Last Week in Denmark

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌?

👉 You are awesome. Never forget that.

👉 Packages arriving from outside the EU will face a minimum charge of 22 DKK, even for low-value purchases.

👉 Airline passengers will keep their right to compensation, while gaining new protections including guaranteed family seating and easier ticket corrections from 2027.

𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆?

🔎 We live in a society where a lot - if not most - of our communication happens through screens. Despite being constantly connected, we are still not always close to anyone and loneliness can feel strange. While digital tools can help us stay in touch, they do not always replace the feeling of being physically present with others.

🔎 This is where music communities can make a difference: choirs, local bands, jam sessions, dance groups, and music workshops can give people a reason to meet regularly without needing to force conversation. In these clubs, music creates a shared task: listening, practising, singing, keeping rhythm, or simply being part of the same sound. For people who find social situations difficult, this can even feel easier than walking into a room just to “make friends”.

🔎 Research support what many people already feel: group music activities can strengthen belonging, emotional wellbeing, and social connection. Singing in a choir, for example, is not only about performance. It can create routine, shared identity, and small moments of trust between people. Community music projects have also been used with older adults, international students, and people living with dementia, where loneliness and isolation can be especially strong.

🔎 Music, however, will not solve loneliness on its own. A weekly choir or jam session cannot replace affordable housing, stable work, mental health support, or inclusive local communities. But it can create one important thing that digital life often struggles to offer: repeated, low-pressure, human contact.
In short, music communities can help reduce loneliness. Not because music is magic, but because it gives people a place to belong, a role to play, and a reason to come back next week.

By Kata Kaplar , LWID Writer

𝗔 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗯𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻

🔎 Denmark is planning to ban social media access for under-15s. It is not the first country to tackle the issue. In Australia an under-16 ban has been already enacted, and a few more countries in Europe are considering similar implementations: France, Greece and Italy aim for an under-15 ban; while Spain and Portugal aim for under-16. Separately, the EU is considering the idea of a harmonized EU minimum ban under-13 covering social media, video-sharing, and AI companions.

🔎 The biggest hurdle is enforcement, which will rely on national age-verification apps. According to the eIDAS 2.0 EU framework, such apps are expected to respect user privacy by only sharing with 3rd party services the minimum information necessary and never keeping track of what citizens login where. The European Commission published an age-verification blueprint in 2025, but there is not a single mandatory EU-wide system yet. This blueprint uses the same technical specifications and cryptographic protocols as the future eIDAS 2.0 wallets.

🔎 Restricting access to social media for teenagers is a step in the right direction, but a ban doesn’t teach a teenager what to do when they do eventually get online. Parents must still teach their kids how to use social media responsibly, and show them the risks and consequences of spending too much time interacting online at the expense of in-person relationships.

By Juan Álvarez, LWID Writer