Sweden joins drive against excess screen time

Sweden's government has become the latest in Europe to work on drafting legislation banning mobile phones in schools because of the physical and mental damage being done to young people by excessive screen time.

The move comes after the 2017 launch of a five-year digitalization strategy for schools, with its main goals being to "create further opportunities for digitalization, achieve a high level of digital competence (especially in the context of children, students, and younger people), and promote the development of knowledge and equal opportunities and access to technology".

But with the country now reporting the second-highest level of internet use in the European Union, Social Affairs and Public Health Minister Jakob Forssmed has said a concerted effort is needed to bring young people away from the digital world and back into the real one.

"Schools have a responsibility to prepare (them) for the world, but what we're seeing now is something else," he told German broadcaster DW. "They cannot cut with scissors. They cannot climb a tree. They cannot walk backward because they are sitting with their cell phones."

A lack of physical activity linked to excessive screen time was even resulting in youngsters developing physical ailments more usually associated with the elderly, he added, and disrupted sleep patterns linked to mobile phone use are contributing to increased anxiety and depression, especially among girls.

Currently, there are voluntary restrictions on access to personal digital devices in school in the country, but this could now be made the law, and, if so, it would follow a growing trend across Europe for limiting young people's screen time.

Earlier this month, France became the latest country to introduce a trial ban on phones, which must be handed over at the start of the school day, in an effort to give youngsters what has been called "a digital pause".

A report by a commission set up by President Emmanuel Macron made similar observations about the damage done by phones to those noted in Sweden, including "a very clear consensus on the direct and indirect negative effects of digital devices on sleep, on being sedentary, a lack of physical activity, and the risk of being overweight and even obese … as well as on sight".

Servane Mouton, a neurologist who served on the commission, said it was not just down to young people, however, adding "we have to teach parents once again how to play with their children".

Italy banned phones for all school-age groups in 2007, before reversing the decision in 2017, only to impose it again in 2022.

Portugal has designated phone-free school days. And there are regional bans in Spain and limitations and guidelines aimed at curbing use of phones in Germany and the United Kingdom.

"For far too long, we have allowed screens and apps to steal time and attention at the cost of what we know is needed to feel well," added Forssmed. "Children's health is paying the price for tech companies' profits."