MONTHLY NEWS
April 1998

TV Programs, Computer Games Become Hot Topics of Conversation

Elementary school kids are talking a lot more about computer games and what they saw on TV than they did 10 years ago. This was one of the findings of a survey conducted in November 1997 by a think tank affiliated with NHK--Japan's public broadcasting network.

The survey was conducted by asking 1,800 students in third through sixth grade as well as their parents to fill out a questionnaire; 1,478 turned in valid answers.

Asked if kids attend a juku (cram school) or take lessons from a tutor after school, four out of five respondents said yes. And about half said that on average, schoolchildren watch TV two hours a day. These figures are roughly the same as those from a decade ago, when the same questions were asked.


The biggest change from 1987 was what children chose to talk about with their friends. The survey revealed that 41% talked about computer games, whereas the figure was just 25% 10 years ago.

The survey also found that children are tending to stay indoors more, rather than going outside to play. It showed that nearly 60% of them watch TV after school, slightly higher than in 1987, and 50% of them play computer games, almost twice the 1987 figure.

Asked how they choose which TV programs to watch, 75% of the kids said they tune in to what their friends are watching.

One conclusion the polling organization drew from the results is that TV programs and computer games seem to have become important elements in how kids relate to their friends.