In the age of AI, mobile internet and the metaverse, some classes and colleges are charting a simpler path, offering phone-free environments to help students destress and build community. Abigail O’Brien had never heard of Wyoming Catholic College at the start of her college search, but she applied immediately after learning of an unusual policy: no phones. “I was struck that somewhere in our country there was a group excited and willing to give up their phones,” said O’Brien, who graduated from Wyoming Catholic in May. She said the idea of such a place was “almost impossible to picture.”