世論 What Japan Thinks

NEPRO Japan recently conducted a survey into people’s views on children carrying mobile phones. Over one day at the start of October they gathered 3,716 valid responses by means of a self-selecting public survey available through the menuing system of all three major mobile phone carriers, namely DoCoMo’s iMode, au’s EZweb, and Softbank’s Yahoo! Keitai. Demographically, the respondents were 59% female, 2% in their teens, 36% in their twenties, 44% in their thirties, and 18% aged forty or older.

Q4 is an interesting question. As far as I know, in the UK there are a lot of rules regarding the provision of facilities for the blocking of content that mobile phones can access, but I have never heard of such a facility in Japan. The worry about running up big bills is a bit unnecessary, however, as all mobile providers have plans that can cap usage at specific costs. Going shopping online seems another strange worry, but perhaps it also means signing up for too many services with monthly fees?

Q1: Do you agree or disagree with children carrying mobile phones? (Sample size=3,716)

Agree	24%
Agree to some extent	30%
Disagree to some extent	30%
Disagree	5%
Don’t know	11%

Q2: From what age should children be given mobile phones? (Sample size=3,716)

Under primary school age	4%
First to third year primary school	15%
Fourth to sixth year primary school	18%
First year middle school	14%
Second or third year middle school	8%
First year high school	22%
Second or third year high school	6%
Other	5%
Children don’t need phones	8%

Q3: For what purposes do you think children should carry mobile phones? (Sample size=3,716, multiple answer)

To confirm location	76%
To ensure safety	75%
To contact family members	73%
Instead of crime prevention goods	52%
To deepen relationships with friends	12%
To effectively use time when travelling to school	3%
Other	7%

Q4: What worries do you have about children carrying mobile phones? (Sample size=3,716, multiple answer)

Accessing harmful sites	83%
Running up phone bills	83%
Playing too many games	57%
Getting involved with crime	54%
Bad manners when using them	51%
Doing net shopping	48%
Becoming victims of fraud	37%
Other	8%