Better still a pen and a notebook: How Sweden wants to banish mobile phones from schools

Not so long ago in 2017, Sweden adopted a five-year digitization strategy for schools, which had as its main objectives to "achieve a high level of digital competence" and "encourage the development of knowledge, equal opportunities and access to technology", writes Deutsche Welle (DW).

Today, seven years later, Sweden is the second country in the European Union in terms of Internet usage, right after Denmark.

But the government is worried. That's why Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health Jakob Forsmed is leading efforts to help students balance real life and TikTok contents.

No phones during the school day

"Schools have a responsibility to prepare children for the world, but what we are seeing now is something completely different," Forsmead claims.

He points out that students in Sweden suffer from wide widespread disorders and the decline of physical and intellectual abilities due to hours spent on the Internet.

"They can't cut with scissors." They can't climb a tree. They can't walk backwards because they are always sitting with their mobile phones," Formsed said in an interview with DW at the ministry in Stockholm.

"Also, we are seeing diseases that used to be characteristic of older and middle-aged people, but are now appearing in young people due to lack of physical activity."

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That's why Forsmed is advocating for the restriction of the use of phones and tablets in schools, so that it is legally mandatory, and not just recommended, as is the case now.

The government's proposal for a new law stipulates that students up to the 9th grade do not have access to devices during their entire stay at school, including breaks.

Their efforts are supported by new guidelines issued by the Swedish Public Health Agency earlier this month, advising that children under the age of two should not spend any screen time at all, children aged two to five are recommended an hour a day, children aged six to twelve years two hours, and teenagers a maximum of three hours.

Forsmed believes that the problem of lack of sleep among teenagers is underestimated, and that the latest research shows that Swedish teenagers, mainly because of their devices, sleep less than six hours a night, although they should have eight to nine hours of sleep.

"It reduces their resistance to stress, increases the risk of depression, suicidal thoughts, anxiety," says the minister.

As he says, girls are particularly affected, and scientific evidence confirms that social networks "expose them to eating disorders and body dissatisfaction at an early age."

Glued to phones

Patrik Sander, deputy headmaster of a school in the southern Swedish city of Malmö, told DW that the school where he works has been confiscating mobile phones from students for years, even though they are returned to them during lunch.

He said the policy was introduced because of signs "bordering on abuse and addiction" and that when devices are taken away during classes, students can be seen reaching for their phones with their hands. "I was kind of scared when I saw that," he said, "not for me, but for them."

Another troubling behavior that Sander wants to combat with the phone ban is peer bullying. He says that female students at his school were secretly photographed in the PE locker room, and those photos were then shared around.

"We are becoming addicted"

Raising awareness of the risks of addiction seems to be working for primary school students in Arsta, a suburb of Stockholm, where students put their devices away in hand-made pouches of their own making before class and only get them back at the end of the day.

All four 10- and 11-year-olds interviewed by DW admitted that it would be very difficult for them to concentrate without this system.

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"We use Snapchat and TikTok a lot and sometimes we get so addicted that we don't want to put our phones down," Emma explained.

Essia says, "I'd probably just get lost in the phone," he said, adding that's because school is "so boring" compared to the phone.

He says he spends three to four hours a day online outside of school, while the other three students said they have their phones automatically lock after two or two and a half hours.

That's why teacher Asa Lind wants to see additional restrictions in schools. He believes that the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendation - banning phone use from one to two hours - is already quite large, but does not include time spent online as part of the school curriculum.

"I think we could rethink how we use our school days and actually limit screen time for younger kids during class," she said, "because I think they spend a lot of time alone with headphones on computers doing assignments."

Teachers related to Tims

For some older students, however, there is no way out of constant phone use, even if they wanted to.

Lovisa Hedelin and Nils Koning, students of the music high school "Sodra Latins", say that their school timetables are constantly set and updated via the online platform Microsoft Teams. Koning says the teacher even reprimanded him for not checking the details on his phone right before class.

Hedelin points out that their case is certainly specific, because it would be impossible to play instruments and hold the phone in your hand at the same time. It's not clear what impact the proposed law would have on specialized programs like theirs.

At the same time, Koning says he had to be tough on himself in his free time, as he stayed up until three in the morning looking at his phone during one period. "I realized it wasn't working," he said.

Violin teacher Linda Toivola says she never has to take phones away from her students, but she has three children in other schools and is looking forward to Forsmead's stricter rules on device use.

“I'd like that!” she said. "That's what I expect as a parent."