About Connect Phone-Free
A research-informed toolkit helping families, educators, and students foster meaningful, screen-free human connection.
What we do
Connect Phone-Free is a free, publicly available educational toolkit designed to help families, educators, and students navigate the space that opens up when phones are put away. Rather than simply telling people to spend less time on their devices, the project offers practical, research-informed resources that help people make the most of phone-free moments, turning them into genuine opportunities for face-to-face conversation, classroom engagement, and deeper human connection. The toolkit is organized around a three-part framework, Identity, Connection, and Environment, that guides visitors from understanding how digital spaces shape self-perception to creating conditions where authentic relationships can grow. Each resource includes reflection prompts, printable guides, and community response activities so that individuals and groups can engage at their own pace.
Who it is for
The toolkit is built for three audiences. Educators receive classroom-ready activities and observation guides that help them turn phone-free school time into meaningful interaction. Families receive conversation starters and gentle challenges that open new ways of talking about digital life without judgment. Students receive self-guided reflections that help them explore their own relationship with technology, social media, and the people around them. The resources are designed to be approachable for anyone, regardless of prior experience with the research behind them.
Who builds it
Connect Phone-Free is an Honors in Action project of the Alpha Rho Sigma Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society at Ivy Tech Community College in Bloomington, Indiana. The chapter conducted the underlying research, synthesized peer-reviewed literature with Indiana behavioral-health data and educator interviews, and translated those findings into the practical resources you see here. The project is an educational initiative, not a medical or mental-health service, and it continues to evolve through community feedback.