Join for quick access. Enter your email below and we'll send confirmation plus sign you up to our newsletter.
By submitting your information, you confirm you are aged 16 or over,
have read our
Privacy Policy
and agree to the
Terms & Conditions. Geographical rules apply.
Stay On the Cutting Edge: Get the Tom's Hardware Newsletter
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Join the club
Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.
An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
Japanese city implements two-hour daily recreational smartphone usage limit — ordinance comes into effect from October 1, no enforcement or penalties proposed
A draft ordinance that proposes a limit of two hours of smartphone use, outside of work or study purposes, was voted on in Toyoaki City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, today. The ordinance passed with 12 out of 19 council members voting in favor. All local citizens should follow the new rule starting from October 1. However, “there is no enforcement or penalty in the ordinance,” reports Japan’s NHK (machine translation).
We reported on this upcoming vote about a month ago. The news raised our interest, as Toyoaki City council would be among the first to attempt to regulate smartphone usage to reap health benefits for the local population. Though the ordinance will cover all citizens of Toyoaki, there is certainly a sense that this is a ‘tool’ with which to coerce school children into reducing their free time screen time.
“Toyoaki City says that smartphones are essential for daily life, but prolonged use may affect the home environment, such as lack of sleep, and may hinder the healthy growth of children,” reports NHK. Children of school age should follow additional advice to put down their devices by 9 pm if at elementary school or younger, and by 10 pm if a junior high school student or above.
As we noted in the intro, the ordinance didn’t pass without some dissent. Naysayers on the council put forward several arguments against the proposed two-hour free time rule. One said that smartphone usage should be "determined in the context of family discipline." Another indicated that some children find important refuge from school and home life on their smartphones.
However, the majority who voted to pass the ordinance today insisted that it will help prevent device addiction. Moreover, citizens should think of it as “a gentle proposal for citizens to reconsider their lives and child-rearing,” and that is its value. Indeed, it is worth repeating, the new rule is non-binding and without penalty – and thus much more like official guidance or advice.
In a speech to the press, Mayor Toyoaki echoed this advisory sentiment, underlining that the two hours “is just a guideline.” He mused that it would be useful if citizens checked themselves for health and sleep benefits after making changes to their leisure time smartphone habits.
Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
While I applaud the intent of the law, and it's something everyone should strive to do, especially when it comes to night time screen use, there's a lot more grey area than clear cut when it comes to recreational screen time. No screens after 10PM for adults and 9PM for kids is clear cut, but between time on public transport, lunch break, and time spent exercising with a phone for videos that could easily exceed 2 hours per day, and that's not even factoring in time you would be at home looking up the day's news, sports scores, and other interests, and of course playing a game or two, and socializing with friends.
So tourists are back to using real maps instead of Google Maps?
Imagine going to Japan with your brand new smart phone able to translate from Japanese to English in real time only to have your data plan cut off after 2 hours!
If the town wants to make suggestions, make a suggestion page. If the town wants to make the people do this, make it a law. That being said without making each resident download a location and usage tracking app it would be unenforceable. I understand wanting to get people to use less smart phones but what is the difference between using Facebook on your computer vs smartphone? Streaming videos on your TV vs smartphone? Playing video games on your phone vs game console? If you are neglecting life because of your smart phone then passing a "law" about it won't help. The flip side is a city in Japan has sparked discussion around the world, so they people who passed this will probably say it achieved their goal.
Hey peasants! Get back to work! LoL, you know they only worked about 250 days a year during feudal ages for the king. Seems modern man has been duped under guise of freedom
