What would life be like if you give up using your cell phone? Will it become boring? Twenty-eight eighth-graders at St. Matthew School in San Francisco will tell you it can still be rich and colorful. These students took part in their school's "tech-free" challenge. They couldn't use cell phones for two weeks from Nov 11 to Nov 22. The idea was to help students understand how technology has affected their lives, said Denise Uhl, principal of the school. Uhl did a survey on technology usage among the eighth-graders before thinking of the challenge. She found that 84 percent of the students said they didn't like it "when everyone was on their cell phones", but they didn't know what to do about it. The answer was actually easy --- to stop constantly using cell phones. To help students understand the point, Uhl created the activity. It was warmly welcomed among students. "I wanted to sign up for the tech-free challenge because it was just really a good idea to do it," eighth-grader Joe told local newspaper Catholic San Francisco. "I wanted to get closer to my family. And it really worked. I started to hang out with my family more. We watched more family movies and we played a lot of board games." The activity also helped students develop their interests. During the two weeks, Lucas said he spent much more time outside, picking lemons in his garden. Maddie finished a painting and Cassie created a scarf on a loom  . Students who took part in the "tech-free" challenge   _  .
couldn't use their computers at school were not allowed to use their cell phones for nearly two weeks could use the Internet at school for free couldn't take any high-tech products to school