Lunch break at the Finnish International School of Tampere (FISTA) is a boisterous time.

The yard is filled with children — ranging from grades 1 to 9, or ages 6 to 16 — running around, shouting, playing football, shooting basketball hoops, doing what kids do.

And there's not a single screen in sight.

FISTA has taken advantage of the law change, brought in last August, which allows schools to restrict or completely ban the use of mobile phones during school hours. At FISTA, this means no phones at all unless specifically used for learning in the classroom.

"We've seen that cutting down on the possibilities for students to use their phones, during the breaks for instance, has spurred a lot of creativity," FISTA vice principal Antti Koivisto notes.

"They're more active, doing more physical things like playing games outdoors or taking part in the organised break activities or just socialising with each other."

With the smartphone restriction in schools widely considered to have been a success, Finland's government has now set its sights on social media platforms.

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) said earlier this month that he supports banning the use of social media by children under the age of 15.

"I am deeply concerned about the lack of physical activity among children and young people, and the fact that it is increasing," Orpo said at the time.

And there is a growing groundswell of support for Finland introducing such a ban. Two-thirds of respondents to a survey published earlier this week said they back a ban on social media for under-15s. This is a near 10 percentage point jump compared to a similar survey carried out just last summer.

"Uncontrolled human experiment"

The concerns over social media, and in particular the effects on children, have been well-documented — but Finnish researcher Silja Kosola's recent description of the phenomenon as an "uncontrolled human experiment" has grabbed people's attention once again.

Kosola, an associate professor in adolescent medicine, has researched the impact of social media on young people, and tells Yle News that the consequences are not very well understood.

"We see a rise in self-harm and especially eating disorders. We see a big separation in the values of young girls and boys, which is also a big problem in society," Kosola explains.

In the video below, Silja Kosola explains the detrimental effects that excessive use of social media can have on young people.

She further notes that certain aspects of Finnish culture — such as the independence and freedom granted to children from a young age — have unwittingly exacerbated the ill effects of social media use.

"We have given smartphones to younger people more than anywhere else in the world. Just a couple of years ago, about 95 percent of first graders had their own smartphone, and that hasn't happened anywhere else," she says.

All eyes on Australia

Since 10 December last year, children under the age of 16 in Australia have been banned from using social media platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese began drafting the legislation after he received a heartfelt letter from a grieving mother who lost her 12-year-old daughter to suicide.

Although Albanese has never revealed the details of the letter, he told public broadcaster ABC that it was "obvious social media had played a key role" in the young girl's death.

The legislation aims to shift the burden away from parents and children and onto the social media companies, who face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars (29 million euros) if they consistently fail to keep kids off their platforms.

Clare Armstrong, ABC's chief digital political correspondent, told Yle News that the initial reaction to the roll-out has been some confusion but no little "relief".

"The government often talks about this law as being a tool to help parents and other institutions enforce and start conversations about tech and social media in ways that before, they couldn't," she says.

Although it is still early days, as the ban has only been in force for about six weeks, Armstrong adds that the early indicators have been good.

ABC journalist Clare Armstrong explains in the video below how children in Australia have been spending their time since the social media ban was introduced.

However, she adds a note of caution to any countries — such as Finland — looking to emulate the Australian model, noting that communication is key.

"Because you can write a very good law, but if the public doesn't understand it, and if it can't be enforced at that household level easily, then it's bound to fail," Armstrong says.

Playing to Finland's strengths

Seona Candy, an Australian living in Helsinki for over eight years, has been keenly following the events in her homeland since the social media ban came into effect in December.

She has heard anecdotally that if kids find themselves blocked from one platform, they just set up an account on another, "ones that maybe their parents don't even know exist".

"And this is then much, much harder, because those platforms don't have parental controls, so they don't have those things already designed into them that the more mainstream platforms do," Candy says.

Because of this issue, and others she has heard about, she warns against Finland introducing like-for-like legislation based around Australia's "reactive, knee-jerk" law change.

"I think the Finnish government should really invest in digital education, and digital literacy, and teach kids about digital safety. Finland is world-famous for education, and for media literacy. Play to your strengths, right?"

The All Points North podcast asked if Finland should introduce a similar ban on social media as in Australia. You can listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena, via Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.