstone course for the new certificate, titled Digital Minimalism. Both have used technology in the classroom extensively in past teaching. The question they are tackling now: what does it mean to be human in a digital era?

"There has been a lot of research that shows a significant increase in anxiety that correlates with the launch of smartphones as well as social media," Kenyon said. "We're trying to address the anxiety that comes with constantly feeling like you're out of control because you're getting pinged from different directions."

Heney piloted a version of the Digital Minimalism course in fall 2025, a panacea for the technology overload many students experience. The course opens students to exploring a world apart from technology - a world many younger students have never experienced. It includes practical skill building and time for self-reflection about the place of technology in our lives.

"Digital minimalism is not about cutting all use of digital tools, because we live in this world where we need to use them," Heney said. "It's about how we can have agency and be the drivers of our usage."

Kenyon puts it succinctly: "Your phone isn't the little boss telling you what to do."

In the fall 2025 pilot, students pursued personal analog projects and reflected on their relationships with technology. "One student wrote postcards to her friends," Heney said. "We talked about the delay, buying the postcard and the postage, dropping it off, and also the delight and how it's really meaningful for the recipients."

Digital Minimalism is open to enrollment for the fall 2026 semester. Students interested in adding the digital detox certificate to their degree plan will need six additional credits in other selected courses related to community, field work and wellness.

Heney and Kenyon both stress that the course is not anti-technology. Digital Minimalism is about building a healthy relationship with technology to get the most out of the digital tools that are ubiquitous in the modern world.

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