Since I first moved to Finland in 2013, I have witnessed an ever-deepening societal problem that has devastated student learning. Childhood has become dominated by digital devices. This is a global trend, but it disproportionately affects Finnish children.
Finland’s teenagers, formerly the world’s highest achievers, still perform above average on the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, but they turned in their lowest-ever average scores in math, science and reading in the latest study, and those numbers have been going down for years.
In December, the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture described the predicament as “extremely disconcerting.”
As a U.S. teacher and parent living in Finland, I understand the concern. American schools can learn valuable lessons from Finnish education, both positive and negative.
In 2016, despite research showing that students who used computers more often at school performed much worse on reading and math PISA tests, the Finnish government announced it would spend millions of euros on ramping up digital learning.
Finland is now one of the leaders in using digital devices at school, ranking sixth overall in the 2022 PISA study. On average, Finnish teenagers reported spending more than four hours on digital devices during the school day.
Predictably, digital distraction is high: The 2022 PISA data revealed that over 80 percent of Finland’s 15-year-olds said that digital devices distracted them, at least sometimes, while in math class.
The data also showed a strong association between digital distraction and student achievement. The teenagers who said they were distracted by their classmates’ device use performed significantly worse academically than those who rarely encountered this level of distraction.
Across wealthy countries, academic achievement has taken a nosedive as children’s smartphone ownership has surged. (Depression and anxiety have spiked, too.) And there is growing evidence that digital devices have eroded learning outcomes. Research has also indicated that excessive cellphone use is associated with adverse effects on student well-being, texting in class is linked to lower grades and just having one’s smartphone nearby decreases cognitive capacity.
Consistent with those findings, Finland’s PISA scores have declined steadily since the iPhone debuted in 2007.
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It’s tempting to look at the country’s slumping PISA performance and blame the Finnish style of education. But this conclusion misses the forest for the trees.
I work in a hybrid role with Copper Island Academy, a Michigan charter school that uses tried-and-true practices from Finnish education, including regular brain breaks, teacher collaboration and hands-on learning.
Our K-8 school scored in the top 10 percent of the state’s public schools on a comprehensive evaluation that considers proficiency, growth and other key indicators.
Copper Island is careful about what it borrows from Finnish education, however. We embrace evidence-based practices like brain breaks but have refrained, for example, from adopting Finland’s recent emphasis on digital learning.
We subscribe to the country’s former approach of minimizing screen time during the school day. Japan, another high-achieving nation, has also done this.
Unlike their Finnish counterparts, Japanese teens improved upon their 2018 PISA scores in every subject despite the Covid-19 disruption. They also reported the least time using digital devices for leisure during the school day — about an hour less than Finland’s teenagers.
Related: There is a worldwide problem in math and it’s not just about the pandemic
U.S. psychologist Jon Haidt decries a “phone-based childhood,” which contributes to sleep loss, addiction, attention problems and social deprivation. This global phenomenon emerged about 12 years ago, but is playing out differently worldwide.
About 50 percent of American children now receive their first smartphone before they turn 11. According to a 2022 survey, most children in Finland, however, appear to get a phone (typically a smart device) at the age of 5 or 6. The study also indicated that — for the first time in its history — virtually all first-graders owned phones, including phone watches.
Finland’s plummeting PISA scores may reflect — perhaps more than anything else — a phone-based childhood that starts much too early. Experts recommend delaying smartphone ownership as long as possible to reduce distraction and addiction. Smartphone use triggers dopamine increases inside children’s brains, and those spikes make these devices hard to resist.
But there is some hope for Finland’s education system.
A couple of months ago, my 12-year-old son started venting when he came home from his Finnish school. He described classmates who gravitate to their smartphones whenever possible.
“Why doesn’t my school just get rid of phones?”he asked me.
A few weeks later, I received an unexpected email from his principal. The teachers and students had discussed the pros and cons of using phones at school and decided to ban the devices.
The decision filled my son with joy. It was a step in the right direction.
Timothy Walker is an American teacher, educational consultant, and the author of “Teach Like Finland.”
This story about smartphones and children was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s newsletter.
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