世論 What Japan Thinks

A survey by goo Research into mobile phones in bed revealed some rather interesting habits about what goes on between the sheets.

Demographics

Between the 11th and 25th of March 2011 1,818 businesspeople who were members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 912 of the sample were male, 447 were in their twenties, 440 in their thirties, 453 in their forties, and 468 in their fifties. Furthermore, 1584 owned ordinary mobile phones, 107 had Android-based ones, 108 iPhones, and 19 other smartphones.

I am in the up to five hours category, although it’s been more “up to” than “five hours” recently as my wife has got addicted to a Japanese version of Farmville. I never use my mobile in bed, however, as I’m far too tired, and anyway I’ve had my fill of the internet via my desktop before bedtime.

Research results

Q1: How long on average do you sleep on weekends and weekdays? (Sample size=1,818)

All, weekends, N=1,818

Up to 3 hours	1.2%
Up to 4 hours	0.7%
Up to 5 hours	4.5%
Up to 6 hours	17.6%
Up to 7 hours	31.5%
Up to 8 hours	31.1%
Up to 9 hours	9.8%
10 hours or more	3.6%

All, weekdays, N=1,818

Up to 3 hours	1.5%
Up to 4 hours	4.1%
Up to 5 hours	16.6%
Up to 6 hours	39.4%
Up to 7 hours	28.1%
Up to 8 hours	9.9%
Up to 9 hours	0.2%
10 hours or more	0.2%

No overtime, weekdays, N=579

Up to 3 hours	0.8%
Up to 4 hours	2.4%
Up to 5 hours	11.4%
Up to 6 hours	35.1%
Up to 7 hours	32.8%
Up to 8 hours	16.2%
Up to 9 hours	1.1%
10 hours or more	0.2%

1 hour overtime, weekdays, N=602

Up to 3 hours	1.0%
Up to 4 hours	4.2%
Up to 5 hours	12.8%
Up to 6 hours	43.2%
Up to 7 hours	29.1%
Up to 8 hours	9.3%
Up to 9 hours	0.2%
10 hours or more	0.2%

2 hours overtime, weekdays, N=343

Up to 3 hours	0.7%
Up to 4 hours	3.2%
Up to 5 hours	23.9%
Up to 6 hours	39.4%
Up to 7 hours	28.0%
Up to 8 hours	3.8%
Up to 9 hours	0.7%
10 hours or more	0.3%

3 hours or more overtime, weekdays, N=294

Up to 3 hours	3.1%
Up to 4 hours	8.2%
Up to 5 hours	25.9%
Up to 6 hours	40.5%
Up to 7 hours	16.7%
Up to 8 hours	5.8%
Up to 9 hours	0.0%
10 hours or more	0.0%

Q2: How often do you use your mobile phone in bed before sleeping? (Sample size=1,818)

All, N=1,818

Almost every day	26.8%
Five or six days a week	3.9%
Three or four days a week	7.2%
One or two days a week	9.5%
Two days a month	2.6%
One day a month	2.0%
One day every few months	1.6%
Less than that	3.9%
Keep phone near bed, but don’t use it in bed	25.2%
Keep phone away from bed	17.3%

Standard phone users, N=1,584

Almost every day	23.5%
Five or six days a week	3.6%
Three or four days a week	7.1%
One or two days a week	9.3%
Two days a month	2.3%
One day a month	2.0%
One day every few months	1.6%
Less than that	3.8%
Keep phone near bed, but don’t use it in bed	27.1%
Keep phone away from bed	18.6%

Android users, N=107

Almost every day	50.5%
Five or six days a week	7.5%
Three or four days a week	9.3%
One or two days a week	12.1%
Two days a month	0.0%
One day a month	1.0%
One day every few months	0.0%
Less than that	5.6%
Keep phone near bed, but don’t use it in bed	5.6%
Keep phone away from bed	8.4%

iPhone users, N=108

Almost every day	54.6%
Five or six days a week	3.7%
Three or four days a week	6.5%
One or two days a week	5.6%
Two days a month	0.0%
One day a month	0.0%
One day every few months	3.7%
Less than that	2.4%
Keep phone near bed, but don’t use it in bed	13.9%
Keep phone away from bed	9.3%

Other smartphone users, N=19

Almost every day	10.5%
Five or six days a week	5.3%
Three or four days a week	5.3%
One or two days a week	26.3%
Two days a month	0.0%
One day a month	5.3%
One day every few months	0.0%
Less than that	10.5%
Keep phone near bed, but don’t use it in bed	36.8%
Keep phone away from bed	0.0%

By age group and sex, the majority of women in their twenties (55.7%) used their phone in bed every night. 42.9% of the men in the same age band did so too. Conversely, just 11.8% of men and 15.2% of women in their fifties managed it every night.

When asked what they got up to under the sheets, top was email with about 80%, voice calls was second on 48%, viewing news sites was third on 40%, but about 60% of both Android and iPhone users did this. 28% used mixi, Facebook and other SNSs (Android and iPhone was on 40%, 26% played games, 22% surfed the internet, but in particular 56% of iPhone users did this, then blog reading and writing, and photo and email, etc housekeeping. Overall 19% Tweeted, but 41% of iPhone and 29% of Android users did so. Next was watching One Seg television, 18% overall but 5% of iPhone users despite the iPhone not having the capability – perhaps some people counted rebroadcast live television through uStream, etc? 13% shopped or bid in auctions, 12% listened to music (35% of iPhone users), 11% searched for apps (39% of Android and iPhone users), 10% watched video (31% of iPhone users), 10% fiddled with their wallpaper and ring tones, and 5% read electronic books. The following summarises the top five for each type of user, for each activitiy and main activity:

Q3: What functions, contents do you use in bed? (Sample size=975)

Standard phone users, N=799, top five activities

Rank		Percentage
1	Email	83.7%
2	Voice calls	49.6%
3	View news sites	35.2%
4	mixi, Facebook, other SNS	24.8%
5	Games	24.7%

Standard phone users, N=799, top five main activities

Rank		Percentage
1	Email	42.3%
2	Voice calls	10.8%
3	View news sites	9.3%
4	mixi, Facebook, other SNS	9.1%
5	Game	8.8%

Android phone users, N=86, top five activities

Rank		Percentage
1	Email	65.1%
2	View news sites	60.5%
3	Voice calls	41.9%
4	mixi, Facebook, other SNS	40.7%
5	App search	39.5%

Android phone users, N=86, top five main activities

Rank		Percentage
1	Email	19.8%
2	View news sites	18.6%
3	Surf internet	10.5%
4	Read, post to Twitter	10.5%
5=	Voice calls	9.3%
5=	mixi, Facebook, other SNS	9.3%

iPhone users, N=80, top five activities

Rank		Percentage
1	Email	75.0%
2	View news sites	57.5%
3	Surf internet	55.0%
4=	Voice calls	41.3%
4=	mixi, Facebook, other SNS	41.3%
4=	Read, post to Twitter	41.3%

iPhone users, N=80, top five main activities

Rank		Percentage
1	Email	22.5%
2	Read, post to Twitter	16.3%
3	Surf internet	13.8%
4	View news sites	10.0%
5=	mixi, Facebook, other SNS	7.5%
5=	Game	7.5%

Q4: For how long do you use your mobile phone in bed before sleeping? (Sample size=975)

	All N=975	Standard phone N=799	Android N=86	iPhone N=80	Other N=10
Up to five minutes	24.1%	26.2%	18.6%	11.3%	10.0%
Five to ten minutes	26.6%	27.7%	20.9%	21.3%	30.0%
Eleven to twenty minutes	17.1%	16.5%	16.3%	22.5%	30.0%
Twenty-one to thirty minutes	16.4%	15.5%	24.4%	16.3%	20.0%
Thirty-one to forty-five minutes	6.5%	6.0%	7.0%	11.3%	0.0%
Forty-six to sixty minutes	3.2%	3.1%	8.1%	2.3%	0.0%
One to one and a half hours	4.7%	4.1%	4.7%	11.3%	0.0%
One hour 31 minutes to two hours	0.4%	0.0%	0.0%	2.7%	0.0%
Two to three hours	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	1.0%	10.0%
Three or more hours	1.0%	0.9%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%

By age bracket, the younger they were the longer they used their mobiles in bed. Over 60% of those in their twenties spent on average at least 10 minutes a night, while just a third of those in their fifties did the same.

When asked how much they would pay per month to improve the quality of their sleep, the average was 754.5 yen. The highest figures were from those doing three or more overtime hours per day; they would spend 1,086.8 yen on average, and next were those who found it extremely difficult to take holidays; they priced higher-quality sleep at 928.7 yen per month.

Finally, when asked what kinds of mobile phone apps or sites they would like to use just before sleeping, some of the answers were a one-handed simple game, a one-button healing music site to lull one into sleep, music to enhance alpha waves, a snore recorder, voice-entry diary, a screen that adjusted brightness down when the lights were off, and an eye-relaxing app.