No Internet, No Social Media: North Koreans May Be Living a Stress-Free Life — But at What Cost?

 

To the rest of the world, North Korea is often viewed as one massive open-air prison  a country sealed off from the internet, social media, and nearly all forms of international connection. Yet, for many citizens inside the regime, what outsiders consider oppression is just daily life and some observers argue it might even be less stressful than our hyper-connected world.

In North Korea, there’s no Instagram influencers, no TikTok trends, no Twitter drama, no endless scrolling. Citizens live without smartphones, dating apps, or breaking news alerts. There are no online shopping pressures, no doomscrolling, and no information overload.

According to defectors and researchers familiar with life inside the reclusive state, many North Koreans experience a daily rhythm that is simple, quiet, and undisturbed by the chaos of global information networks.

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“We may think they live in a prison, but those without access to social media, the internet, or outside noise may actually be living a simple, stress-free life,” says Dr. Mina Choi, a Seoul-based sociologist who studies North Korean society. “They wake up, work, eat, sleep—without likes, comments, or notifications.”

With an internal intranet system called Kwangmyong, North Koreans have limited access to government-approved websites, educational material, and basic services, but almost zero contact with the global internet. Foreign websites are blocked, and any attempt to access banned content is a punishable offense.

But experts warn that what seems like peaceful isolation is actually a highly controlled environmentthat sacrifices freedom for simplicity. Information is strictly filtered by the state, and any form of dissent or attempt to seek the truth about the outside world is met with brutal punishment.

“North Koreans may not be overwhelmed by modern technology, but they are completely cut off from freedom of thought,” said Victor Kang, a defector who fled the country in 2017. “Yes, it’s stress-free, because you’re not allowed to think beyond what they tell you to think.”

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Kang recalls living under constant surveillance, with no access to books, media, or communication from the outside world. “It felt calm, but only because fear kept everyone silent.”

Despite the serious human rights concerns, some critics of modern digital life argue that there’s something the rest of the world can reflect on from North Korea’s isolation - the mental health impact of internet dependency.

“We live in constant stress - from comparison, from online hate, from never switching off,” said Nigerian tech wellness coach Angela Udoka. “We need to find a balance. North Korea’s model is extreme, but it reveals how noisy our lives have become.”

Ultimately, North Korea presents a paradox: a society shielded from the mental chaos of modern life, but at the cost of freedom, choice, and truth. While the absence of social media might reduce anxiety, the presence of oppression and fear replaces it with another kind of suffering.

As the world becomes even more digitized, the silent lives of North Koreans force us to question: Are we truly more free with the internet or just more distracted?

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