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Digital Escape Through Offline eXperiences

2026-1-BG01-KA153-YOU-0003922272026Mobility of youth workersongoing
Countries: BG|GE|AM|MK|TR|ES|IT · Grant: €28,795
Inclusion of marginalised young peopleTackling geographical remoteness and involving rural areasQuality and innovation of youth work

Objectives

With the project DETOX – Digital Escape Through Offline eXperiences, we aim to build upon the experience of the previous initiative DiGiDetox and respond to one of the most pressing challenges in youth work today – digital addictions and the resulting social isolation. In the daily practice of youth work, we increasingly encounter young people who spend hours in front of screens, deprive themselves of real social experiences, and lose motivation for learning, sports, and active living. This problem is not merely individual but has a strong social and community impact – it affects mental health, reduces social skills, and leads to new forms of isolation. Our goal with DETOX is to provide youth workers with tools, knowledge, and skills that will enable them to work more effectively with young people affected by digital addictions. We strive to create lasting change in the way youth organizations understand and practice their work in the context of the digital era. From the perspective of youth work practice, this means developing competences that allow professionals to recognize signs of digital addiction and dopamine “overstimulation,” to understand their mechanisms and consequences, and to offer adequate alternatives. It is equally important to strengthen skills for working with anxiety, irritability, and lack of concentration – symptoms often observed in young people dependent on digital stimuli. Another important focus of the project is the creation of practical resources and methodologies to be used in the daily work of youth organizations. The prepared exercises, games, training modules, and multimedia materials will offer young people attractive alternatives to excessive use of technologies. These resources will be easily applicable in different social and cultural contexts and will be made freely accessible in order to reach the widest possible audience. A significant part of the project is the encouragement of alternative forms of social interaction and personal development beyond the screen. In youth work practice, this means promoting activities that create a natural environment for building social skills – sports, art, volunteering, and cultural events. These activities support the development of emotional intelligence and the strengthening of intrinsic motivation, thereby compensating for the lack of real-life challenges and stimuli in the digital environment. The project also seeks to build and expand a network of organizations working in this field and willing to exchange experiences and good practices. Through transnational cooperation, successful models from one country can be adapted and applied in another. In this way, the professionalization of youth workers is strengthened, and the topic of digital well- being is elevated as a strategic priority in European youth work. We also place particular emphasis on supporting youth workers themselves, who sometimes struggle with digital balance. Those who are expected to serve as role models for young people often find themselves influenced by social media, constant notifications, and the online culture of instant gratification. DETOX will give them the opportunity to reflect on their own habits, develop self-awareness skills, and build a healthier balance, which they can then pass on to the young people they work with. The project strongly focuses on working with vulnerable groups as well. Young people from rural or economically disadvantaged regions, those with migrant backgrounds, or those from marginalized communities often lack access to quality extracurricular activities and are especially vulnerable to digital isolation. The youth workers trained through this project will have adapted approaches and resources that can be applied specifically in contexts with limited opportunities. In a broader sense, we aim to create sustainable change in young people’s behavior by fostering intrinsic motivation and long-term skills for coping with dependency. Our approach will not rely on prohibitions or restrictions on technology use, but rather on encouraging mindful behavior, critical thinking, and self-regulation skills.

Project partners (7)