{
  "id": 4504538,
  "title": "Government Survey Finds More Screen Time Means Lower Scores for Japanese Students",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/30/government-survey-finds-more-screen-time-means-lower-scores-for",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-30T21:00:13.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Nippon.com",
    "slug": "nippon-com",
    "url": "https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h02871/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "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.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}