What People Say They Overuse — Reading a 10,000-Person Survey Properly
In a survey of 10,000 adults in Japan, the app most often named as overused was not a social network or a video app. Here is what the ranking actually says, and why the top slot changes by age.
When you decide to cut back on your phone, almost every guide starts in the same place: reduce social media, reduce video. But when you open a large survey and read the ranking, the category named most often in Japan is neither of those.
This post is not a how-to. It is a close read of one dataset — because a ranking looked at from the top only will send you after the wrong app. The practical sorting method lives in keeping your messaging app while blocking social feeds; here we stay with the numbers.
What 10,000 people named
MMD Labo’s “2024 Fixed-Point Survey on Smartphone Dependence” surveyed 10,000 men and women aged 18–69 in Japan who own a smartphone with an active mobile contract. It ran online from 13 to 15 July 2024.
In it, 23.4% said they considered themselves heavily reliant on their phone and 39.1% somewhat reliant — 62.5% combined. The 6,251 people who answered yes were then asked which categories they felt they overused. Multiple answers were allowed:
| Category named as overused | Share |
|---|---|
| LINE (Japan’s dominant messaging app) | 47.3% |
| General web browsing | 40.1% |
| Social networks | 39.0% |
The top answer was a messaging app. The thing people actually name is the app they can least afford to switch off — not the feed they expected to blame.
The overall winner is not your winner
Break the same question down by age and gender and the top slot changes:
| Group | Top category named | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Women 18–19 (n=105) | Social networks | 84.8% |
| Women in their 20s (n=595) | Social networks | 67.1% |
| Men 18–19 (n=119) | Video watching | 62.2% |
Nationally the answer is a messaging app. Among women aged 18–19 it is social networks, at 84.8%. That gap is the most useful thing in the whole table: looking up “the app people overuse most” tells you nothing about which app to limit on your own phone.
One detail worth keeping straight: because the survey covered ages 18 and up, the “teens” rows mean 18- and 19-year-olds only. These are not figures about school-age children. A separate survey of people aged 15–24 is read in 62.2% of Gen Z report phone fatigue.
62.5% say they overuse it; 81.1% say they would struggle without it
The same survey asked how necessary a smartphone is in everyday life. 58.1% said they would struggle without one and another 23.0% said they would somewhat struggle — 81.1% together.
So more people would struggle without the phone (81.1%) than think they overuse it (62.5%). That asymmetry matters the moment you start planning. For most people the phone is simultaneously the problem and a utility they depend on, which is why plans built around putting the whole device away tend not to survive the week. If you are going to cut something, the unit of decision is the app, not the device.
Patience runs out inside ten seconds
There is one more number in the same survey, from a different angle. Asked how long they can tolerate a slow-loading website or app, 69.3% named a threshold under ten seconds, and 48.8% said stress sets in in under ten seconds.
That question was about load times, not about overuse, and the survey did not test any connection between them. Still, a tolerance window that short suggests that a few seconds of delay before an app opens is not a trivial thing behaviourally. It is the same instinct that friction-based settings are built on.
Three things to check before you use a survey number
- It is self-reported. People were asked whether they think they overuse their phone. Nothing was measured on the device.
- Multiple answers were allowed. The category shares add up to well over 100%. The ranking reflects how many people named something, not how many hours went into it.
- Watch the base sizes. The age-and-gender rows run from about n=105 to n=595. They cannot be read with the same confidence as the full 10,000.
For measured time rather than self-assessment, several surveys are lined up side by side in how much time people actually spend on their phones.
What to do with this (five minutes)
Once the ranking makes sense, the move is to stop chasing the national number one and name your own — exactly one of them.
- Open Screen Time on iOS (Settings › Screen Time › Manage Screen Time) or Digital Wellbeing & parental controls on Android, and write down your three longest apps from last week.
- Sort those three into contact and work, information, and entertainment.
- From the entertainment pile, pick one app as this week’s target. Not two.
- Leave the other two alone. Revisit next week.
The fact that a messaging app tops the national list does not mean your messaging app belongs on your list. The ranking is most useful as proof that the answer is different for everyone — including you.
Sources
- MMD Labo, “2024 Fixed-Point Survey on Smartphone Dependence” (10,000 men and women aged 18–69 in Japan owning a contracted smartphone, fielded online 13–15 July 2024; category figures are based on the 6,251 respondents who reported overuse, multiple answers allowed): https://mmdlabo.jp/investigation/detail_2358.html (Japanese)
This article summarises published survey results. It is not a medical diagnosis or medical advice.
FAQ
- Which apps do people in Japan most often say they overuse?
- In MMD Labo's 2024 survey of 10,000 people aged 18–69 (July 2024), the 6,251 who considered themselves reliant most often named LINE, a messaging app (47.3%), followed by general web browsing (40.1%) and social networks (39.0%). Multiple answers were allowed.
- Does the answer change by age and gender?
- Yes. Among women aged 18–19, social networks came first at 84.8%; among women in their 20s, social networks at 67.1%; among men aged 18–19, video watching at 62.2%. The national top answer tells you little about which app to limit on your own phone.
- Should I cut back by putting the whole phone away?
- In the same survey, 81.1% said they would struggle or somewhat struggle without a smartphone — more than the 62.5% who think they overuse it. Because the phone is both the problem and a daily utility, plans built around putting the device away tend not to last; the unit of decision is the app, not the device.
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