The time that children watch or use media devices at home during the day differs according to child-care facility use, especially in the afternoon. Children who attend day-care centers watch (use) media devices at the latest time of the day compared to other children.

20% of children not attending a child-care facility watch TV and videos/DVDs between 9:00 and 12:00

Figure 1-4-1 shows the time of day of media use with respect to TV, videos/DVDs, smartphones, and handheld gaming players. Two peak times are shown in the graph; the first peak is in the morning (between the time the child wakes up and 9:00) and the second peak is in the afternoon until nighttime (between 15:00 and 21:00.) TV watching time is concentrated during the airtimes of programs for young children. In contrast, although videos/DVDs are watched less compared to TV programs, the time they are watched shows wide distribution between 15:00 and 21:00. The percentage of smartphone and handheld gaming player use is low, but they seem to be used after 15:00.

Figure 1-4-1 Time of day of media use (n=3,234)

Since the time of day children watch (use) media devices is seemingly influenced by the children's lifestyle, we now look into details according to child-care facility use. Figure 1-4-2 shows the time of day when children not attending a child-care facility watch (use) media. The percentage of children not attending a child-care facility who watch TV between the time they wake up and 9:00 is high (54.4%). Between 9:00 and midday, the percentages watching TV and videos/DVDs are both around 20%, which are higher than those who attend kindergarten and day-care centers. (See also Figures 1-4-3 and 1-4-4.) They seem to watch recorded TV programs, videos/DVDs, programs from cable channels, etc., since there are no children's programs on air during this time of the day. In the afternoon, there is a higher percentage of media use between 15:00 and 18:00, as 60.3% watch TV during this time of the day, but hardly use media after 21:00.

Figure 1-4-2 Time of day of media use (children not attending a child-care facility, n=1,488)

On the other hand, with respect to children who go to day-care centers (as shown in Figure 1-4-3), a high percentage watch TV between the time they wake up and 9:00 am (68.2%). They hardly watch (use) any media between 9:00 and 15:00 as they are likely to be at day-care centers around that time of the day. The percentage watching TV and videos/DVDs gradually increases after 15:00 after children come back from day-care centers. The percentages watching TV, or using videos/DVDs and smartphones reach the highest between 18:00 and 21:00 (66.4% for TV, 52.9% for videos/DVDs, and 22.9% for smartphones). Children who go to day-care centers tend to watch (use) media devices at the latest time of day compared to children not attending a child-care facility and those who attend kindergarten.

Figure 1-4-3 Time of day of media use (children attending a day-care center, n=743)

Figure 1-4-4 shows the time of day of media watch (use) of children who attend kindergarten. Similar to children who attend day-care centers, the percentage of those who watch TV between the time they wake up and 9:00 is high (68.8%) and they hardly watch (use) media devices after 9:00 until 15:00. Media use starts to increase after 15:00 when they come back from kindergarten. The percentages who watch TV and videos/DVDs between 15:00 and 18:00 both reach nearly 60%. However, after that time (between 18:00 and 21:00), the percentage of those who watch TV decreases to around 50% and those watching videos/DVDs drops to 26.2%. The percentage of those who use smartphones between 15:00 and 21:00 is around 13%, and for handheld gaming players, 16.0% between 15:00 and 21:00. As for after 21:00, regardless of whether children attend a facility or not or the facility they attend, total percentage who watch (use) media is below 10%.

Figure 1-4-4 Time of day of media use (children attending a kindergarten, n=904)