In March 2026, Japan's Children and Families Agency released the results of its FY2025 Survey on the Internet Use Environment of Young People, a nationwide survey examining internet use among children and adolescents aged 10–17.

The survey found that 99.0% of young people used the internet. Among internet users, average weekday internet use reached approximately 5 hours and 27 minutes per day, an increase of about 25 minutes from the previous year. Among high school students, average use was even higher, at approximately 6 hours and 44 minutes per day.

For the first time, the survey also included generative AI services such as ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini as a category of internet use. Generative AI was used by 8.6% of elementary school students aged 10 or older, 30.8% of junior high school students, and 46.2% of high school students.

These findings illustrate how children's digital lives are expanding beyond social media, video and gaming to include education, information seeking, communication and generative AI.

Comment from GAME-F

The figure of “5 hours and 27 minutes per day” should not, by itself, be interpreted as evidence that children's internet use is simply “too long.”

Internet use today includes not only videos, gaming and social media, but also schoolwork, information searches, communication and generative AI. The finding that 46.2% of high school students now use generative AI suggests that children's digital environments can no longer be understood solely in terms of “smartphone use” or “gaming problems.”

At the same time, the continued increase in daily internet use should not be ignored. Rather than attempting to define addiction according to a single threshold of hours, we should examine whether digital use is interfering with sleep, learning, physical activity, family life or relationships with friends.

As children's digital activities become more diverse, time alone becomes an increasingly inadequate measure. We need to consider what children are using, why and how they are using it, and what is actually happening in their daily lives as a result.

References

Children and Families Agency — FY2025 Survey on the Internet Use Environment of Young People

Children and Families Agency — Summary of Survey Results, March 27, 2026