Do children in Finland get too much screen time? That's the big question in this week's All Points North podcast.
At the moment, Finnish schools are not legally allowed to bring in a strict ban on smartphone usage between lessons. That needs to change, according to Susanna Urpo who has co-authored a citizens' initiative to change the law.
"If you're using a phone in a classroom your attention is not on learning because it's staying on your phone and that's causing a lot of problems for kids and young people," Urpo told APN.
Listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena or via Spotify
At present the National Agency for Education does not recommend a daily limit for screen time on phones, although when researching this podcast we found an old page recommending a two-hour daily limit.
When asked about that recommendation, the agency told APN that it was incorrect and would be removed.
Other countries have stricter rules on smartphones in schools. France, for example, banned smartphones completely in 2018. In the UK, the Department for Education looked at the issue in 2022 and said legislation wasn't necessary as most schools already banned phones for most of the school day.
In Finland things are different. Phones are seen as a tool, controls are a little more relaxed, and managing them is often framed as a digital literacy issue.
"I think we like to think that we are a very digital nation," said Inka Kiuru from the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare. "We have engineers, there is Nokia and everything. But I still have to say our children are the same—and in other countries too—they need support with their media skills. They are not born with all the knowledge. So, we really have to talk about issues with phones—even in Finland."
Those issues are now coming to the fore, with the citizens' initiative pointing to the impact of smartphone use on concentration levels and reading ability.
At the same time as smartphones have become ubiquitous, Finland's results in the international PISA rankings have taken a dive. While there is no proven link, the science is still out on the full effect of changes in access to smartphones among children.
William Doyle, a Helsinki parent and author who has written extensively on Finnish education, said he believes policymakers have made mistakes.
"The conclusion I'm reaching is that Finland made a wrong turn in digitalisation," said Doyle. "There was a blind faith in magical thinking—in the power of technology—to help children learn and to reduce inequality, and neither of that has worked. Instead, we've had rapidly plunging learning outcomes in Finland."
Also in the show we discuss the reaction to last week's episode on the cliff edge facing many 15-year-olds as they seek a study place at the age of 16.
Finland has English-language programmes up to that age, but not enough to meet demand once kids get to the upper secondary level, and several listeners wrote in to tell us about their experiences.
Tax time
We also chatted with personal finance expert Michael Lutzeier, who told us about the opportunities and pitfalls of tax return completion.
Most taxpayers in Finland have a deadline to check and return their forms in the spring. If you make a mistake, it could be costly.
"What people tend to forget is, if you have income from, let's say, renting out your car through an app, or from Airbnb, all these things you have to report," said Lutzeier.
"Although they are not in the pre-completed tax return, tax authorities actually received the information from Airbnb and these car sharing apps, but they do not display [in the tax return], they have no interface to get them into the pre-completed tax return."
Join the conversation!
This week's show was presented by Egan Richardson and Zena Iovino. The sound engineer was Juha Sarkkinen.
If you have any questions or would like to share your thoughts, contact us via WhatsApp on +358 44 421 0909, on our Facebook or Twitter accounts, or at yle.news@yle.fi and allpointsnorth@yle.fi.
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