Seventy-nine education systems worldwide have restricted smartphone use in schools. France banned them for students under 15 in 2018. South Korea passed legislation last August requiring students to surrender devices to teachers for the entire school day. Hungary made schools smartphone-free in September 2024. The global direction is unmistakable. Japan, still relying on voluntary guidelines and ministerial working groups, has yet to follow.

Research consistently shows that limiting smartphone use in schools improves learning, concentration and mental health. But these policies share a structural blind spot: They work only while students are inside institutional walls. When the bell rings, the policy ends, phones come out and the environment that shaped the behavior resumes unchanged. Policymakers have built a global consensus around the easier half of the problem.

The harder half exists at home, on public transport and on the street. A small city in Aichi Prefecture has now produced data that makes that gap visible.

When Toyoake Mayor Masafumi Kouki proposed including adults in his city’s ordinance, his staff pushed back. Why extend the policy beyond children? Most countries addressing the issue focus on minors. Australia has moved to restrict social media for those under 16. France banned phones in schools. The original target in the Japanese city, officials agreed, should be children.

Kouki disagreed. “Children watch adults,” he said. “They judge whether their behavior is acceptable by what they see.” If adults are constantly on their phones, children will not accept being told........

© The Japan Times