touch grass
Americanidiom
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to go outside; enjoy nature (used especially as an exhortation to spend less time on electronic devices).
More people need to go touch grass and get off their devices for a while.
Enough doomscrolling already—touch grass!
So which generation in the group went out to touch grass, and which one is staying tied to the screens?
-
to engage with reality or real life.
Like many academics who fail to touch grass or experience non-collegiate humans on a daily basis, he refers to “common experience” but has no idea what it is.
Go touch grass and get a credible education that will actually help you in life!
Etymology
Origin of touch grass
First recorded in 2015–20
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Like many who would follow him into online obsession, Conor really needs to log off and touch grass.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 8, 2026
You can take your shoes off and at least touch grass for a second.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 19, 2025
Online, touch grass is an oft-repeated quasi insult, a way to tell your opponent they’ve spent too much time scrolling and need to reestablish a relationship with the sublunary.
From Slate • Jun. 20, 2025
"Now I can go disappear somewhere and touch grass with my loved ones on an island while y'all weep for mediocre pop."
From BBC • Dec. 25, 2023
During his crossing of the Nan Shan, Sir Aurel Stein had the same experience, five of his ponies being "benumbed and refusing to touch grass or fodder."
From The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 2 by Yule, Henry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
