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This Common Insult Is Actually the Best Advice on the Internet

The internet insult has a point: logging off, getting outside, and reconnecting with your body can help calm your nervous system.

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While I hate to bring more attention to online slang, seeing as the entire idea of this article is to log off the internet, I’d love to acknowledge the benefits of the passive-aggressive, trending piece of advice: “go touch grass.” 

This insulting statement actually holds some merit, and honestly, in today’s world, we all need to touch more grass.

What Does ‘Go Touch Grass’ Even Mean?

“Go touch grass” basically translates to “get off your phone and get back into the real world.” In some cases, it has a similar undercurrent as “go jump in a lake.”

“‘Go touch grass’ is sometimes meant as an insult and insinuates that you’re spending far too much time online,” says Dr. Suzanne Wallach, LMFT, a licensed psychotherapist and the Founder and Executive Director of SoCal DBT Center in Los Angeles. “But in DBT (dialectical behavior therapy), I’d translate it more into something much more practical: a cue for distress tolerance and mindfulness, two of DBT’s........

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