This article is an abridged translation from http://materinstvo.ru/art/8304 with my commentary in the end.
In an experiment conducted in St. Petersburg (Russia), children aged 12 to 18 were offered to spend eight hours not accessing the means of communication they practiced every day. According to the conditions set, they weren’t allowed to turn on the computer, any gadgets, radio, or television. They couldn’t use mobile phones or the Internet. Instead they were free to be engaged in “classical” things: writing, reading, playing musical instruments, painting, needlework, singing, walking, etc.
The author wanted to prove her working hypothesis that modern kids have too much fun, they are not able to engage themselves in activities other than being online, and that they are completely unfamiliar with their inner world.
Out of 68 participants only three were able to finish the eight-hour experiment: – one girl and two boys. Three people started having suicidal thoughts, five experienced acute panic attacks, twenty-seven had symptoms of nausea, sweating, dizziness, hot flushes, abdominal pain, etc. Almost everyone experienced fear and anxiety.
What were the teenagers doing during the experiment? They were:
– cooking and eating;
– reading (or trying to read);
– doing a kind of “homework” (the experiment was being held during the holidays, but many – probably our of despair J– “hit the books”);
– looking out the window and loitering around (some went shopping: though the experiment forbade communication, they decided that shop-assistants or cashiers “did not count”);
– piecing together jigsaw puzzles or playing Lego
– painting or trying to paint;
– taking a shower;
– cleaning the apartment;
– playing with pets;
– playing sports;
– writing down their feelings or thoughts, writing a letter on paper;
– playing the guitar, the piano (one person was playing the flute);
– three were writing poems or prose;
– one boy was riding buses and trolleybuses across the city for almost five hours;
– one girl was embroidering;
– one boy went to an amusement park and took rides there until he began vomiting;
– one boy walked all through the city from one end to the other (about 25 km);
– one girl went to the Museum of Political History and another boy – to the zoo;
– one girl was praying.
At some point, almost everyone tried to sleep, but no one managed to – being (as some put it) “obsessed with wacky ideas.”
When the experiment finished, fourteen teenagers went into social networks right away, twenty phoned their friends, three called their parents, five visited their friends at home or started playing in the yard. The rest were watching television or playing computer games. Almost everybody began listening to music with earphones stuck in their ears.
All fears and symptoms disappeared immediately after the experiment was finished.
Somewhat later, 63 teenagers said the experiment had been useful and interesting for “self-discovery.” Six people re-started the experiment on their own and they claimed that with the second (third, fifth) attempt they eventually “made it.”
While analyzing the experiment, 51 people used the words “addiction”, “it turns out, I can not live without it …”, “a dose”, “withdrawals”, “syndrome of withdrawal”, “I always feel like …”, “get off the needle,” etc. All those in the group said that they were greatly surprised at thoughts that came to their mind in the course of the experiment, but they said they had failed to “consider” the thoughts carefully because of the deterioration of general condition.
One of the two boys who had successfully completed the experiment, had been building a model of a sailing ship for eight hours, with two breaks – for a meal and for walking his dog. The other had been sorting out and systematizing his collections, and then potting flowers. Neither one nor the other experienced any negative emotions.
COMMENTARY: I translated the title as “Being Tête-à-Tête With Self”, though a more exact translation from Russian might have been “Communing With Oneself”, or “Being On One’s Own”, or “Staying Alone With Oneself.” I was just going to emphasize that the problem is that children had no real “selves,” by which I mean that most of the children undergoing the experiment didn’t feel they possessed identity, they weren’t conscious of their own being, of their individuality. With experience and knowledge, a human’s personal dimension matures. Thanks to matured emotions and strengthened intellect, an alter ego is formed within a person. It’s the second “I” in “me,” who is my friend, as it were. If this constant companion is knowledgeable, well disposed towards me, well-informed and experienced, I will NEVER be dependent on ANYTHING, I’ll never feel bored. It’ll be always interesting for me to stay “tête-à-tête” with my own SELF, to talk with my SELF and to feel with my SELF…
Another question is how to form that close and intimate friend called “alter ego” in “me”? That may become a theme of another blog.
BLOGGING IS LIVING 