This 70-Year-Old Wants You to Touch Grass 👴
Reviewing John Chungus (with John Chungus)
blog.ninety-six // Will you be celebrating the first “Touch Grass Day,” this Saturday at three o’clock eastern?
John Chungus certainly will. The seventy-something retired teacher began posting across shortform video platforms in July, encouraging younger viewers to spend less time on their phones—and go enjoy the outdoors.
His message, to put it bluntly, resonated. In less than three months, Mr. Chungus has gained hundreds of thousands of followers. He’s collaborated with everyone from the rapper bbno$ to Kareem Rahma of Subway Takes. Last week, Chungus even appeared on a billboard in Times Square.
And now, all roads lead to Saturday—aka “Touch Grass Day.” Chungus will be spending the day at Sheep Meadow in Central Park, but he’s asking viewers from around the world to join him in spirit, no matter where they live. “We’re thinking we could get half a million people sending photos and videos in, which would be great,” he told me.
Given our season-long “Touch Grass” theme here at Creator Mag, we figured it was only right to hop on the phone with Mr. Chungus. Scroll on for an exclusive interview with the man behind the movement—plus a recap of last night’s Show Your Work! gathering at the studio.
— NGL
P.S. Last blog, we recapped our trip to Austin—and teased our next Creator Mag cover story. You can read it here.
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Video: ‘Everyone go outside on September 27th at 3pm EST!’ (2025)
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Creator: John Chungus
Runtime: 35s
Review by: Nate Graber-Lipperman (and John Chungus)
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Nate Graber-Lipperman: Hey Mr. Chungus!
John Chungus: Hello!
NGL: I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask—who is John Chungus? What does he do during normal days, when he’s not walking around parks for fun?
JC: Well, I’m in my seventies. I taught music for many, many years, and I’ve always been involved in musical performance.
I grew up in New Jersey. I traveled all over the country performing in dinner theaters and tours—opera companies, too. I did a Broadway show a number of years ago. It’s been a great musical ride.
NGL: I’m curious—what’s your mission here? Why’d you start posting about “Touch Grass Day” back in July?
JC: Well, you know, young people spend anywhere between eight-to-ten hours a day on their phones, and I think they’re missing a lot. So getting outside and being with nature and being with other people and interacting, rather than just staring at a screen…that’s basically our mission.
NGL: You mentioned in a video that you’re not someone who uses social media much yourself (if at all).
JC: Years ago, when I was a kid, you’d have to go to the library and pore through books to try to get an answer to a question. And in two seconds, I can Google something and come up with lyrics to a song.
It’s right in the palm of my hand, which is great. But obviously, you can also become sort of hypnotized by the whole thing, and just wind up doomscrolling TikTok or whatever. And then you realize, oh my gosh, I’ve been sitting here for thirty minutes. I’ve got things to do.
NGL: At the same time, you’ve become something of an online phenomenon yourself. Just two-and-a-half months in, you’ve gained nearly half a million followers. Has your perspective on social media changed at all?
JC: What I’ve learned is that the Gen Z population is pretty much on their phones all the time—meaning there’s a huge audience online.
When you think about the number of followers for this, it’s mind-boggling. When it went to one hundred thousand, I thought that was something else. Then two hundred, two-fifty, three hundred…it’s like, oh my gosh, this is absolutely insane.
I hope a lot of people come out to actually touch grass on Saturday. We’re thinking, you know, we could get half a million people sending photos and videos in, which would be great. I think it brings awareness to people putting down their phone and actually doing it.
Obviously, they’re going to be filming it when they’re doing it. But maybe they’ll post it later, and enjoy the rest of the day without having to be glued to their phone.
NGL: There’s a certain inherent irony in needing to use social media in order to broadcast this message to use social media less, right?
JC: Yeah.
NGL: But people have already been tagging you in photos and videos of them spending time outdoors.
JC: There’s lots of people at the ocean touching sand. You see pictures of people with the water lapping over their feet, and that sort of thing. They’re asking me, Does this count? It’s great because they’re outside and they’re getting the message.
NGL: They’ve also been making fan art of you.
JC: That first one…I want to say it was by Oli Art. It’s just so joyous. If I was going to pick one, I think I’d pick that one to be the album cover, you know?
NGL: I know we went a bunch of different directions here, but any last comments?
JC: It’s been a real trip. I suppose that’s a very dated phrase—we used to say it when I was younger.
We’ve been talking about how we might spin off this sort of thing. There’s talk of an interview show with celebrities. So we’ll see where it goes. But Saturday is kind of the culmination, and if it gets some traction after that, great.
NGL: You said “we” and “our mission” a lot throughout this conversation. There’s a popular YouTube creator who’s known for bringing people together via goofy, in-person events. He often hangs up print posters and makes meme-y videos—kinda similar to yours.
Would he happen to be involved here in some capacity?
JC: No comment.
Nate’s Score: 🌱 / 5
No new reviews here today. Instead, I wanted to take a moment to share three pieces that Show Your Work! attendees showcased last night in the studio.
It’s not easy to make something; it’s even harder to open your work up to criticism. But there’s a certain energy that comes from receiving that feedback in person—especially from other creatives you don’t know.
From my experience, that feeling of connection and collaboration can often be the difference between picking the pen back up, or putting it down for a long time. And the art that emerges becomes that much stronger.
The below videos are not, in fact, “offline” art. Nevertheless, it felt fitting to include them this week. Views come and go, yet nothing beats ten people in a room, cheering you on, together.
Video: ‘spotify algorithm echo chambers’ (2025)
Creator: Becky Larrain
Runtime: 4m 45s
Originally written for her “Music Industries and Culture” class, Becky’s fast-paced, lo-fi video essay tackles how platforms influence our music consumption—as well as our perception of our taste.
Video: ‘HOUSE SITTING’ (2024)
Creator: Gabriel Ramirez
Runtime: 1m 56s
Alongside a couple friends and coworkers, Gabriel shot this “analog horror” video series in just two days. In the words of Maya Angelou, people may forget what you say, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel. By the time the credits of Gabriel’s series rolled last night, the entire room had goosebumps.
Video: ‘Loose Ends Official Sneak Peek’ (2025)
Creator: Noah Guardado
Runtime: 52s
With the logline “If A24 produced a Tarantino film,” Loose Ends is a dark comedy directed by (and starring) Noah Guardado. He showed us the first two minutes of the movie last night…and you can watch the full thing at his indie film festival in December. Tickets are out now!1
Thanks for reading! Shoot us a reply, comment, or DM if anything resonated with you in particular—we respond to them all.
Yours truly may be showing something here, too (:
"There’s a certain inherent irony in needing to use social media in order to broadcast this message to use social media less, right?"
I'm thinking through similar tensions with regard to a print publishing project I'm working on. To what degree is it reasonable to use the internet/screens to promote and distribute physical media that's intended to be a counter-reaction to digital overload? At what point does that become hypocritical? I can't say I have solid answers yet.
Also, the new footnote formatting is looking good on the blog. (Although, in this particular case, I wouldn't have had to scroll to read it.)