Norway's fight to get the iPad generation reading again
After giving every five-year-old an iPad in 2016, Norway saw reading scores plummet. Now the country is on a mission to reverse the damage.
By Greg Chrystall
This deeply reported piece from The Times tells the story of what happened when Norway gave every child an iPad at age five — and what they're doing to fix it.
In 2016, Norway introduced iPads for all children starting school. There were no parental controls. Parents who complained were dismissed as "dinosaurs." Books disappeared from classrooms. Children stopped reading. The results were dramatic: Norway, once significantly above the international average in PISA reading scores, dropped below it. Of 65 countries measured for children's enjoyment of reading, Norway now ranks dead last.
The numbers are stark. Around 500,000 Norwegians — in a population of just 5.6 million — cannot read a text message or simple instructions. Former education minister Trine Skei Grande describes children being left with "kitchen language," a vocabulary of perhaps 17,000 words rather than a reader's 55,000-70,000.
Now the fightback is underway. iPads have been removed for the first three years of school. Mobile phones are banned for all ages. The Oslo public library system lent a record 2.2 million books last year — about 50% to children — by making libraries irresistible: rap lyric workshops, chess tournaments, rollerskating parties around piles of books. Summer reading competitions had one remote coastal library completely running out of children's books from demand. A workplace book club initiative targets adults too, because as one organiser put it: "Why should children be forced to read if their parents are never doing that?"
Norway's story is a cautionary tale that resonates with everything we believe at Barnluren. When we hand children devices designed for adult digital life — whether iPads, smartphones, or tablets — the consequences can be severe and take years to reverse. The alternative isn't no technology at all. It's choosing technology that serves children's actual developmental needs. A phone that only makes voice calls. A library that feels like an adventure. Tools that connect children to people and stories, not to screens and algorithms.