Boarding schools tighten mobile phone rules to protect community

Thousands of teenagers are moving into boarding schools across Denmark, where stricter mobile phone rules are increasingly being introduced to strengthen student communities, DR reports.

Many schools put students’ phones away when they arrive. When the devices are returned, their use is often subject to detailed restrictions, according to Torben Vind Rasmussen, chairman of the Danish Efterskole Association.

“They are met with strict rules,” he said, adding that boarding schools have more restrictive policies than the rest of society. The rules are intended to prioritise “the good analogue community”, he said.

At Dronninglund Efterskole, a boarding school for teenagers, phones may be used only in students’ rooms. They are locked away at night, when the internet is also switched off.

“The mobile phone has become too strong a magnet in children and young people’s lives, pulling them away from the community,” said principal Bitten Schjødt Kjær. “That is why the mobile has become an enemy of the way we create relationships.”

Fifteen-year-old Astrid Frey Knudsen, who is starting at Dronninglund Efterskole, normally uses her phone for about four hours a day and is used to having few restrictions.

“I think it will be difficult, but I can probably manage it,” she said. She also expects it will be good to spend time with friends. She believes the rules are fair and are meant to ensure that students meet each other rather than sitting on TikTok.

Dronninglund Efterskole reviews its mobile phone rules every year and has refined them again before the new school year. Kjær said she could imagine the school eventually becoming completely mobile-free.

At Efterskolen Smededalen, phones are banned until the autumn holiday. Students can then use them for three hours a day.

At Nordfyns Efterskole, phones are locked away for much of the day and night. Students may use them from after the afternoon assembly until dinner, and only in their rooms. The school also has detailed rules for days involving visitors, trips outside the school and other situations.

At Ollerup Efterskole, students have no internet access during their first six weeks apart from 30 minutes a day. Computers and phones are unavailable outside that period. The rules continue after six weeks, but students can influence them and they may be relaxed if the community supports that.

Nordfyns principal Mogens Zabel said the time students are allowed to have their phones has been reduced year by year. The aim is to help them stay present with the people around them rather than inside their phones.