Transcription
Come on, Sandy.
Every morning, the ritual is the same. At this Copenhagen school, children start their day by placing their phones in a locked box. Since the beginning of the school year, this has been the rule across Denmark. No mobile phones or tablets during class hours. And here another visible change has taken place. After a decade of all digital learning, physical textbooks are making a comeback.
I think the the biggest issue has been that because we kind of got rid of the books and started using screens instead. That we've noticed that a lot of the kids have trouble concentrating. So, it's pretty easy to swipe with three fingers over to a different screen and have a video game going, for example, during class. here. Computers are now used sparingly and always under supervision.
I think it's fine like how it is now. It's like a good stability between both. That's really it's like really nice not to have so much screen time because like I really love writing and reading.
180° turn for country once seen as a digital pioneer. One triggered by alarming data. Teens aged 13 to 18 spend an average of 5 and a half hours a day on their phones and their mental health has been worsened according to the children's well-being commission. The recommendations of former commission member Christine Raven Lund are at the heart of Denmark's new digital sobriety.
An element of when you spend so much time on social media as many young people in Denmark do then it also takes time away from protecting factors. So I think it goes both in reducing the harm but actually also giving up more space to being together in a physical space.
As a result, phones are banned not only in schools but also in youth centers and sports clubs.
In this athletic club, using a phone is forbidden even during competitions.
It's like a nice pause from everything that's going on. you aren't accidentally on your phone too much during practice because sometimes you can like pick it up to check something and then suddenly you've been there for 10 minutes uh and just wasted 10 minutes where you could have been jumping instead.
Mila Valmod was already applying this rule before it became widespread. It seemed obvious to her.
When a cell phone enters into the room the two things happen. First of all the energy drops completely. [laughter] All of a sudden, uh, the breaks are longer. And the second thing is that somebody is kind of outgrouped, which is very bad for a social environment.
In a country that prides itself on being one of the happiest in the world, the effects of all screens all the time have triggered a collective wakeup call. Each year, the Headspace Association supports more than 11,000 young people and works closely with youth advisers like Sophie. She has limited her own screen time to one hour a day and sees attitudes changing around her.
I know from my perspective my friends uh have I have a lot of friends who have deleted their social media or um give themselves a limit on how many uh hours a day uh maybe even minutes a day they're allowed to spend on social media. So I think definitely because of the awareness that's been put on to the the subject for two years now. The association has also organized a national no phone day to encourage adults to set an example. 10% of the population took part this year and a quarter of Danes say they've changed their behavior.
I think we we have a huge responsibility as parents and as adults. I think we have to yeah we have to really switch off our phones, switch off our screens and go out and have conversation both with each each other but also with the young people
reducing screen time and soon possibly restricting access to social networks altogether. A citizens initiative led by digital health expert Imran Rashid has gathered more than 50,000 signatures calling for a ban on Tik Tok, Instagram, and Snapchat for under 15s. Parliament is set to vote early next year, but he says the point of no return has already been reached. the coming generations who are now starting public schools, who are now being brought up, I mean they will hopefully have better conditions growing up than uh the current generation because they were basically uh lost uh in the digital space and and their and their parents. I mean my generation, we didn't know what to do. We didn't know what we did.
After betting everything on screens, Denmark is going back to basics in its schoolyards. A paradigm shift that could inspire others. The European Parliament is now backing a ban on social media access for under 16s across the EU.