Friday, August 8, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

86 000 Danes addicted to social media

Published 13 May 2024
– By Editorial Staff
98 percent of Denmark's 20-34 year olds linger on social media.
2 minute read

2.3 percent of the Danish population are addicted to social media, according to a new study by the Danish Public Health Agency. The study also shows that people are three times more likely to suffer from depression if they have this addiction.

Nine out of ten Danes use social media, according to figures from Statistics Denmark from 2023. Denmark is also the country in the EU where most people aged 16 to 74 are active on one or more social media platforms.

The study used questionnaires and followed 2,000 Danes aged 16 to 64 for two years. The questions were about social media use, social relationships and mental health. The researchers found that 2.3% of Danes, or 86,000, may be addicted to social media. The study also shows that an addiction can cause mental health problems.

When you are addicted to social media, you are three times more likely to develop depression and 4.5 times more likely to become lonely and not only feel lonely, but actually lose social relationships, Ziggi Santini, lead author of the study, told Danish state broadcaster DR.

TikTok – most addictive?

In Denmark, 98 percent of people aged 20 to 34 use social media. When it comes to teenagers from 16 to 19, everyone is on some kind of social media platform, and 80 percent on TikTok.

Jakob Linaa Jensen, Director of the Center for Internet Research and Associate Professor of Critical Studies of Social Media at Aarhus University, believes that TikTok in particular is the most addictive of all social media and therefore also the most harmful.

It’s more targeted and it goes on endlessly. That means you can spend a very, very long time on it, he says, and that can be problematic.

Santini agrees and says there’s a good reason why the application is structured that way.

They make money from people using it.

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Controversial mermaid statue removed: “Ugly and pornographic”

Published 6 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
The statue weighs 14 tons and has been described by critics as "vulgar" and "pornographic".
2 minute read

The debate about how the female body should be portrayed in public art has flared up again in Denmark. The background is authorities’ decision to remove the sculpture Den store havfrue – the large mermaid – from its place in public space after accusations that the statue is pornographic or promotes harmful beauty ideals.

The attention-grabbing sculpture was erected in 2006 at Langelinie Pier in Copenhagen, Denmark, not far from the much more famous statue The Little Mermaid, inspired by H.C. Andersen’s fairy tale.

But Den store havfrue, which measures 4 by 6 meters and weighs 14 tons, was met with early criticism – not least from feminist quarters. In the complaints, the mermaid is described as, among other things, “fake and vulgar”, and it was moved in 2018 to Dragør fortress.

In March this year, the Danish Agency for Palaces and Cultural Properties decided that the statue may no longer stand in public space. The authority believes that the artwork is not compatible with the cultural heritage that The Little Mermaid from 1910 represents.

Art critic Mathias Kryger, working at Danish newspaper Politiken, has described the statue as “ugly and pornographic”. Priest and journalist Sorine Gotfredsen has in turn argued that the sculpture is directly harmful to women’s mental health.

“Erecting a statue of a man’s hot dream of how a woman should look hardly promotes women’s acceptance of their own bodies”, she wrote in a text in Danish newspaper Berlingske.

The original – “The Little Mermaid” by Edvard Eriksen. Photo: Avda-Berlin/CC BY-SA 3.0

Artist defends his work

Others, however, oppose the decision to remove the statue, and Berlingske’s debate editor Aminata Corr Thrane wonders if “naked women’s breasts must have a specific academic form and size to be allowed to be shown publicly”.

Corr Thrane notes that Den store havfrue is actually “possibly a little less naked” than its famous counterpart, but adds that she “on the other hand has larger breasts, and that’s probably where the problem lies”.

The sculpture’s creator, artist Peter Bech, is puzzled by the criticism. He defends the work and says that the mermaid’s breasts are “proportional to its scale”. Bech created the statue as a response to recurring comments from tourists that the classic mermaid was too small.

Now he hopes to find a solution for the sculpture to remain in Copenhagen – albeit in a new location.

Denmark moving away from Microsoft

Digital freedom

Published 16 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Too much public digital infrastructure has been linked to very few foreign actors, explains Danish Digital Minister Caroline Stage about why Denmark is now moving away from Microsoft in favor of free and more cost-effective alternatives.
1 minute read

Denmark’s digital ministry has begun a transition during the summer from Microsoft’s word processor Office 365 to the free alternative LibreOffice, with a complete transition expected to be completed during the fall. They will also abandon Microsoft Windows in favor of Linux.

The change is explained by Denmark’s goal to strengthen its digital sovereignty, as well as ensuring that control over sensitive data and systems remains in national ownership.

With this move, Denmark is following in the footsteps of the neighboring German state of Schleswig-Holstein, which is in the process of converting 30,000 public computers from Microsoft to Linux-based and free solutions.

“It is not about isolation or digital nationalism. We should not turn our backs completely on global technology companies; many of them provide solutions that we benefit from. This applies both today and in the future.

But we must never make ourselves so dependent on so few that we can no longer act freely. Too much public digital infrastructure is currently tied up with very few foreign suppliers. This makes us vulnerable. Also, financially”, says Danish Digital Minister Caroline Stage on LinkedIn about the project, which is reported by Danish newspaper Politiken, among others.

Welfare may be sacrificed as Denmark ramps up military spending

The new cold war

Published 3 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has pledged to invest billions of euros in upgrading the country's military forces.
3 minute read

Denmark is preparing to significantly increase its defense spending to meet NATO’s new targets – but the bill will be steep.

According to estimates from Aarhus University, the upgrade will require an additional 90 billion DDK (€12 billion) on top of current levels. The question now is where the money will come from – and what will have to be sacrificed in return.

This will be something that individual Danes will actually notice, Bo Sandemann Rasmussen, professor of economics at Aarhus University, told TV 2.

After a summit in Vilnius, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced that Denmark is ready to increase its defense spending to 3.5 percent of GDP and allocate an additional 1.5 percent to other security-related activities such as cybersecurity, border protection, and coastal defense.

In total, five percent of the country’s gross domestic product would go to security – more than double the current target of two percent.

But according to the professor, this would require an additional DDK 90 billion (€12 billion) in the budget – money that can hardly be found in the so-called economic reform space.

It seems increasingly unlikely that we can count on covering 90 billion, he estimates.

Cuts in welfare?

Denmark has already significantly increased its defense spending since the war in Ukraine began, reaching around 2.4 percent of GDP in 2023 – equivalent to €9 billion. But to reach five percent, significantly more is needed – and that will have consequences.

The population is aging, which requires more resources for public services. If we want to maintain today’s level of service, we will probably need to find new sources of funding, says the economist.

He believes that the political choice now is between cutting public spending or raising taxes, for example by introducing a special war tax.

– It’s hard to see how we wouldn’t need a tax increase to reach 90 billion. After all, it’s a very large sum.

“Other things we can’t afford”

To put the figure into perspective, Denmark spent an equivalent of €21 billion on education and €2 billion on the police in 2023. A €12 billion upgrade is therefore equivalent to six times the entire police budget.

If the amount is lower than that, it may be more realistic to finance it, but then there are other things we cannot afford, explains Rasmussen.

A formal decision on the new defense targets is expected at the NATO summit in The Hague at the end of June. Until then, the question remains as to which areas of welfare will be cut back – and how much Danish households themselves will have to pay.

Demands from the US

It should be noted that Denmark is not the only NATO country currently spending billions on military buildup – investments that in many places are being financed by cuts in welfare.

The Trump administration is demanding that Europe and Canada take greater “responsibility” for the continent’s defense, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has declared that he wants member countries’ military budgets to amount to approximately five percent of GDP.

Two percent is a start, as President Trump has Trump has said, but it’s not enough, nor is three percent, nor is four percent. More like five percent, he emphasized earlier this year, calling on NATO countries to make “real investments”.

Denmark to ban junk food advertising to children

Published 29 May 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Junk food producers often use "influencers" whose content is aimed at a very young audience.
2 minute read

In a new bill, the Danish government wants to put an end to the advertising of soft drinks, chips and fast food to children under 15. This comes after two companies were criticized for using so-called “influencers” to market junk food to minors.

Last year, food companies Orkla and Danish burger chain The Burger Concept used “influencers” to promote chips and burgers.

For example, the chip brand Kims, owned by Orkla, promoted its chips through the “Kims Chips Battle”, which involved launching and promoting new chip flavors. Those paid to do the advertising were Morten Münster, Jas & Mika and Alexander Husum, who are all active on YouTube. What these “influencers” have in common is that they have a large number of younger followers,

The Danish Food Advertising Association found the ad to be inappropriate and in breach of industry guidelines on marketing as it was aimed at children.

“Must be stopped”

The Danish government now wants to ban junk food advertising aimed at children, reports Danish state broadcaster DR. The main focus of the legislation is on social media and digital platforms, as this is where children are most exposed.

– If you look at social media, you can see that there is a problem. Especially among influencers, a lot of time and energy has been spent on advertising to children and young people, and this must be stopped, says Morten Bødskov, the Danish Social Democrats’ minister for trade and industry.

Advertising junk food in public spaces will still be allowed, as long as it does not target children or use children in the advertising. Bødskov urges people to contact the Consumer Ombudsman if they are unsure, as fines can be high.

We already have rules in the Marketing Act, and the fines are quite high. That will also apply here, says Bødskov.

According to the Danish Cancer Society, almost 80% of all food and drink advertisements that children and young people are exposed to are for products with a high content of fat, sugar and salt.

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