Screen-Trapped: The Challenge

With the aim of learning about the psychological and relationship changes and the benefits that being disconnected brings to young people, 10 boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 19 live a week without electronic devices or connectivity. They actively participate in the challenge format, responsible for recording themselves and tell us about the experience of being without screens. The programme’s management team gave them a portable mojo recording equipment and during all these days, day and night, whenever they thought it was necessary, they recorded themselves. Some of them admit to usually spending more than 10 to 15 h/day connected to social networks. They only achieve this without sleeping, most of them fall asleep very late every night and wake up already connected to their mobile phones. They realise that without their phones they get bored and that they no longer know how to deal with this boredom. They are distressed because they feel disconnected from their world, angry and confused. They don’t sleep and wake up in the middle of the night … but, those are only the first 2-3 days.