Government Survey Finds More Screen Time Means Lower Scores for Japanese Students
Japanese elementary and junior high students are spending more time using social media and watching videos online, and longer screen time has been linked to lower academic performance.
A recent government survey in Japan has revealed a troubling correlation between increased screen time and declining academic performance among students. Conducted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) in April and May 2026, the study found that 21.7% of sixth-grade elementary school students and 28.5% of third-year junior high school students are spending at least four hours each weekday engaged in social media or watching videos.
This trend has seen a 50% increase in screen usage among elementary students and an 80% rise among junior high students since the last survey in 2024. Notably, the number of students without digital devices has also decreased, with only 4.5% of elementary school students and 1.0% of junior high school students not owning a smartphone or tablet, both figures down from 21.1% and 3.4% respectively in 2024.
The survey's findings are particularly concerning as researchers discovered that students who reported four or more hours of daily screen time scored 13.3 to 20.9 points lower on average in academic tests compared to those with less than 30 minutes of screen time.
Brief written by urgent.news from Nippon.com's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
