Across the Nordic classrooms, there’s a reverse digitalisation taking place with the intensity of a tropical storm. The efforts are in sync with the worldwide initiatives to limit screentime and social media for children. This month, Australia became the first country to ban its under-16s from all social media services. Those not 16 yet cannot set up new accounts, and existing profiles from most major platforms, including Tik Tok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Threads will be deactivated. The ban, one-of-its-kind and watched closely by other countries, is yet another step in giving children what they badly need and truly deserve—a screen-free childhood.
Sweden, which was ahead of its times in embracing EdTech (education technology) in classrooms and curriculums, realised its mistakes—the hard way. Since a while now, the country’s teachers have been countering the hyper-digitalised approach by putting emphasis on traditional methods of learning, printed books, quiet reading time, the skill of handwriting rather than keyboarding. In 2024, the Scandinavian country’s public health agency recommended that children under the age of 2 not be exposed to any digital screens. Many schools in the country have already implemented screen bans, with school authorities collecting mobile phones at the beginning of the school day and returning them as the pupils go home.
Sweden has not been the only Nordic country to wake-up to the risks of high screen use among children. After a meeting of the Nordic Council of Ministers in April 2024, the health ministers of Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Aland reiterated their deep concern about the harmful effects, on children’s well-being, of spending more time on screens. “Children and young people now spend much of their free time on screens, socialising and searching for knowledge and information,” read the joint statement before resolving to increase the pressure on tech companies to assume responsibilities and do their bit too.
This year in February, Denmark’s education minister announced that the government would push through a law banning smartphones and tablets in schools, both in lessons and during break time. Last year, Copenhagen Municipality blocked social media platforms from school computers and Wi-Fi networks, while several schools have already opted to make their campuses completely “screen free.”
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Norway has been a trailblazer of sorts in introducing policies intolerant of digital devices, with the city government of Stavanger turning all its schools mobile-phone free back in 2019. Last year, the Norwegian Directorate of Education issued recommendations calling for mobile-free classrooms and break times at primary and secondary schools. In Denmark, the country’s welfare commission also recommended that no child should have their own smartphone before the age of 13.
Learning apps—a grey area?
The Pandemic brought upon the advent of zoom schooling and thereby a largely unregulated license for online learning mechanisms to grow at an exponential pace. A House of Commons Committee report, published in May 2024, with recommendations to the UK Parliament, came down heavily on online apps, “There are over half a million apps claiming to be educational within leading app stores such as the Apple App Store and Google Play, but no quality standards for educational content or design features that apps must align with to be included in the educational category.”
It further flags that parents have little to no confidence in being able to correctly identify high quality versus low quality educational resources online. The report also highlighted that screen use has been known to start as early as six months of age. As the children grow, their dependency on screentime grows for several reasons. It further notes that one in four children by age eight have their own mobile phone and almost all children by age 12 own phones.
In the meanwhile, in Australia, under the new ban, platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, have been ordered to block children with immediate effect or face fines up to $33 million under the new law. The move, as expected, has drawn criticism from major tech companies, but has been applauded by parents, child advocates, and educationists. The tech companies will, reportedly, deploy a mix of age estimation methods based on selfies, online behaviour, and checks like mandatory documents.
Predicted to be a hard rule to follow and even harder to implement, several other countries have already tested the waters for a similar ban. In 2023, as a part of the French government’s plan to reduce children’s screen time and protect them from cyber bullying, a law was enacted requiring social media platforms to verify user age and obtain parental consent for those under 15. South Korea, while not looking at implementing a total social media ban yet, is in the process of enacting a nationwide ban on the use of mobile phones and other digital devices in classrooms. The law will take effect starting new school session in March 2026.
UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore once observed, “Under the shadow of Covid -19, the lives of millions of children shrunk to just their homes and screens. Online quickly became the way to play, socialise, and learn.”
In hindsight, screens and screentime permeated children’s everyday lives, not suddenly but steadily. With more than enough research available on the cons of digital devices, efforts must be made to eliminate it at a similar pace and with the same intensity.
By Manpriya Singh
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