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© (c) 2014 AFPSurvey shows longer periods of smartphone use can lead to lower school exam scores
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© (c) 2014 AFP
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BPoint
Whoa.....I never would have guessed.
cnc
Did they really need a survey to prove this.Any and all parents who really pays attention to their kids know that already.
Frungy
Isn't it what they aren't doing (studying, sleeping, socialising) rather than what they are doing (playing on their cellphone) that is the real variable here?
nath
Let's retitle this and call it DumbPhone use.
dctokyo2002
smartphone = the birth of Zombies , just look around when your walking down the street, how many kids do you see with their eyes buried in the screen, and these days it has got so bad that almost 80% of them riding bikes are now looking at their phones while riding
papigiulio
slightly offtopic perhaps but I'm in Vietnam now and many kids have no smartphones here and they are enjoying playing together, outside with really simple things. Western kids are too spoiled imo.
Yubaru
And could you please tell us just how tax yen was wasted on pointing out the obvious?
4 freaking hours a day? At least?
smithinjapan
Phew! My nephew only has a 'gara-kei', or old-style flip-phone, not a smartphone, so I guess if he uses it all day it's no matter. He also tends to play his Nintendo Wii and Sony PSP several hours a day, so I'm glad to know they are no problem either. And TV? Well! I don't thing he knows what the off button is! So, thann god it's only smartphones that are the problem and not a general lack of concentration or focus on things besides one's studies! So, when parents ask their kids to lessen their smartphone usage, they can mollify any resistance by saying their kids can play eight hours of video games a day instead.
CrazyJoe
Obviously, smartphones need to be renamed.
sf2k
Educator60
they can just compare to previous years students who didn't use the devices.
Disillusioned
Wow! That's such a relief! I thought the kids were just naturally stupid!
It wouldn't have anything to do with a lack of sleep or poor study habits, would it? Just blame the mobile phones! Next week we'll see the same report, but mobile phones will be replaced by video games.
BPoint
My 11 yr old spends quite a bit of time on her iphone.
Essentially, she has replaced what she was watching on tv with the clips and programs of her choice on the phone.
With no mention of relation of time spent on other forms of entertainment....like tv and games, the survey has no point of reference.
weird and ambiguous..
justbcuzisay
I wonder if the fact that Japanese (former?) electronic giants have not been successful breaking into the smartphone market has anything to do with it?
Bug like others said, the problem is how much time kids spend not studying more than the time they are on smartphones that seems to be the real problem.
If my kid was getting lower grades, I would be a meanie and limit their phone privilege instead of whining about how bad smartphones are.
Knox Harrington
Only thing upsetting here is that A: Japan thinks all can be done by a friggin survey. Suicdal tendencies, eating disorders, cell phone/school grades... Anonymous and safe but a survey doesn't tell you sh-t! It's just the lazy old oyaji version of pretending to do actual work. What kind of survey was this? Who took part? Isn't a survey, by definition ,something based primarily on opinion? How can this possibly carry any statistical weight (it can't). B: Bureaucrats drawing actual salary for this as I am sure they have spent many hours of meeting and banging their bald, fat heads together one-upping their yes-men-ship while coming up with this ridiculous idea. This is what we pay these people for? Handing out surveys that show no proof, no statistical certainty, no nothing...
kyushubill
Well, like yeah, Knox Harrington, isn't that what we pay taxes for? ;-)
smithinjapan
Disillusioned: "Next week we'll see the same report, but mobile phones will be replaced by video games."
Nah, man, that's too old. Maybe blaming video games ON smartphones (keep in mind they are not blaming all cell phones, only smartphones!), but not just video games themselves. Nah, I predict this trend will continue until -- err, I mean IF -- Japan comes up with a successful alternative to iPhone and Samsung models -- then the blame will shift to something else.
I wonder what they'll blame smartphones on for next:
more obese kids today than in the past. You see, with smartphones they can use mobile apps at the cash register at places like McDonald's or convenience store to get discounts, so they are buying more junk. The paper coupons, on the other hand, require the students be adept at cutting schools, which means hand-eye coordination and therefore increased brain activity.
smartphones are to blame for suicides. Despite suicides being lower than they have been in a decade or so, more people who kill themselves are using smartphones than did in the past. It has NOTHING to do with the fact that smartphones didn't exist, but ummm... it's because they're characters in network games (there you go, Disillusioned!) don't build fast enough so they get depressed!
smartphones are to blame for Ebola! In the modern world, with smartphones it is much easier for people to connect with others all around the world than it ever has been, and now Ebola is spreading more than it ever has. Therefore my study concludes that since smartphones are increasing and ebola is increasing, ebola is increasing because of smartphones.
smartphones are responsible for cheating on tests. Students almost NEVER used to cheat before smartphones. The ones who did, however, this study notes, had to do so in a clever fashion in order to succeed, and therefore the loan word 'cunning' was born to cover those who cheat... though again, only one or two students ever cheated before iPhone came out with the first smartphone.
smartphones are responsible for China's increased aggression. They couldn't create a viable iPhone copy that had the same bells and whistles, so they're angry!
smartphones are responsible for the increase in alcoholism in Japan. This study concludes that people who go to bars by themselves and communicate with others via smartphones will drink more than those who communicate with others face to face. With smartphones you only need one hand whereas while talking to others you must make large gestures, or those who come alone but with no smartphone will play 'air-golf' or 'air-baseball', keeping both hands occupied, and therefore increasing brain activity.
smartphones are to blame for the decrease in pizza cost. In the good old days before smartphones a medium sized pie could run you ¥3000, but not with those gosh-darned smartphones! Now you can go online and order pizzas even TWO-FOR-ONE like in the rest of the world... errr... on smartphones! So now smartphones are driving farmers out of business!Frank Thornton
I remember when watching too much TV was the cause of all evil...
smithinjapan
Frank: And before that it was the ballpoint pen replacing the quill and ink bottle.
wanderlust
Why learn anything when you can 'google' it is a common response nowadays.
It's fine except when you are in hurry, in a sensitive area, out of range of a signal, or your battery is flat...
kaynide
I'm sure others have mentioned like this...but doing anything recreational for 4 hours a day, whatever it is, is simply less time focusing on study and more mental energy memorizing pokemon...or whatever.
I'm sure results would be the same if they watched something mindless on TV for 4 hours every day...
kaimycahl
So why call it a smart phone, it should be a Dumb phone!
Alexa431
I know that there is a lot of people who use the phone to play around, but there are people who use it for learning as well. Thanks to smartphones I was able to learn kanji and japanese vocabulary.
KINGJACOREY
Depends on what they are using it for! Parents need to regulate this!! My son uses his ipod just for studying. Encyclopedia, dictionary, vocabulary games, etc...
Ah_so
The article clearly confuses correlation with causation.
It is the time spent not studying that is important.
inakaRob
zombies! I am a uni prof. I have plenty of cell phone zombies. My fellow teachers and I make fun of them and call their drug "Dra-Qu" or as they like to call it "ドラゴンクリスタル". Dragon Crystal. a joke of a game that is the reason of more than a few of mu students earning an 無. And don't get me wrong. I am a video game otaku myself. I simply know the time and place. My classroom it is not!
smithinjapan
Alexa431: very good point! I have approx. 200 apps on my phone, and 80% or so are educational in some way, including cookbooks, dictionaries, specific language apps, writing apps (ie. cursive text, kanji stroke order, hangul, etc.), and language games. The rest consist of health, navigation, photo, music, restaurant (and discount coupon) and travel, and book apps (though I rarely read e-books because I prefer paper in my hands), and bookkeeping apps. I DO have a few games and SNS apps, but moSt of the former are as I said language games or sudoku, and the few network or sim games I have I barely play.
I use my smart phone for more resources than you could ever, ever have on hand or at home otherwise (save on a computer, which is somewhat the same), and it is indispensable for learning and otherwise.