City of Shiner organizes town-wide digital detox

SHINER, Texas (KXAN) — Shiner, a small town in Central Texas known for its brewery scene and its self-proclaimed title of “the Cleanest Little City in Texas,” is now taking on smartphones as part of town-wide digital detox.

Resident Chris Casper, one of the organizers of the effort, spoke with KXAN’s Mike Rush about the more serious reasons behind the detox.

The challenge begins Wednesday night at Shiner's Knights of Columbus Hall. Participating students will be asked to turn in their smartphones for a phone that can call and text, but doesn't have social media.

Read more in an edited transcription of the conversation below or watch the interview using the video player above.

Rush: Well, it is a fun idea, but of course, it's a serious topic as well. When you think of phone and device addiction and the impact that it has on kids in particular. Tell us how this town detox idea got started in Shiner.

Casper: So, a couple of years ago for work, I did a survey, and I had 2000 people that were parents, and 95% of them said that they were worried about the inappropriate content on their kid's phone. So that was kind of the start of this thought. And then as time goes on, we all just feel it. This generation is so anxious. And we said, 'not in our town.' We claim to be this, the cleanest little city in Texas. We said, we have to do something different. So that was kind of the kickoff. And we decided to do something pretty radical.

Rush: I was reading in some of your literature too that there's even a stat where around 70% of incoming freshmen in the Shiner area said that they recognize it as being a problem and would like to do something about it themselves.

Casper: Yes, absolutely. So just last week, we had an internet safety expert come in and do grade-by-grade polling of each grade, asking them, 'hey, how do you feel about this? How do you feel about this?' and then even an open-ended question about stories you want to tell your parents or things you want to tell me around digital health. I was blown away. It was very sad, actually. I thought Shiner was this clean little city, and I realized that there's some very dark things happening in the digital landscape right now.

Rush: Yeah, there's just no getting around it. So the goal is lofty. You want to, in a year's time, have children in the Shiner community stop using their phones by about 40% and that's going to be hard to do. How do you achieve that? 

Casper: So, the kickoff event we're having tomorrow night is bringing in major leaders from the community, a parent's event, and we're having this moment where students can come and lock their phone, their smartphone, into a golden safe, and then they're getting a wise phone or a healthier phone, and that alone, systematically, is going to be just a drastic reset in their way that they think about their digital life. And it's going to hit a reset button. But the cool thing is, it's the whole community coming together to support them, and we even have some parents joining in as well.

Rush: There’s definitely strength in numbers, for sure. So, when you talk about these, these wise phones, or sometimes I've heard them called dumb phones as well, what are they, and are they going to keep these throughout the course of the year? How's this going to work?

Casper: We just got 200 today, and that's enough for the town, for the pre-orders here that we have. It is a minimalist phone. It can call, text... has a few basic tools, and then healthy apps, things like maps, things like blood glucose meters, medical things, but not social media, nothing you get addicted to, no explicit content and nothing you can be distracted by. So it's a very practical tool, the way phones used to be, and it's just a drastic reset in your life. 

Rush: That really is something. And as you said, this is going to be starting. The kickoff is tomorrow. So, this is just an idea that came up between you and others in the town of Shiner. Shiner is not a big community, just over 2000 people. Do you think that what you do here might be seen by other communities, even larger communities, and somehow they can incorporate that into their way of life?

Casper: Absolutely, and the waves are being made. The town itself is the headline in the local newspaper with “Parents Night Shake Shiner”, and it's making waves. In fact, at this event, we have a lot of leaders from other towns, the four surrounding towns, coming in, and I think the mayor of Shiner is going to challenge them to take the town detox next year. So yeah, I think there's lots of opportunity, particularly for smaller communities, a private school community, or communities, to adopt something like this and do it together. 

Rush: You could even do it in a subdivision or a neighborhood, if you can't do an entire big metropolis. So the possibilities are endless. Well, Chris Casper, a resident of Shiner, Texas and part of this town detox, which is starting tomorrow. Congratulations on the effort. I hope it works. We're going to have to have you back here in about a year and see what numbers you have then.