One night, Danish filmmaker Søren Bojsen had a strange dream. He was scrolling through an infinite feed, even in his sleep. It wasn’t a nightmare exactly, but he woke up with a heavy feeling, like he’d been swallowed a little more by the machine. The next day, he deleted all his social media accounts.
Maybe you’ve felt something similar. You grab your phone just to check something quick, and suddenly it’s midnight and you’ve watched thirty videos you barely remember. You laugh, you scroll, and you forget why you even opened the app. It’s a daily ritual, and for many of us, a quiet regret.
In Denmark, this feeling is becoming a national conversation. According to new government-backed research, over half of us use social media more than we want to, and around 86,000 people are now considered addicted. That’s not just doomscrolling; it’s a mental health issue.
The science is catching up. Until recently, “social media addiction” was more of a vibe than a diagnosis. But researchers from over 70 countries are now developing tools to measure it. They’re asking, do you feel anxious without your phone? Do you check it without meaning to? Do you try to cut back and fail?
It’s not just individual experiments either. Nationally, something is shifting. A new study shows that young people have started using Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube significantly less, a drop of up to 22% since 2022. Some call it the start of a teen rebellion against the scroll. Others say they’ve just moved to platforms like Discord and Telegram. Either way, the relationship is changing.
There’s also a message for parents. Experts advise against strict bans or panicked lectures. Instead, join your kids in the digital world, laugh at dumb videos together, play the games, ask questions. That way, when something uncomfortable happens online, they’ll talk to you, not shut down.
And Søren, the filmmaker? He didn’t become a monk or start farming offline. Instead, he spent years exploring the internet’s hidden corners, old-school forums, anarchist game servers, DIY art collectives. His verdict? The internet isn’t broken. You just have to dig a little deeper to find places that feel human again.
So maybe the real question isn’t “how much time are you spending online?” but “what are you getting out of it?” Are you just feeding the algorithm? Or are you using it to connect, learn, create, laugh?
Thank you for reading and sharing Last Week in Denmark!
