Digital Detox: What Happens When Teens Ditch Their Smartphones?

As part of a ‘digital detox’ experiment, ten teenagers in the town of Salford, England, swapped their devices for basic cell phones that only allowed making calls and sending messages for five days text. How did they behave?

Read the report of the experiment, from start to finish.

Will regularly spends more than eight hours a day staring at his smartphone screen.

When he was younger, he loved cycling. Today, at 15, he spends most of his free time after school watching videos on TikTok.

Last week, Will spent 31 hours on social media apps alone. But for the next five days, there will be no access.

“I worry about how I’m going to handle the situation,” he says. “Now I’m going to have to be social with my parents.”

The detox is part of a BBC project which analyzes young people’s smartphone habits. Will is one of ten students from City University’s Media Technical College who agreed to trade in their phone for a basic Nokia device.

Almost every aspect of students’ lives will be affected: they grew up with smartphones and use the internet for almost everything.

They communicate primarily via Snapchat or Facetime, use Google Maps to get around, and are always listening to music on the go.

It will be a “real challenge,” says college principal Colin Grand, who will lock students’ devices during the experiment.

Ruby dreams of becoming an actress. She says she spends too much time on her cell phone and often ignores her parents while surfing TikTok.

In the middle of the experience, I go to visit his family.

When I arrive, the 16-year-old is putting the finishing touches on her makeup before heading off to college.

Ruby’s dad asks her if she put her work clothes in her backpack, then her mom takes us to the bus stop.

Ruby admits that the break from using her smartphone has “created more conversation opportunities” with her parents. Her mother, Emma, ​​says detoxification has a positive impact on her daughter’s behavior.

“Ruby is very addicted to her phone, so now she can see what life was like when I was a teenager,” Emma says.

“She talks more and goes to bed earlier. It’s nice to have that break.”

As we approach the bus stop, we see that the bus is already moving away.

Normally, Ruby checks the bus schedule on her cell phone. Reading timetables at a bus stop is not the habit of this generation.

“Without my phone, I have no way of knowing,” she said.

While we wait for the next bus, Ruby tells me about her part-time job at a group play center. She works a few days a week, but she doesn’t know if she will have a later shift today, or how long it will last.

Her manager gave her the office phone number in case she needed to confirm her shift time – but she feels “a little nervous” about calling.

“I see in the app which team I’m assigned to, but now I can’t tell,” Ruby explains. “I never call work. Ever.”

She pays the bus ticket – her bank card is rarely used other than through her smartphone wallet – and we set off for an hour-long journey.

For some teenagers, giving up their smartphone has been very difficult.

After just 27 hours, 14-year-old Charlie gave up and asked for his smartphone back.

“I knew my phone was in the building, but not knowing if anyone was trying to contact me and not being able to connect was very stressful,” he explains.

Another thing that seems to stress everyone out is something called Snapstreak status, which measures the total number of consecutive days that the user has sent messages to another user through the Snapchat app.

Some students admit that they are so worried about losing this status – which can sometimes reach more than 1,000 consecutive days – that they have asked their friends to log into their account and keep it active during the “detox” period. “.

Like Charlie, the other students who participated in the experiment acknowledge the fear of losing their status, but most of them say they are surprised because they did not think that the “detoxification” period would be so liberating.

Some say they sleep better, while others think they’re more productive without their devices.

“I feel like I’m learning things and getting more involved – I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything,” says 15-year-old Grace.

Right after school, on the first day of the experiment, she and her friends went to buy plastic decorations for her “old-fashioned” phone.

Showing me her decorated cell phone as we talked, Grace told me that shopping was a good way to distract yourself from thinking about your locked smartphone.

“It was very peaceful,” she said. “I really enjoyed it because it allowed me to find my creativity again.

“As soon as I got home, I started drawing and painting again. It helped me reconnect with the things I love.”

In February, the UK government published new rules aimed at preventing pupils from using their phones during school hours.

In May, a cross-party committee of MPs went even further, saying a total ban on smartphones for all young people under 16 – not just in schools – should be imposed by the winner of the general election. July 4 in the United Kingdom.

As part of a survey of 2,000 young people aged 13 to 18, carried out by BBC Radio 5 Live and BBCBitesize, participants were asked questions about various aspects of life, including mental health and their habits. use of smartphones.

The survey findings, compiled by the company Survation, highlight that “merely participating in this digital detox is not enough:

Simply participating in this digital detox exercise showed a difference between these teenagers and their peers who took part in the BBC survey;

74% of young people surveyed said they would not consider trading in their smartphone for a basic device.

After five long days, it is time for the students to collect their smartphones;

When a teacher goes to the faculty safe to remove the smartphones, some students can’t help but scream in anguish.

As soon as they turn their cell phones back on, teens go back to looking at their screen, browsing, and following group conversations.

But most of them say that after participating in drug rehab, they would like to find ways to limit the time they use their cell phones.

“I realized how much time I was spending on social media and realized I needed to cut back and get out of the house more,” Will admits. “I’m definitely going to try to use TikTok less.

He admits it’s been difficult and he really misses listening to music. But time away from his phone has allowed Will to reignite his passion for cycling – something he’s determined to pursue instead of spending endless hours sailing. “Eight hours a day is crazy,” he says.

This report was translated and proofread by our journalists using AI as part of a pilot project.