Sweden schools going old school: electronic gadgets out of classrooms

Sweden is seriously dialing back the screen time in classrooms, especially for the little kids, though let's be clear: it's not some total nationwide gadget blackout.

The Swedes started pivoting away from the all-digital everything around 2022–2023 once the data started screaming about tanking reading scores, kids who couldn't focus for five minutes, and shaky basic skills all tied to too much time staring at glowing rectangles.

They're going old-school hard now: pushing physical textbooks, actual handwriting practice, pen-and-paper everything, and real printed books, particularly in the early grades (preschool through primary).

The government's pumping money into textbooks and libraries again, they've scrapped any mandate for digital tools in preschools (zero screens under age 2, and heavily limited after that), and they've basically called the previous full-throttle digital experiment what it was: a failed one.

Then there's the big one: a nationwide mobile phone ban rolling out in compulsory schools (that's primary and middle, up through grade 9, ages roughly 7–16) starting autumn 2026. Kids hand over their phones at the door (or lock 'em up), get 'em back when the bell rings at the end of the day. Phones are already prohibited in classrooms in about 80% of schools, but this makes it mandatory everywhere—including during breaks, to kill distractions, boost concentration, and improve overall security.

It's not a blanket ban on every laptop or tablet in every school or for every age group. The vibe is more "screens only when they actually make sense and add real value"—not the default setting anymore. A lot of coverage calls it "pulling the plug" on the over-digitalization fad, but really it's a smart recalibration: analog methods get priority for the core stuff kids need to master.

This whole move has people around the world taking notes as a possible blueprint for fixing screen-addled classrooms. 

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