When was the last time you left your house — without your phone?  No seriously, can you remember a hike or an outing off the grid and far from the comfort of your technological surroundings?

Well don’t look now, but technology hubs like right here in the Silicon Valley are embracing the movement to become less hyper-connected — in an effort to become more mindful of how techies incorporate gadgets in their lives, instead of the other way around.

Some tech-junkies are even “keeping their phone in their pocket, turning off their home Wi-Fi at night or on weekends and reading books on paper, rather than pixels,” according to The New York Times.

Real books, wow!  All with the intention of becoming more contemplative and introspective about the quality use of time.

I know. This sounds crazy to me as well, but there just might be something to it.

In fact, The New York Times reports that people are not truly capable of multitasking, and end up doing an average job at each activity as they “rapidly toggle between tasks.”

Those who study economics know there is an opportunity cost for the choices we make, but how much are we giving up for technology?  What is our opportunity cost for multitasking?

Recent research from Carnegie Mellon University has brought us closer to answering that question, finding that during standard cognitive skill tests, multitaskers scored 20 percent lower than their peers who were focused on a singular task; that’s enough to downgrade an A-student to a C-student!

The message here, tech-junkies, is that it can’t hurt to put down the phone for a few minutes, even while trying to study for finals, refraining from posting on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram —  all at the same time.

Instead, take a walk outside and ease your mind as you reconnect with nature.

Indeed, according to an innovative new study from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, you can ease brain fatigue simply by strolling through a leafy park.

So put down the phone and become more acquainted with your surroundings, maybe once in a while getting outside and smelling the roses.

Your brain will thank you and who knows, your transcripts might look a bit better as well.