Japanese youth spend on average nearly five hours a day online on weekdays, while around 65 percent of 10-year-olds already have their own smartphones, according to a recent government survey, Kyodo reports.

The fiscal 2023 survey by the Children and Families Agency also found that the primary purpose of internet use among those of young age was to watch videos, while music, games and use of search engines also ranked high.

Daily internet usage on weekdays for high school students stood at six hours and 14 minutes, an increase of 29 minutes from the survey in fiscal 2022.

Usage for junior high school students increased five minutes from the previous year to four hours and 42 minutes, and 12 minutes to three hours and 46 minutes for elementary students aged 10 years and over.

Over half of those aged 7 used the internet for studying, with a government initiative that provides one computer or tablet per student likely to have influenced the figure.

The rates of smartphone possession stood at 21.3 percent for 7-year-olds, 65.2 percent for 10-year-olds, 91.9 percent for 13-year-olds and 99.1 percent for 16-year-olds.

But 83.4 percent of parents with children aged 10 or above said they place restrictions on smartphone usage, with parental controls to block access to inappropriate sites the most common safeguard at 44.2 percent.

Other measures taken by parents of younger children aged up to 9 included ensuring devices are used in front of an adult at 61.9 percent, and setting limits to the time and place for device use at 58.1 percent.

The survey, conducted from November to December last year, received responses from 2,160 randomly selected parents of children between the ages of 0 to 9, as well as 3,279 students aged between 10 to 17 and 3,322 of their guardians.

en.inform.kz