Tokyo: A city in Japan will advise all smartphone users to limit the screen time to two hours a day outside of work or school, under a proposed regulation that has no punishments.
The directive – aimed at residents of Toyoake City in Central Japan – will not be binding and there will be no punishments for exceeding the proposed limit, according to the design.
The proposal is “to prevent excessive use of devices that cause physical and mental health problems … including sleeping problems,” said Mayor Masafumi Koki in a statement on Friday.
The design urges primary school students to avoid smartphones after 9 p.m., and Junior High Students and Ouder is advised not to use them after 10 p.m.
The move led to an online recoil, where many call the plan unrealistic.
“I understand their intention, but the limit of two hours is impossible,” wrote a user on social media platform X.
“In two hours I can’t even read a book or watch a movie (on my smartphone),” wrote another.
Others said that the use of smartphones should be a decision for families to make themselves.
The angry reaction led the mayor to clarify that the limit of two hours was not mandatory, and emphasized that the guidelines “acknowledge that smartphones are useful and indispensable in daily life”.
The regulation will be considered next week and if adopted, it will take effect in October.
In 2020, the West-Kagawa region issued a friendly regulation that called for children who are limited to one hour a day a day during the week during school holidays, and 90 minutes.
It also suggested that children from 12 to 15 years old should not be allowed to use smartphones later than 9 p.m., with the limit rising until 10 p.m. for children between 15 and 18.
Japanese young people give online on weekdays on average just over five hours a day, according to a survey published in March by the Children and Families Agency.
