Back to books: Sweden’s digital backlash
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 16 April 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sweden, once a global poster child for digital education, is changing course. The Nordic nation previously championed a screen-first approach; laptops and tablets have been the norm in classrooms since the early 2010s. Now, the country is pivoting back to basics, reintroducing physical textbooks, limiting screen time, and investing heavily in school libraries. Stockholm-based reporter Maddy Savage explores why one of the world’s most tech-savvy countries is embracing analog learning once again. Driving the shift are falling international test scores and growing anxiety over the potential impact of heavy screen use on pupils' concentration, and how children process information. n an era of rapid AI integration, critics worry that reducing classroom technology could dent digital literacy and widen the inequality gap. We hear from the teachers, parents, pupils and researchers at the heart of this transition.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | We were sort of the pioneers in terms of digitalisation of schools, |
| 0:11.0 | and I think everybody just followed us. |
| 0:13.0 | They were like, oh, this works so well in Sweden, we should do it as well. |
| 0:17.0 | We jumped on that train very fast, and now more and more people realize that we should not have done that. |
| 0:25.2 | Sweden is one of the most tech-savvy countries on the planet. |
| 0:29.2 | And in schools, laptops or tablets for every student have been the norm for more than a decade. |
| 0:35.0 | But now, the country's changing track. |
| 0:41.0 | I'm Maddie Savage. I'm originally from the UK, and I moved to the Swedish capital in 2014, at a time of rapid digitalisation. |
| 0:47.7 | I remember money transfer apps were already mainstream. There was fast Wi-Fi on the bus |
| 0:52.5 | from the airport. I was shocked you could even |
| 0:54.5 | submit your tax return on a smartphone. In this program, I'll be sharing the story of how Sweden's |
| 1:00.6 | school system became part of that digital trend and why the country's government is now |
| 1:05.5 | unraveling its education policies and bringing books back to the classroom. |
| 1:18.4 | Reading real books and writing on real paper is much better if you want kids to get the knowledge they need. |
| 1:22.9 | I'll be discussing the shift with teachers, pupils and researchers and finding out who's championing and criticizing the change. |
| 1:27.6 | We can't go back wishing for a school system that it was like in the 1950s. |
| 1:35.0 | Digital competence is actually needed. |
| 1:38.4 | From the BBC World Service, this is Back to Books, Sweden's Digital Backlash. |
| 1:50.4 | I've just arrived in Sikler, a former industrial suburb just outside Stockholm, |
| 1:55.7 | with shiny office blocks and a new wooden high school building. |
| 1:59.2 | Many of the students arriving are carrying laptops. |
... |
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