CNBC.COM
Like many Gen Zers, 20-year-old Kylee Harris got her first smartphone in middle school, she says, and began consuming social media soon thereafter.
"Young Kylee was very much addicted to Musical.ly and Instagram," she says. YouTube was also in the mix. That scrolling habit stuck around in high school as well, when Musical.ly became TikTok in 2018.
After graduating, Harris moved from her home state of Mississippi to Tennessee with her boyfriend, where she now works as a personal care assistant and a specialty cobbler making shoes for an accessible shoe brand.
On a day off in 2025, it dawned on Harris that something about her online habits needed to change.
"I had woken up at about 12:30 in the afternoon," she says, "and then I looked at the clock, and I saw it was about 4 p.m. and I had not gotten out of bed. And the only thing I had done that day was scroll on social media."
So when she came across an Instagram ad in January 2026 for The Reset — an inaugural screen-free day on January 24 hosted by Outward Bound, an organization for outdoor activities — it struck a nerve.
When you limit screentime and social media use, "you get the chance to actually engage with the world a little bit better," clinical psychologist Raquel Martin previously told CNBC Make It.
Harris pledged to stay off for 10 hours, she says, adding that the results were life-changing.
'I just had time to, like, slow down'
Harris was working the day of The Reset, so she couldn't fully unplug. In fact, she started off her day as she normally does, waking up with her phone alarm and scrolling social media for about 15 minutes, she says.
But when she got to work at 7 a.m. and had a few hours to kill, she decided to put her phone away. She got some tasks out of the way that she'd have to do later, like prepping food and reading her book, "Catching Fire."
She also "did a Bible study," she says, "that was really nice."
During the day, she says she was able to get more work done. That night, she made "a nice garlic parm chicken pasta" for her and her boyfriend. Instead of spending dinner on YouTube or in front of the TV, the two caught up on their day, she says.
Ultimately, spending time off social media and her smartphone was "a breath of fresh air," she says. "I just had time to, like, slow down."
'My screen time went from about eight to 10 hours to about two per day'
More than 50,000 people participated in The Reset nationwide, according to Outward Bound, with 66% of them being Gen Z.
"The response has been incredibly inspiring," says Ginger Naylor, CEO of Outward Bound USA. "We heard from students, parents, educators and community leaders who said they did not realize how much they needed a pause until they took one."
Another participant was 20-year-old Loyola Marymount University student Jean Antoine, who shut his phone off for the entire 24 hours.
"I was very present in my thoughts," he says about the experience of the day, "and they were very slow. I was very calm." He plans to implement no-phone days on a monthly basis.
As for Harris, The Reset has forever changed her ways, she says.
"My screen time went from about eight to 10 hours to about two per day," she says. She's adopted measures like an app called Brainrot that helps her manage her time on social media and bought an analog alarm clock. She's now spending more time cooking, reading her Bible and walking her dog.
The day taught her that sometimes it's important to take a step back and just "be present where you are," she says, "instead of everywhere that you're not."
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