by Elpidio R. Estioko
The 21st century is the year of technology in the business world including the classroom here and abroad.
That’s the reason why almost all educational institutions, whether in the elementary, secondary, and even in college spent a large portion of their budget in modernizing the classroom.
However, there is a trend in the European community in going back to textbooks due to some reasons cited by the proponents after a series of experiments and latest developments.
My former buddy from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, now the Dean of the College of Communications Dr. Joey Alagaran, PhD, posted on Facebook the shift from classroom digitalization to printed books in European universities.
This is something of importance because while most of the world jumped to digitize education, six European nation – Sweden, Finland, Norway, France, Italy, and Denmark – started removing screens from classrooms at this time and bringing back physical textbooks, deep reading practices, and handwriting.
“This shift is not driven by nostalgia, but by scientific evidence proving that writing by hand and reading on paper significantly improve memory, focus, and comprehension,” Alagaran explained.
“Sweden pioneered this pushback in 2023 when its Ministry of Schools halted mandatory tablet usage and reinvested hundreds of millions of kronor into physical textbooks. Denmark has allocated 540 million kroner to swap tablets for books, distributing 17,500 new printed copies across classrooms, with a strict directive to make all schools completely mobile-free by 2027.”
In fact, even France and Italy, he mentioned, have already banned smartphones in primary and middle schools, and instead reintroduced paper planners and traditional pencil-and-paper tasks. In Scandinavia, Norway reports that 96% of its primary schools have successfully removed mobile devices from learning spaces, while Finland implemented similar restrictions in 2024.
This collective educational pivot challenges the global consensus on classroom digitalization, a reversal to old practices.
Are we ready to do that here in the U.S.? In the Philippines? It’s something revealing considering that at this age of modern technology, the thought of going back to textbooks is a little bit strange.
In recent years, some European education systems — including Sweden which is one of the six European nations advocating to go back to textbooks — have begun reversing their earlier push toward full digitalization, reinvesting in printed textbooks, handwriting, and traditional classroom materials.
While the trend is strongest in schools, it has implications for universities and higher education institutions.
Sweden, a leader in digital education at that time, aggressively introduced tablets, laptops, and online platforms widely in classrooms over the past decade.
However, by 2023, the Swedish government announced a major shift to: Mass investment in printed textbooks (around $83 million in 2023) and fiction/non-fiction books for students; Cellphone-free schools and reduced reliance on digital devices in early grades; and Emphasis on handwriting and sustained reading, seen as key to comprehension and memory.
It was reported that the reversal was driven by:
– Declining literacy and comprehension scores in reading, math, and science
– Teacher reports of reduced focus, attention, and engagement in screen-heavy environments
– Cognitive research suggesting paper-based reading improves retention and concentration compared to screens
– Equity concerns over unequal access to reliable internet and devices at home
Although the shift is most pronounced in primary and secondary education, it signals a reassessment of the role of digital tools in higher education. So, universities may see this as a cue to:
– Balance digital resources with printed materials for core texts and reference works
– Encourage handwriting for note-taking and study, which some research links to better memory encoding
– Reduce screen fatigue in lectures and study spaces, especially for students with long reading loads
– Re-evaluate digital-only course delivery, ensuring that online formats complement rather than replace traditional learning methods
For universities, this could mean adopting hybrid models where printed books and handwritten notes are valued alongside digital resources, fostering both accessibility and cognitive benefits.
In a 2019 study led by Ágústa Pálsdóttir of the University of Iceland, exploring university students’ perspectives on printed versus electronic learning materials, they found out that most students believed they concentrated better, retained information more effectively and engaged more thoroughly with printed texts.
Others further described digital environments as distracting, fragmented and mentally exhausting. Many repeatedly associated paper with focus and comprehension, while screens were linked to multitasking and interruptions.
Sweden made it clear though that it is not abandoning technology altogether. In fact, Sweden increasingly appears to believe that digital tools should support rather than replace foundational skills such as reading, writing and concentration, and have repeatedly stressed that screen-based learning is not automatically synonymous with educational progress.
They cited that reading a physical book, demands sustained attention in a way scrolling often does not. The concern is not simply that children are using technology, but that deep reading may be declining, and the habits associated with it slowly eroding.
Reading long and complex texts requires sustained attention, patience, reflection and the ability to remain mentally engaged without constant interruption.
Researchers studying digital reading environments have increasingly warned that screen-based reading often encourages more fragmented behavior such as browsing, scanning, task-switching and shorter attention cycles.
As I See It, Sweden’s decision is not really about rejecting technology at all but recognizing whether students actually learn better. This means that the physical act of reading, highlighting important information, flipping through pages and annotating margins still matters.
Maybe… we can do some experiments and if there are positive results, why not?
ELPIDIO R. ESTIOKO was a veteran journalist in the Philippines and an award-winning journalist here in the US. He just published his book Unlocking the chain of Poverty: In Pursuit of the American Dream which is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Xlibris Publishing. For feedbacks, comments… please email author at estiokoelpidio@gmail.com
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