EU social media restrictions win support from Danish students

Students at Bjergsnæs Efterskole, a school near Viborg, support the European Commission’s proposal to restrict children’s access to social media and reduce young people’s screen use, DR reports.

The proposal, presented by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, would ban social media access for children under 13 and limit 13 and 14 year olds to one hour a day on social and digital platforms.

William Legaard Jensen, a 10th grade student at the school, said he remembered using his phone late into the night before starting there and arriving at school exhausted.

Students at Bjergsnæs Efterskole already have limited access to their phones. They can use them for one hour each evening.

“If I had to control it myself, it would probably be a little harder. Now someone else makes the choice for me, and that feels good. You can manage without it,” said Gertrud Hegelund, another 10th grade student.

“I feel that I sleep much better at night,” William Legaard Jensen added.

The proposed one hour limit for 13 and 14 year olds would be introduced through a “mini account” created and monitored by parents, with limited functions.

Under the proposal, social media and video platforms would also have to introduce time management and interruption tools. Providers would have to effectively prevent 13 and 14 year olds from accessing the services at night and during hours when children are normally expected to be at school.

Gertrud Hegelund said the measures could improve sleep and school attendance for many young people if they are adopted.

She was 13 when she gained access to social media and remembers her screen time changing significantly.

“I suddenly became much more dependent on my phone because there was always something I could check,” she said.

The proposal would protect at least eight consecutive hours of core sleep between 10pm and 8am. It would also ban services from sending push notifications to children’s phones during the protected night time and school hours.

Hegelund said stricter screen rules would not necessarily have negative effects on the generation growing up with them.

“They have not been used to anything else, so I do not think it will be a problem in that way,” she said.

Jensen said the rules could also make socialising more focused on face to face interaction rather than communication through screens.