OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — As part of the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation's Smart Social Campaign, there will be several tech-free activities each Tuesday night in February.
- The Smart Social Campaign runs five more months, with a different focus and different activities for each month.
- February's theme is addictive behaviors– there will be several tech-free activities each Tuesday in Oshkosh.
- The overall goal is to change people's relationship with their phone.
Sheila Counts, director at the Oshkosh YMCA Tennis and Pickleball Center, led a group pickleball lesson Monday night.
"People really getting into it, liking it and meeting new people," Counts said.
Counts has been coaching pickleball for years, but Monday night's lesson was a bit different. It wasn't so much about the paddle her students were holding– but more about what they weren't holding.
"Intentionally set them down for two hours and do an activity that doesn't involve the phone," Karlene Grabner, director of donor services for the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation, said.
Counts' lesson was one of the OACF's tech-free nights.
"We have about 12-15 different partners in town having events and fun things to do to get people not using their phone for a couple hours and experience in something different," Grabner said.
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The tech-free nights are a part of OACF's Smart Social Campaign, which lasts into the summer. Each month has a different theme and different activities.
February's theme is addictive behaviors.
"Using your devices, all of them, your TV, your computers, your phones, differently and more smart," Grabner said.
On Monday, there were five activities, including Counts' pickleball lesson, a line dancing lesson at the Oshkosh Public Library and singing bingo at the Gibson.
There will be activities every Tuesday night in February. A full list of events can be found on the Smart Social website.
