The Daily Populous Thursday April 2nd, 2026 morning edition
Authored by arstechnica.com and submitted by okunjkl

In 2023, the Swedish government announced that the country’s schools would be going back to basics, emphasizing skills such as reading and writing, particularly in early grades. After mostly being sidelined, physical books are now being reintroduced into classrooms, and students are learning to write the old-fashioned way: by hand, with a pencil or pen, on sheets of paper. The Swedish government also plans to make schools cellphone-free throughout the country.

Educational authorities have been investing heavily. Last year alone, the education ministry allocated $83 million to purchase textbooks and teachers’ guides. In a country with about 11 million people, the aim is for every student to have a physical textbook for each subject. The government also put $54 million towards the purchase of fiction and non-fiction books for students.

These moves represent a dramatic pivot from previous decades, during which Sweden—and many other nations—moved away from physical books in favor of tablets and digital resources in an effort to prepare students for life in an online world. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Nordic country’s efforts have sparked a debate on the role of digital technology in education, one that extends well beyond the country’s borders. US parents in districts that have adopted digital technology to a great extent may be wondering if educators will reverse course, too.

So why did Sweden pivot? In an email to Undark, Linda Fälth, a researcher in teacher education at Linnaeus University, wrote that the “decision to reinvest in physical textbooks and reduce the emphasis on digital devices” was prompted by several factors, including questions around whether the digitalization of classrooms had been evidence-based. “There was also a broader cultural reassessment,” Fälth wrote. “Sweden had positioned itself as a frontrunner in digital education, but over time concerns emerged about screen time, distraction, reduced deep reading, and the erosion of foundational skills such as sustained attention and handwriting.”

wRADKyrabbit on April 1st, 2026 at 16:58 UTC »

Its so frustrating seeing other countries actually attempt to solve problems

BowlEducational6722 on April 1st, 2026 at 15:34 UTC »

Educator here.

Across the board the system fell prey to the "appeal to novelty" fallacy.

Because it was new, we thought it obviously must be better and more effective and we spent gobs of time and money trying to chase all the rapidly advancing new tech and force it onto kids without really understanding why the old ways worked or how it would affect our children in the long run.

Tech was only ever meant to be a tool, but we went overboard and made it central to everything and we now have entire generations of kids who are worse off for it...and society is going to pay that price for a *long* time.

caitelsa on April 1st, 2026 at 15:33 UTC »

We really need to go back to analog in a lot of ways.