世論 What Japan Thinks

japan.internet.com recently reported on a survey conducted at the start of the month by Cross Marketing Inc regarding children and mobile phones. 300 members of their monitor panel who had children successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was split 50:50 male and female, and the ages of their children (some of the respondents had more than one) were 11.0% under three years old, 41.7% older than three but not yet entered elementary school, 30.0% in the first two years of elementary school (aged six or seven), 19.7% in the third or fourth year of elementary school, 28.0% in the fifth and sixth year of elementary school, 31.0% in middle school, and 20.7% in high school or older.

This is one subject I can’t really have an opinion on until I have children of my own! I do feel, though, that primary school age is still too young, but on the other hand, because not only adults but children too put in lots of unnecessary overtime in school-related (or cram school-related) activities, and since even in the height of summer it is dark by shortly after 7pm, the need to be reassured by having an easy method of contacting one’s children is strong. Therefore, I am quite surprised that just one in five give their children mobiles.

Q1: Does your child have his or her own mobile phone? (Sample size=300)

Yes (to SQ1)	20.7%
No (to SQ2)	79.3%

Q1SQ1: Do you use a filtering service to block harmful sites, etc on your child’s mobile phone? (Sample size=62)

Using it	16.1%
Have support for feature, but don’t use it	35.5%
Know of feature, but don’t have support	29.0%
Don’t know about such a feature	19.4%

Q1SQ2: Why does your child not have his or her own mobile phone? (Sample size=238, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Too young to have a mobile phone	210	88.2%
Child would just lose or break it	105	44.1%
Child would use it too much	71	29.8%
Lots of dangers (harmful sites, etc)	58	24.4%
Child doesn’t want to have one	44	18.5%
Other	12	5.0%
No particular reason	11	4.6%