Tokyo: A Japanese city will urge all smartphone users to limit screen time two hours a day outside work or school under a proposed ordinance that does not include sanctions.
The limit, which will be recommended for all residents in the city of Toyoake in the center of Japan, will not be binding and there will be no sanctions incurred by greater use, according to the ordinance project.
The proposal aims to “avoid the excessive use of devices that cause physical and mental health problems … including sleep problems,” said Mayor Masafumi Koki in a statement on Friday.
The draft urges primary students to avoid smartphones after 9:00 pm, and high school students are advised not to use them after 10:00 pm
The measure caused an online reaction, and many called the unrealistic plan.
“I understand his intention, but the two -hour limit is impossible,” a user wrote on the social media platform X.
“In two hours, I can’t even read a book or watch a movie (on my smartphone),” another wrote.
Others said that the use of smartphones should be a decision for families to be made.
The angry answer led the mayor to clarify that the two -hour limit was not mandatory, emphasizing that the guidelines “recognize that smartphones are useful and indipensionable in daily life.”
The ordinance will be considered next week, and if it passes, it will enter into force in October.
In 2020, the western region of Kagawa issued a friendly ordinance that children are limited to an hour a day of play during the week and 90 minutes during school holidays.
He also suggested that children aged 12 to 15 should not be allowed to use smartphones later than 9:00 pm, and the limit increases at 10:00 pm for children between 15 and 18 years.
Japanese young people spend a little more than five hours an average of the day online on the week, according to a survey published in March by the Children and Families Agency.
