In October, Toyoake City in Aichi Prefecture introduced a guideline for children to limit use of their smartphones to two hours a day. This is entirely voluntary, with zero enforcement mechanisms and no penalties for noncompliance.
Compare this to Hungary, which implemented mandatory smartphone-free schools nationwide in September 2024. In France, students under 15 could not use smartphones in schools in 2018. South Korea passed legislation in August requiring students to surrender smartphones to teachers during the entire school day.
According to UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring team, 79 education systems across the globe — representing 40% worldwide — now restrict smartphone use in schools, up from 60 just one year ago. In contrast to the rest of the world passing laws about smartphone usage in schools, Japan has only formed working groups and conducted surveys.