Photo/Illutration The Asahi Shimbun

Children who spend more time on social media and playing video games tend to have lower academic test scores, particularly in mathematics, an education ministry survey showed.

The ministry surveyed 1.91 million elementary school sixth-graders and junior high school third-graders and gave them a nationwide test to assess their skills in the Japanese language, arithmetic or mathematics, and science.

The children were asked about their daily use of social media and video websites on their mobile phones.

The results, released in July, showed that 50.6 percent of the elementary school pupils and 75.6 percent of the junior high school students said they spend at least one hour a day online.

Among them, 10.9 percent of the pupils and 15.4 percent of junior high students said they are online at least four hours a day.

Elementary school pupils who spend less than 30 minutes online a day scored about 17 percentage points higher in each subject in the test than those who are online for at least four hours, the survey showed.

Junior high school students who spend less than 30 minutes online scored 12 to 19 percentage points higher in the test than those who are online for at least four hours. The gap was widest for mathematics.

For online video games, 75.7 percent of elementary school pupils and 71 percent of junior high schoolers said they play at least one hour a day. Seventeen percent and 16.1 percent, respectively, play at least four hours a day, the survey showed

A similar correlation between time used for video games and test results was seen in this category.

Saya Moriyama, a licensed clinical psychologist, said it is important for parents and guardians to build a relationship of trust with children who are hooked on social media and video games.

Moriyama pointed out that children feel they are being watched if guardians worry too much about their online activities.

The children will also feel reprimanded if they are constantly being asked how much longer they will be doing those activities, she said.

She said a better approach would be to talk to the children and gain their consent to reduce their time for those activities. Speaking to the children in a positive manner is also important, such as telling them to take a break from playing games so that they can have a meal together.

Moriyama also suggests creating an environment where digital devices are unavailable.

If children need to study, guardians should use the “screen time” function to limit activity on certain smartphone apps, keep the gaming devices out of sight when they are not in use, and take other measures to help them concentrate.

She also advises guardians to compliment the children for studying even for too-short periods.

“It is important to make them feel like they’ve accomplished something even if they can’t perform 100 percent,” Moriyama said.

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