Denmark is a government committee recommendation that found that children under the age of 13 should not carry their own smartphones or tablets, banning mobile phones at schools and after-school clubs.
The government said it would change existing laws and enforce everything. folkeskole – Comprehensive primary school and lower secondary school – Without a phone means that almost all children between the ages of 7 and 16-17 are required by law to not bring their phones to school .
The announcement shows a U-turn by a government that previously refused to introduce such laws. This is because European governments are trying to impose stricter regulations on children's access to phones and social media.
The Danish Welfare Committee was established in 2023 by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and examined the growing dissatisfaction among children and young people.
The much-anticipated report, released Tuesday, raised alarms about the digitalisation of children and young people's lives, calling for a better balance between digital and analog lives. Among those 35 recommendations was government laws that banned calls from schools and after-school clubs.
Minister of Children and Education Matthias Tesfey; He told Politiken“We need to reclaim school as an educational space. There is room for reflection and not an extension of our teen bedroom.”
Local governments have a range of exceptions to include children with special educational needs, but said mobile phones and personal tablets “do not belong to school either during breaks or during lessons.”
He said the government has begun preparing legislative amendments.
“All of a sudden, the screens were all over the school and it was only after that we started to discuss the outcomes,” he said. “Both academic research and committees are beginning to address negative outcomes. In the two years I was the Minister of Education alone, we've become somewhat smarter.”
A committee survey found that 94% of young people had a social media profile before turning 13. Tiktok and YouTube.
The committee said: “This increases the risk of children being exposed to an inappropriate comparative culture, with available content and harmful content and features.
“At the same time, we spend time physically with friends and family, immersing ourselves in reading and other activities, paying time and attention from the important things of childhood and youth, such as leisure activities.”
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The tech giant said they should be forced to protect their children from “addictive” designs and inappropriate content. On the other hand, parents should not give their children a smartphone or tablet until they are at least 13 years old.
Commission chair Rasmus Meyer compared the ban on mobile phones to not allowing smoking in schools, saying that smartphones would “colonize a child's life.”
A French report last year found that children should not be allowed to use their smartphones until they reach the age of 13.
France, which banned primary and secondary students from using mobile phones on school grounds in 2018, attempted to “digital pose” for children up to 15 years old and handed over the phone upon arrival.
Norway recently announced a strict minimum age limit for 15 years on social media, protecting children from high-tech companies that said “oppose the brains of young children.”
