The number of school-aged children who spend three hours or more on smartphones, computers or TV a day has drastically increased since the last academic year, and their physical strength has been found to be lower than the national average, according to a survey conducted by the Sports Agency.
The agency announced on Thursday the result of a national physical test for the 2018 academic year conducted between April and July on about 2.06 million students in the fifth grade at elementary school and second year students at junior high school. It handed out questionnaires about their lifestyle and other matters and then tested their physical fitness on eight aspects for elementary school students -- including grasping power, side-to-side jump and 50-meter dash -- and eight aspects for junior high school students, including the choice of either 1,500-meter running (boys only), 1,000-meter running (girls only) or 20-meter wind sprints. Each result are scored, and the sum was calculated on a scale of 1 to 80.
On the question of the number of hours that children used smartphones, computers, TV or other devices on weekdays, the percentage of those who used the devices for three hours or more a day increased drastically from the fiscal 2017 test among both male and female students at both elementary and junior high schools. Among male students in particular, the figures increased from 32.8 percent to 38.1 percent in fifth grade students and from 31.5 percent to 35.7 percent in second year students.
The survey also showed the total points of physical strength of children who used devices for three hours or more was lower than the national average.
University of Tsukuba Prof. Takahiko Nishijima, who specializes in sports statistics, said, "At this point, we can't specify viewing hours to decide from when is good or bad.
"We are currently studying the segmenting [viewing] time minutely. It would be good if we can specify the point of when physical strength starts to get lower than the national average."
Sports Agency Commissioner Daichi Suzuki said Thursday at a regular press briefing: "Those in sports-related fields around the world are concerned about the matter. We will deal with it while gathering appropriate data."
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