Three weeks without internet improve the quality of sleep and life

Young people abstain in a project on media and Internet

Three weeks without the internet and social media - which would cause many a bleak horror first, seems to bring significant positive consequences. Three groups of young people face this challenge in the course of a Bavarian research work. After initial difficulties and a weaning phase, the adolescents showed positive reactions to the withdrawal. They report better sleep, more quality of life and great relief.

In the research project "Classroom under Sails" of the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) selected students of the tenth grade were traveling for six months on the three-master "Thor Heyerdahl" and were taught on the sailboat. In a three-week trip, the subjects had to completely renounce WLAN and social media. How they reacted to the withdrawal was explained by Professor Thomas Eberle and dr. Zinaida Adelhardt from the FAU's Institute of Education.

In a research project, adolescents were separated from the Internet and social media on a sailing ship for three weeks. Many showed positive changes such as better sleep and quality of life. Almost all those involved saw the social media more critically afterwards than before the trip. (Image: magdal3na / fotolia.com)

Live without YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Twitter

"The social media play an enormously important role in the daily lives of young people," the FAU experts report in a press release on the project. According to a survey by the International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television, 97 percent of all young people in Germany own a smartphone. Almost everyone uses the Internet every day.

What motivations do young people have on the internet??

According to the survey, the prevailing motivation for using the Internet is "having fun" (82 percent). The second most common statement given by 80 percent of respondents was "useful for everyday life". Other common motivations are "food for thought" and "information" get each with 79 percent. "Being able to have a say" seems to be crucial for 78% of adolescents.

Classroom under sails

The FAU's Institute for Educational Science operates the "Classroom under Sails" as its own research area. For the past ten years, selected students aged 14 and 15 have been able to exchange the classroom for a traditional sailboat and explore foreign countries and cultures first-hand. In exchange for this experience they have to give up a lot of comfort and internet.

Research something else

The experiences from this project are incorporated into educational research. The subjects must complete standardized questionnaires before, during and after the trip and participate in interviews with the educationalists. Furthermore, the participants wrote short essays about their experiences.

Unusual, but very interesting

"The results are unusual and highly interesting," reports overall project leader Professor Dr. med. Thomas Eberle. Previous studies have so far only investigated very short off-line times of a few hours or one day. In the project, however, there have been offline times of up to three weeks, the expert said.

Reactions to the offline time

According to the educational researchers, the adolescents reacted very differently to the three-week offline phase. The reported experiences ranged from a quieter sleep to better quality of life and less stress. "They even talked about a great deal of relief because they do not have to be constantly online," explains project manager Dr. Ing. Zinaida Adelhardt.

The fear of missing something

Some adolescents were fond of the rare shore excursions, where they immediately logged on to the nearest Wi-Fi network to communicate via social media. In addition to the fear of missing something, the adolescents also stated that they felt a certain amount of pressure from the expectations of their parents, siblings and friends. "They felt they had to contact each other as soon as possible," said the FAU scientists.

Within three weeks, the opinion on the media changed

Regardless of the opinion the adolescents had on social media before the ride, they became increasingly critical as the project progressed. "Within just three weeks of media isolation, the negative attitudes towards social media in the students increased significantly," summed up Eberle and Adelhardt. Half a year later, scientists are planning a follow-up to see if it is a short-term or sustained effect. (Vb)