It has long been difficult to discuss children's screen time with Swedish parents. It’s not that discussing the risks of prolonged exposure or setting limits is impossible, but it often confuses: Why deny an 8-year-old a cell phone, when most of their classmates already have one? Why restrict their internet access when they're learning English and making friends online? Let's not talk about restricting the use of an app that we've installed: That would be tantamount to abuse.
However, parents are questioning things, at a time when health professionals are slowly starting to sound the alarm. In autumn 2023, the Public Health Agency in Stockholm announced that it would make recommendations by December 2024. For the moment, there are none, apart from those of the Swedish Paediatric Association, published in November 2023, for children aged 0 to 5. In this eight-page document – half of which refers to scientific studies – the doctors proceed with caution. They acknowledge that parents, who themselves spend a great deal of time in front of screens, may feel a "certain reluctance" to accept the results of the study, which "tends to recommend that the youngest children should not use digital screens at all." Pediatricians, therefore, advise no screens until 2 years of age, then a maximum of one hour a day until the age of 5.
On the whole, reactions have been positive, according to Ulrika Aden, the association's president, who admitted she was a little surprised: "Sweden sees itself as a country at the forefront of digitization and the internet, where wanting to limit new technologies is considered backward." Children have access to screens at school from kindergarten onward. However, families also have many questions, said Aden: "I think almost all Swedish parents would agree that limiting their children's screen time is their main concern. It's probably easier to do in other cultures, where parents can be authoritarian, whereas, in Sweden, people trust the authorities and expect them to support them by issuing recommendations."
In this highly connected country of early adopters who jump at anything new, and where the tech sector has produced digital giants like King, Zettle, Klarna, and Spotify, the numbers are quite staggering. According to the Swedish Media Agency's annual report published in 2023, 82% of 9-year-olds have a cell phone, 20% have a computer and 55% have a tablet. Among 9-to-12-year-olds, 12% spend more than three hours a day on social media, and a quarter of teens say they sleep with their mobile.
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