Two weeks without mobile internet: what improved for 90.7 percent
In a randomized study (PNAS Nexus 2025), 90.7 percent of participants improved in at least one of three areas after two weeks without mobile internet: subjective wellbeing, mental health, or objectively measured sustained attention. Here is what exactly was measured, and how it translates to your everyday life.
What exactly happened
Castelo and colleagues blocked mobile internet on participants' smartphones for two weeks. Calls and texts still worked, the feed did not. The researchers measured wellbeing, mental health and sustained attention, the latter with objective tests instead of self-reports.
The result
90.7 percent improved in at least one of the three areas. The attention improvement was in the order of magnitude of about ten years of aging, in the right direction. Important: this was an experiment with a control group, not a survey.
Do you need to go offline for two weeks now?
No. The study shows the direction, not the only dose. The everyday translation is protected windows: a morning in focus mode, an evening without the feed, a bedroom where the phone stays quiet. The ctrl key makes exactly these windows reliable, without renegotiating with yourself every day.
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