According to a British survey, young people aged 16-21 would prefer to have grown up without the internet. They are calling for restrictions on social media and digital quiet hours. Read the DW story…
It may sound ironic, but the Instagram account “The Offline Club” has over 530,000 followers. It was created by three young Dutch people who wanted to help people reconnect with the real world. Even via Instagram.
With the motto “Change your screen with… real time”, they organize meetings where mobile phones and laptops are strictly prohibited. Instead of stories and scrolling down, they read, draw, play board games or simply rest. There are even more organized “digital detox” actions that last several days. They started in Amsterdam and are now expanding to London, Paris, Milan, Copenhagen, and Berlin.
The “disconnection movement”
It may sound ironic, but the Instagram account “The Offline Club” has over 530,000 followers. It was created by three young Dutch people who wanted to help people reconnect with the real world. Even through Instagram.
With the motto “Change your screen to… real time”, they organize meetings where mobile phones and laptops are strictly prohibited. Instead of stories and scrolling down, they read, draw, play board games, or simply rest. There are even more organized “digital detox” actions that last several days. They started in Amsterdam and are now expanding to London, Paris, Milan, Copenhagen, and Berlin.
The “disconnect movement”
Despite time-limiting settings on mobile phones and apps, most young people are failing to do so. Young people aged 16–29 spend more than three hours a day on their mobile phones, according to data from Bitkom, the German digital association. This average probably does not even reflect reality.
And yet, the desire for less digital time is gaining ground. The “disconnect movement,” as it is called, seems to express a generation tired of overexposure and looking for authentic experiences. Returning to the analog world.
The British Standards Institute conducted a survey of 1,293 people aged 16 to 21. The findings are revealing: 70% of those surveyed feel very bad after using social media. 50% support the idea of ??a digital ban after 10 pm. 46% say they would have preferred to have grown up in a world without the internet.
Mobile-related depression?
Excessive mobile phone use is linked to mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, and addiction. A recent study in the scientific journal BMC Medicine showed that reducing mobile phone use for three weeks reduced depressive symptoms by 27%.
The OECD warns that the mental health of young people has deteriorated significantly in the last 15 years, with the coronavirus pandemic accelerating the trend. Although a direct causal link has not been proven, the correlation is strong.
Policy interventions
The debate on limiting mobile phone use has now moved from society to parliaments, with more and more countries considering institutional interventions. The same debate is taking place in Greece, and has already begun in Germany.
In Britain, the Minister of Technology, Peter Kyle, is even considering a mandatory “digital ban” for young people after 10 p.m. Australia is leading the way, banning the use of digital social media for children under 16 from 2024.
At a recent Offline Club event in London, however, over 1,000 people turned off their phones and participated in screen-free activities. The photos, lest we forget, were later uploaded to… Instagram.
Editor: Iosifina Tsagkalidou
