We started the Social Media Detox back in 2017 when I was still studying at the University of Milano-Bicocca. Even though it consisted of summer camp in the mountains near Trento, it never was a mere holiday retreat. Since the very beginning it embodied the essence of a project, and every year it was intended as a one-year project reserved to specific targets. Year after year, we wrote a Social Media Detox project proposal and sent it to financing institutions that could support our initiative. Our Detox projects started to become bigger, more consolidated, more professional. Slowly, its project-essence was contaminated by other types of undertakings: paid Detox educational courses, self-sustained camps, collaborations with associations and businesses, school joint projects, assigned work for specific Detox activities. In terms of social and economic relevance, the 2021 Social Media Detox season can be seen as the point of time where non-project-based Detox initiatives closed the gap with the project-based ones. Overall, 410 participants joined our 2021 Social Media Detox, of which 370 in non-project-based Detox initiative and 40 in a Detox project.

1. Detox @ School

–      Type of initiative: school collaboration

–      Location: Liceo Da Vinci high school of Trento, Albere Park of Trento, Trento city center, Candriai (Monte Bondone)

–      No. of participants: 65 high school students

–      Duration: five overall weeks.

The 2021 season started in mid-April thanks to a collaboration with the Liceo Da Vinci high school of Trento. The five-weeks collaboration was called “Detox @ School” and its goal was to involve two 3^rd grade classes in interactive and English-taught Detox activities. About 45 teens of 15-17 y/o participated to our half-day Detox activities in the school gym, the Albere Park and Trento city center. Our Detox program included the theater workshop “Black Mirror in the Covid-19 era”, the sensorial experience “Ministry of Nature”, the emotional intelligence lab “Emotional intelligence and mindfulness for a better social media life”, a Geocaching race both in the school courtyard as in the city center and reaching up to the Doss Trento hilltop.

The second “Detox @ School” event occurred at the end of August and beginning of September. It involved 20 first and second grade students of, once again, the Liceo Da Vinci high school. Its goal was to promote social interactions and friendships between high school freshers by organizing dynamic and outdoor activities. This time, the students took part in the musical workshop “Lion King – reprise”, a theater workshop focused on emotions, a Geocaching race in the woods of Candriai, and a “Digital Gym” competition, which we will explain better in the next article section.

2. Social Media Detox – Work & Focus

–      Type of initiative: self-financed camp

–      Location: Candriai (Monte Bondone, Trento)

–      No. of participants: 15 young adults

–      Duration: one weekend.

Our second Detox initiative took place on June 12-13 at the AERAT holiday-center of Candriai (Mount Bondone, Trento), and launched the 2021 AERAT summer camps season. Our “Work & Focus” weekend Detox involved 15 people, mostly young adults from Trentino both also three participants from Bologna, Monza-Branza and Innsbruck. It was a self-financed camp aimed to help participants detox from social media and recover their concentration. In this Detox training weekend smartphones and social media were replaced by focus-oriented seminars, networking moments, interactive outdoor activities, artistic workshops, and recreational night activities. Specifically, the first day included the theater workshop “Waiting for Godot in Lockdown”, a Geocaching-race in the woods of Candriai, the “Digital Carbon Footprint” seminar, the networking lab “How to transfer work outdoor”, and the “Lion King – Reprise” dance course. On the second day, the “Stress-killer” yoga course was followed by the “Digital Diet” seminar. After the delicious and highly appreciated lunch meal, the “Digital Gym” concluded the camp. This precious gem of the AERAT center stimulates participants to play in a digital world while keeping an analogic mind and body. Together with the Geocaching race, it represents a possible balanced relation with digital technologies.

3. Ri-Generazione Detox in Piana

–      Type of initiative: project financed by a Youth Initiative Fund

–      Location: Mount Mezzocorona (Trento), Località ai Piani of Mezzolombardo (Trento), Faedo – località Masetto (Trento)

–      No. of participants: 35 young people + 5 elderly

–      Duration: April – December 2021.

Our third Detox initiative, the “Ri-Generazione Detox in Piana”, was a project supported by the Piano Giovani di Zona (“Youth Initiative Fund”) of Piana Rotaliana – Königsberg. It consisted of three Detox Day Camp in three municipalities of Piana Rotaliana (Trento). Namely, in nature areas located in the outskirts of Mezzocorona, Mezzolombardo and Faedo. The Day Camps took place on July 24, August 21, and September 4 and involved a total of 35 young people, as well as 5 elderly people of the retirement home “San Giovanni” of Mezzolombardo. Indeed, young and old participants were put together by the most relevant activity of the project: a theater workshop focused on digital and analogic memories which analyzed the relation, resistance and resilience towards digital addiction of different generations. The first short-video of the workshop was already published on our Telegram channel and our other digital platforms. Besides the theater workshops, the three Day Camps included an “Emotional intelligence” lab, a geocaching race in the woods of Monte di Mezzocorona, a yoga course, the “Digital Diet” workshop, the “Ministry of Nature” sensorial experience, and an literary aperitif and cheese tasting with a digital escaper. A more detailed review of the “Ri-Generazione Detox in Piana” can be found on our GreenMarked blog together with a three photo-galleries. If you know Italian you can also read the local newspaper article that was written about our project!

4. Digital Gym & Geocaching race combo

–      Type of initiative: business collaboration

–      Location: Candriai, Trento

–      No. of participants: 250 firefighters + 20 employees

–      Duration: July and August + one day in September.

The fourth Detox initiative was organized by the AERAT center and its format alternated the “Digital Gym” activity and the Geocaching race. We were thus assigned to prepare, organize, manage and maintain the Geocaching race for about 250 firefighter trainees of Trentino and approximately 20 employees of a third-sector South Tyrolean company. The “Geocaching race – Digital Gym” combo    proved to be a successful format, it consolidated our collaboration with the AERAT center and provided fruitful outcomes. We look forward to using this Detox format with more social group next year!

5. Digital detox and education for sports teachers

–      Type of initiative: assigned undertaking for training course

–      Location: Candriai, Trento

–      No. of participants: 20 sports teachers

–      Duration: one day.

Our final Detox initiative was a Detox camp sustained by and organized for the Sports Teachers Association of Trentino (“Associazione Trentina Insegnanti Educazione Fisica – ATIEF”). The Day Camp took place on September 7 at the AERAT Center of Candriai. For the second year in a row, sports teachers of Trentino gathered in Candriai for one of their annual training courses. Indeed, digital addiction and the enforced quarantine periods have strengthened sedentarism, one of the biggest threats to students that sports teachers fight against. Learning more about digital addiction and digital education helped them in their battle. The Camp included a yoga course, an emotional intelligence lab and a mindfulness session, a “Digital Diet” workshop, and an exciting Brännbol game!

Every Detox initiative of 2021 had its goals and its target audience. The different nature of the five different Detox initiatives highlights the versatility of our 2021 Social Media Detox. It has been a constant and regular evolution and a forced adaption to the new social mechanisms and difficulties brought by the Coronavirus crisis. While evolving to new horizons, our Social Media Detox will always maintain its prime mission of being a wonderful get-together moment. With that in mind, we will keep on showing the world how magical it is to socialize and interact with others, when, for a specific period of time, somebody takes your phone away.