世論 What Japan Thinks

Recently there has been a lot of moral panic (some justified, some unjustified) about schoolkids and their mobile phone usage in Japan, with a number of schools introducing various bans on usage. To find out what kids are up to these days, MacroMill Inc looked at high school students and mobile phones.

Demographics

Between the 15th and 17th of September 2009 300 high school students (therefore aged between 15 and 18) completed a private mobile phone-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female. Note that the sample will be over-represented by heavier mobile phone users, so perhaps the figures here for usage of mobile phones in class, for instance, are higher than they are in reality, or at least I hope that is the case.

As I know there are a few people who teach in Japanese schools amongst my readership, I’d love to hear from you on how the results of this survey fit with your experiences at the chalkface.

I find it quite amazing that more students use their phones in the bath than in class! However, the fact that almost one in six admit to using them regularly in class is a pretty depressing statistic.

Research results

Q1: What do you use your mobile phone for? (Sample size=300, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=150	Female N=150
Email	98.0%	96.0%	100.0%
Talk	86.3%	83.3%	89.3%
Taking photographs	75.0%	67.3%	82.7%
Listening to music	72.0%	68.0%	76.0%
Playing games	64.3%	73.3%	55.3%
Other internet browsing	63.7%	69.3%	58.0%
Blog, profile pages, personal home pages	52.7%	34.7%	70.7%
Communities, SNS	52.0%	42.0%	62.0%
Watching One Seg television	43.7%	46.7%	40.7%
Other	4.0%	4.0%	4.0%

Q2: About how many mobile phone emails do you send and receive per day? (Sample size=300)

	All	Male N=150	Female N=150
50 or more	19.7%	20.0%	19.3%
30 to 49	16.7%	14.7%	18.7%
20 to 29	13.0%	10.0%	16.0%
10 to 19	23.7%	24.0%	23.3%
5 to 9	17.0%	20.0%	14.0%
Less than five	10.0%	11.3%	8.7%

Q3: About how often do you change your mobile phone email address? (Sample size=300)

Once a month or more	2.3%
Once every three months	8.0%
Once every six months	23.7%
Once a year	26.7%
Once every two or three years	18.7%
Never	20.7%

Q4: What kinds of internet sites do you often access? (Sample size=300, multiple answer)

Rank		Percentage
1	Search	73.3%
2	Music, ring tones	57.3%
3	Communities, SNS	48.0%
4	Games	45.0%
5	News, weather	40.0%
6	Videos	37.7%
7	Train route information, maps, navigation	35.7%
8	Shopping, auction	32.3%
9	Comics, novels	24.7%
10	Phone skins, wallpaper	23.0%
11=	Decomail (email animations)	19.3%
11=	Food, coupons	19.3%
13	Fortune telling	10.7%
14	Other	5.0%

Q4A: What kinds of internet sites do you often access? (Sample size=150, male, multiple answer)

Rank		Percentage
1	Search	69.3%
2	Music, ring tones	52.7%
3	Games	50.7%
4	News, weather	42.0%
5	Communities, SNS	38.7%
6	Videos	38.0%
7	Train route information, maps, navigation	30.0%
8	Shopping, auction	22.7%
9	Food, coupons	19.3%
10	Comics, novels	18.7%
11	Phone skins, wallpaper	18.0%
12	Fortune telling	7.3%
13	Decomail (email animations)	6.7%
14	Other	4.7%

Q4B: What kinds of internet sites do you often access? (Sample size=150, female, multiple answer)

Rank		Percentage
1	Search	77.3%
2	Music, ring tones	62.0%
3	Communities, SNS	57.3%
4	Shopping, auction	42.0%
5	Train route information, maps, navigation	41.3%
6	Games	39.3%
7	News, weather	38.0%
8	Videos	37.3%
9	Decomail (email animations)	32.0%
10	Comics, novels	30.7%
11	Phone skins, wallpaper	28.0%
12	Food, coupons	19.3%
13	Fortune telling	14.0%
14	Other	5.3%

Q5: Is mobile phone usage (carrying) forbidden or allowed in your school? (Sample size=300)

Forbidden (to SQ	33.0%
Allowed	67.0%

Q5SQ: Do you follow the school rules? (Sample size=99)

Yes, follow the rules	27.3%
No, don’t follow the rules	72.7%

Q6: Do you use your mobile phone in class? (Sample size=300)

	All	Male N=150	Female N=150
Often (to SQ)	16.0%	15.3%	16.7%
Sometimes (to SQ)	46.3%	44.6%	48.0%
Never	37.7%	40.0%	35.3%

Q6SQ: What do you do when you use your mobile phone in class? (Sample size=187, multiple answer)

Email	79.1%
Communities, SNS	43.9%
Blog, profile pages, personal home pages	35.3%
Other internet browsing	34.8%
Playing games	23.5%
Listening to music	10.7%
Watching One Seg television	5.3%
Talking	1.6%
Other	3.7%

Q7: Do you use your mobile phone in the bath? (Sample size=300)

	All	Male N=150	Female N=150
Often (to SQ)	17.3%	15.3%	19.3%
Sometimes (to SQ)	32.7%	23.3%	42.0%
Never	50.0%	61.3%	38.7%

Q7SQ: What do you do when you use your mobile phone in the bath? (Sample size=150, multiple answer)

Email	68.7%
Listening to music	55.3%
Communities, SNS	34.0%
Blog, profile pages, personal home pages	28.7%
Other internet browsing	22.0%
Playing games	22.0%
Talking	15.3%
Watching One Seg television	14.0%

Q8: Regarding the following relationship-related situations, which way do you do each the most? (Sample size=300)

Declaring love

Mobile phone email	25.7%
Telephone	8.3%
Talk face-to-face	50.0%
By letter	3.3%
Other	12.6%

Breaking up

Mobile phone email	30.0%
Telephone	15.7%
Talk face-to-face	43.0%
By letter	0.7%
Other	10.7%

Apologising after a row

Mobile phone email	34.7%
Telephone	27.3%
Talk face-to-face	27.3%
By letter	1.3%
Other	9.3%

Q9: Which of the following statements matches the way you behave, think? (Sample size=300)

	Yes	Perhaps	Not really	Never
I use mobile phone right before sleeping	64.3%	22.7%	7.3%	5.7%
I check email at least once every thirty minutes	35.3%	26.7%	24.3%	13.7%
I feel uneasy if I can’t get a mobile signal	28.3%	25.3%	21.7%	24.7%
If I leave my mobile at home, I’ll go back to get it even if it means I’ll be late for school	12.7%	22.0%	19.3%	46.0%