Smart restrictions? Japan's two-hour experiment to curb phone addiction

Despite working full-time for a company in Tokyo, Shoki Moriyama manages to eke out eight hours a day to devote to his smartphone.

- Justin McCurry

"I need my phone to navigate my way through the information wars," said Moriyama who, at 25, is part of a generation that can't imagine life without scrolling through news and social media, messaging apps and off-the-wall video clips.

He is not alone. While excessive smartphone use is a worldwide phenomenon, the authorities in Japan are taking action amid growing concerns over its physical and psychological toll, particularly on children and young people.

Last week, the town of Toyoake in central Japan introduced a measure limiting smartphone use among its 69,000 residents to two hours a day, in what officials say was an attempt to tackle evidence of online addiction and sleep deprivation. The ordinance - passed by the town assembly last month - does not carry penalties for those who ignore it.

Moriyama was among several people, all in their 20s, who accepted the Guardian's challenge to keep their smartphone use to a maximum of two hours and share their experiences.

There were resounding successes and abject failures.

Moriyama, who habitually checks LINE - an instant-messaging, news and entertainment "super app" popular in Japan - as well as TikTok, Instagram and X, conceded that staying off the sites, or at least dramatically curtailing his usage, had been a struggle.