Might a Two-Hour Limit on Smartphone Usage be a Good Idea?
Since the very first iPhone was launched, human beings have been on an almost inevitable decline in terms of the amount of time we all spend on our smartphones.
Go to a sporting event or a concert, a political rally or school play and you will almost certainly see any number of people using their smartphones in order to capture the moment. Never mind that we never look at the majority of photos or videos that we take ever again; the desire to capture them in the first place is all that matters.
Now, a Japanese town is looking to limit the usage of such devices by its residents, but is that a good idea?
What Has Happened in Toyoake?
The Toyoake municipal government in Aichi made a proposal towards the end of August 2025 that all 69,000 people living in the town should have their smartphone usage limited to two hours per day. The Mayor of Toyoake, Masafumi Koki, said that the limit was a ‘guideline’ rather than something that would be strictly enforced, with the aim being to ‘encourage citizens’ to think about their usage of such devices.
It is also important to note that the two-hour limit would be in place outside of both studying and work, instead focusing on the private time of the town’s residents.
Toyoake in Aichi prefecture is debating a plan to urge all 69,000 residents to cap smartphone use at two hours a day. The proposal, aimed at tackling screen addiction and sleep loss, won’t carry penalties but has already sparked strong backlash from locals.#Toyoake #Aichi… pic.twitter.com/LwRxazleHr
— Hook (@hookonline_) August 28, 2025
Koki said, “This does not mean the city will limit its residents’ rights or impose duties. Rather, I hope this serves as an opportunity for each family to think about and discuss the time spent on smartphones as well as the time of day the devices are used.”
Any time that someone used their smartphone for a practical reason, such as to watch a video whilst cooking or practising for an e-Sport tournament, the usage would not be counted towards the two-hour limit, nor would it be included in the time limit if someone were to use their smartphone for the purpose of online learning.
How People Feel About It
According to Mainichi, a Japanese media outlet, more than 120 people living in the town got in touch with authorities in order to let them know how they felt about the proposals during a consultation period. Of those, 80% of them were not happy with what was being put forward for debate.
Although Koki recognises that smartphones have become ‘useful and indispensable’ in daily life, he also said that some students were missing school because they refused to leave home without their phone. Adults, meanwhile, were sacrificing sleep or time with their family in order to ‘doom scroll’.
Japanese City Toyoake Proposes 2-Hour Daily Smartphone Use Guideline
#2hourdailylimit #japan #smartphone #SmartphoneUseLimit #ToyoakeCity
— Blaze Trends (@blazetrends.bsky.social) Aug 28, 2025 at 12:03
The proposals suggest that primary school students should be looking to stop using their smart devices by 9pm, whilst older students and adults should put theirs away by 10pm. One person wrote a comment on the Japan Times piece on the issue saying that you ‘cannot even read a book or watch a movie’ within the two-hour period.
What the person failed to acknowledge, though, is the fact that there are very few books that you could read in several hours, let alone two, whilst the majority of movies would benefit from being shorter than two hours in their running time.
Is There Some Merit to the Idea?
Although most of us have become so addicted to our smartphones that might struggle to admit it, the reality is that spending large portions of time on our smart devices is not good for us. Those who choose to give up their smartphones or at least limit how much they use them will often report an increase in their mood and productivity once they’re able to step away from the screen.
Many also describe benefits to their mental health by no longer logging on to social media applications or reading the news headlines any time anything important seems to happen in the world.
Whilst imposing a strict limit such as two-hours not be the most realistic of propositions, there is surely some merit to the idea of not being constantly glued to our smart devices. Some choose to leave their phones in their room when they go on holiday, for example, spending time that they would usually spend on social media, replying to emails scrolling social media by reading a book or going for a walk.
Such self-imposed exiles from technology can be seen as the sort of positive step that Koki is looking to encourage from those that live in the town that he is the mayor of. Sometimes we don’t know what’s good for us until we’re told.