The theme for this year's "Summer vacation" in SVT is leisure time, where the focus is on doing something without a screen. It can be anything from cycling as far as you can, trying a new sport or fixing coffee for your friends.
A million activities
The goal is for all of Sweden's children to check off a million activities when the summer is over. Maria Boklund, project manager for "Summer vacation", hopes that it will inspire children to release the screens at home.
"It helps children develop social skills and stay active, and can reduce stress and improve concentration. Plus, it's a great way to strengthen bonds with family and friends by doing fun things together", she writes to TT.
The response to the theme has so far been "super good", according to Maria Boklund:
"Parents and educators have said that they really like the idea, and the children seem to think it's fun with all the activities. It has helped families find new ways to socialize and create fun memories together, which is exactly what we hoped for".
The youth series "Tordyveln flyger i skymningen", which is based on Maria Gripe's and Kay Pollak's beloved radio series from 1976, premieres on July 11. It takes place in a time completely without mobile phones and tablets, something that 17-year-old actress Moa Nåsander appreciated during filming.
She also hopes that the summer vacation in "Tordyveln" will make an impression on other young people:
The story may be able to arouse curiosity and a longing to experience this summer vacation without social media. Maybe it can influence young people to want to have a more "old-fashioned" summer vacation, she says.
Daydreaming
Norwegian author Maja Lunde has written the book "Skärmbarnen", where she sounds the alarm about everything children miss out on when they spend too many hours stuck to a screen.
Among other things, they miss out on daydreaming, which is important for brain development and for getting to know oneself, she says.
Lunde emphasizes that there is a lot of good that can come from screen time, but that it becomes too much.
Watching a movie together with the family is often a nice experience. You get to immerse yourself in a story and live into different characters. The same applies to some gaming. But you should be aware that the algorithms affect children to continue, she says.
"Brain rot" was crowned the word of the year by Oxford English Dictionary 2024. Even in Swedish, the expression is used to describe the state of someone who has over-consumed material on social media.
This summer, we will write about people who, for various reasons, live disconnected. Previous articles have been about the artist Per Persson and the author Jonas Gren.
