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Detox Box – A Youth Exchange without digital devices
“After the intensive exam session at the university, with my eyes glued to one screen after another, it was time for a detox. So, I seized the opportunity and signed up for the You in Europe Detox Box Youth Exchange program: five days in Ormylia, Greece, on the shores of the Aegean Sea — but without a phone. I had five brave partner-in-adventure: Angyalka, Tamás, Misi, Orsi and Ágota. So, in the second half of July, our small minority group, under the aegis of Romania, set out on an adventure to Greece.” – This is how the leader of the Romanian team that participated in the youth exchange called Detox Box, organized between 22-26 July 2024, began her report.
“We arrived at our headquarters (the White Rabbit hostel in Ormylia) on Sunday afternoon, coming from Italy, Greece, Slovakia and Romania. On our first evening and the following Monday morning, we were still allowed to use our phones — taking our last selfies, making calls and sending “I-am-okay” messages to our loved ones. However by Monday afternoon (after the icebreakers and name-games had warmed us up) we said goodbye to our constant companion, to our lover, the one who is always-always with us — our phone. We sat in a circle in the backyard of the hostel and to the heart-wrenching tune of “Goodbye My Lover” we each placed our phones into the depths of the Detox Box.
Silence. No WhatsApp, no Instagram, no outside world, just HereAndNow. Like some weird, inverted Alices, instead of Wonderland we had now entered Realityland — in the White Rabbit house.
We spent the next five days together as a family — the organizers did a great job, ensuring we lacked nothing: they provided delicious Greek food, a fully-packed schedule and a pleasant atmosphere. During the activities we were divided into teams in various ways, giving us the opportunity to meet, think and create together with everyone. We only kept in touch with the outside world through a basic phone (no, it didn’t have Snake).
After the Monday-night board games, Tuesday was a treat for theater lovers. In the morning, we tried to get closer to each other quickly through trust games, then loosened up ourselves and our entrenched thoughts with improvisations — in that way a hat became a nest and pants turned into a magic carpet. In the afternoon, we further developed our storytelling skills through dance theater, pantomime or puppet theater — thus, a story emerged about a hydrophobic GoPro. This intense theatre-making day was followed by a retreat-like day.
We started our Wednesday morning among the trees: breathing exercises, meditation, walking and journaling. In the afternoon we engaged in art therapy (painting, drawing, sculpting, music, embroidery, etc.), then crowned the day with beach yoga.
As the days passed, the evenings became noisier and more liberated as we got to know each other and each other’s cultures: we learned the meaning of Italian hand gestures, participated in the first Ormylia Olympics, walked the Devil’s path together, then toasted and feasted Slovak-style. If you heard “Nézését meg a járását” from afar on that Thursday in July, know that it was us, because the connections made that evening were transcending borders.
That same evening with shiny eyes, big smiles and full of stories we headed down to the beach, where we washed all our worries into the black of the night sea and dreamed clean in the sand, under the naked sky. Although the night was short, we threw ourselves into the Friday morning beach games like reborn children — be it rock-paper-scissors, obstacle courses or candy-hunting-in-flour. However, by Friday afternoon we reached our final program point: the farewell evening.
We sat in a circle in the backyard, just like on Monday, with the Detox Box once again in the center — but none of us wanted to reach for the box. We just looked at each other with teary eyes and smiles for minutes.
I have to admit, I was skeptical that just a week without my phone could awaken new feelings in me. But that Friday evening, amidst the tight hugs, the satisfied cheeks filled with souvlaki and the unreserved conversations, I felt something genuine and a touch of sadness because I knew that as soon as I turned my phone back on, I would step out of the rabbit hole, out of Realityland, and back into normalcy…”
