During our project “Breaking Free from Modern Addictions” we visited the small city of Zwolle to conduct research. BFMA was a youth exchange that brought together 40 participants from five different European countries, Greece, Spain, Italy, Lithuania and the Netherlands, intending to discuss and raise awareness about modern addictions.

On the fifth day of our project participants engaged in a different non-formal activity, a real-life research. We arrived in Zwolle in the morning by train and after a brief energizing session we headed to the city center. The aim of this activity was to raise awareness among locals but also to explore if people were familiar with modern addiction. 

First step was to divide the participants into pairs, ensuring that each person worked with someone they hadn’t collaborated with before. Each team was provided with two key questions to ask the locals

1.What do you believe are the modern day addictions?
2. What can you suggest to prevent the modern day addictions? 

Then, everyone spread on the main square and started engaging with locals, that were happy to participate This also served as an opportunity to introduce the locals to Erasmus+ programs. Each team was to free to decide how to approach the people, some of them were asking the questions and wrote down the answers, while others chose to record the interview. Our research revealed that over 50% of respondents identified social media addiction as the most prevalent modern addiction, followed closely by excessive phone use. Additionally, respondents mentioned addictions to drugs, vaping, sugar, and shopping.
When asked about prevention strategies, most people emphasized the importance of education, followed by limiting screen time. Other suggestions included spending more time outdoors, fostering family engagement, and implementing legal regulations to curb addictive behaviors.

We want to thank the local community of Zwolle for their help and all the participants who took part in this research. If you want to read the data analysis of our study visit you can click here!