TOKYO – According to a recent independent study, the percentage of elementary school students from fourth to sixth grade in Japan’s Kanto area who own smartphones has exceeded 50% for the first time ever. However, several educational experts warn that using these devices for over an hour daily can negatively impact academic performance.
With the start of the new school year, many parents might be pondering whether to yield to their children’s requests for smartphones. According to an exclusive poll, over 50% of upper-grade students in primary schools within the Greater Tokyo region currently possess these devices, and the average age when young people first get them seems to be dropping. Although smartphones provide benefits like ensuring reliable ways to communicate, studies suggest they could have substantial effects on academic achievements.
The average age for initial ownership is 10.4 years.
In November 2024, a significant survey was carried out by NTT DoCoMo Inc.’s Mobile Society Research Institute. This study aimed at gathering insights from elementary and junior high school students along with their parents via house calls, successfully obtaining feedback from 1,300 participants.
In the Kanto area, among students in fourth through sixth grade, 52% stated they own a smartphone, which marks a rise of 10 percentage points compared to the prior year, making them the first cohort within this age range to exceed half. Since the commencement of the survey in 2018 where only 17% indicated possession, there has been a consistent increase noted each subsequent year.
In the region of Kanto, the typical age for children to receive their first smartphone has reached an all-time low of 10.4 years, compared to 11.3 years as recorded in the previous survey conducted in 2019. The majority of these initial phone acquisitions occur within the range of 8 to 13 years old, with 12 being the peak age. Gender-wise, 22 percent of boys and 23 percent of girls obtained a smartphone when they were 12, indicating that approximately one out of every four kids gets a mobile device during the transition period from primary to secondary education.
“Emergency contact” and “location tracking” were the primary reasons that parents gave smartphones to children in lower grades at elementary school or younger. However, as children reached upper elementary grades, reasons expanded to include “children’s requests” and “peer influence.”
On X (previously known as Twitter), many parental accounts share worries about the appropriate age for children to start using smartphones and how best to manage this transition. Some nations have implemented strict policies aimed at curbing digital addiction among young people, including restrictions on smartphone usage or access to particular apps for minors.
Calls for ‘one hour a day’ limit
In Japan, the Sendai Municipal Board of Education and Tohoku University were pioneers in raising concerns about children’s smartphone usage. Their collaborative research in 2013 found that “regardless of the amount of studying they do, increased time spent on smartphones correlates with poorer academic performance.”
The research examined the relationship between smartphone usage and academic achievement involving roughly 24,000 middle school pupils in Sendai City. The participants were grouped according to their screen time and the number of hours they dedicated to studying on weekdays.
The data shows that among students who do not use smartphones at all and those who use them for under an hour, their test scores generally improved as they spent more time studying. Nevertheless, once daily smartphone usage surpassed one hour, the average scores began to drop irrespective of how many hours were devoted to studies. Notably, students abstaining from smartphones completely and dedicating fewer than 30 minutes to studying outperformed peers who used smartphones for at least four hours per day along with spending two or more hours on academics.
The education board recommends, “Limit smartphone usage to no more than an hour each day,” and encourages parents to talk about the potential dangers of smartphones with their children, define the reasons behind owning these devices, and set guidelines for their use when handing them over to their kids.
(Originally written in Japanese by Yuko Shimada from the Business News Department)
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