Tag - teens

 
 

TEENS

The Metropolitan Police Department headquarters in Tokyo
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 12, 2026
High school baseball players suspected of spreading obscene images
The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the possibility that an obscene video of a 15-year-old girl might have been disseminated to dozens of people.
An error message appears on the Instagram app in Australia, whose government recently banned youth from social media in 2025. Brazil is now considering similar restrictions on online gambling and pornography.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 10, 2026
Brazil moves to ban teen access to online gambling and pornography
The move will make Brazil the latest nation to take significant measures meant to address concerns about toxic content, exploitation and other harms.
A 14-year-old scrolls on his phone in Majadahonda, Spain, on Tuesday. Spain wants to prohibit social media for under-16s, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 4, 2026
Social media groups face European backlash as Spain and Greece weigh teen bans
They join countries such as ‍Britain and ⁠France in considering tougher stances on social media.
India is considering a ban on social media for children, following Australia's passage of the world's first ban last month.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 1, 2026
Modi ally proposes social media ban for India’s teens as global debate grows
India, the world’s second-biggest smartphone market with 750 million devices and a billion internet users, is a key growth market for social media apps.
As Japan’s population ages, fewer workers will be supporting more dependents, reshaping the country’s social and economic balance.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Dec 29, 2025
On to 2050: Life in a shrinking Japan
By 2050, Japan’s youth will inherit a transformed country, reshaped by population decline, longer lives and unprecedented demographic imbalance.
Having a dog at home likely helps alter adolescent children's microbiome to make them happier and have better social skills, according to a study.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 25, 2025
Study shows having dogs likely boosts teens’ social skills
Children’s social skills are believed to be boosted by the vagus nerve, which runs through the intestine, stimulating the release of oxytocin.
Fourteen-year-old Yevenhelina Tuturiko poses in a corridor of an underground school in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Oct. 16.
WORLD
Dec 22, 2025
Ukraine’s lost generation caught in ‘eternal lockdown’
First there was the pandemic in March 2020, then the invasion — forcing young Ukrainians to spend most of their time in front of the family computer to study and unwind.
Teens watch a TikTok video with their friends in Melbourne, Australia, on Nov. 13. Australia is trying to wean children under 16 off the likes of TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and Instagram with a new law.
WORLD / Society
Dec 8, 2025
‘Not black or white’: Teens worldwide react to Australia social media ban
The move will be closely watched by other countries, which could follow suit with similar laws.
Malaysian Communication Minister Fahmi Fadzil speaks during an interview in Kuala Lumpur in 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 24, 2025
Malaysia says it plans to ban social media for users under 16 from 2026
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil cited a need to protect youths from online harms such as cyberbullying, financial scams, and child sexual abuse.
Twitch will be forced to remove all users under the age of 16 when Australia's strict social media laws take effect next month.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 21, 2025
Livestream giant Twitch to ban under-16s in Australia
The eSafety Commissioner said that the U.S. company — which started out as a platform for gaming streamers — met its criteria to be banned.
A growing bipartisan movement — backed by educators, researchers and parents — is pushing to ban smartphones in U.S. classrooms, citing evidence that doing so boosts learning, cuts bullying and helps students reconnect in real life.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2025
Want students to thrive? Lock up their phones.
A growing bipartisan push to ban smartphones in U.S. classrooms is showing early signs of boosting learning, cutting bullying and helping students reconnect in real life.
Caroline Stage, Danish Minister for Digitalization and representatives from the agreement parties attend a news conference about a new political agreement for better protection of children and young people online, in Copenhagen, on Friday.
WORLD
Nov 8, 2025
Denmark set to ban social media platforms for children under 15
Denmark follows the likes of Australia, which last year imposed a ban on social media for children under 16.
The health ministry's Suicide White Paper for 2024 has found that numbers for both men and women peak at age 21, with “concerns over future career paths” being identified as the most likely cause.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 24, 2025
Number of suicide cases among students in Japan hits record high in 2024
The figure for those in their 20s also remained high, underscoring the need to beef up care for the younger generation.
Takuya Matsui, head of a library run by the town of Shari in Hokkaido, stands in July in front of the library's bulletin board filled with answers to students' questions, holding a book made by compiling the answers.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 15, 2025
Book offering life tips from Hokkaido library’s bulletin board becomes nationwide hit
The library’s director said a question box was set up in 2023 to expose teens to diverse ways of thinking “in today’s social media-centric world.”
Instagram has tightened content filtering for teen accounts to be in tune with the U.S.' PG-13 rating standard used for films.
BUSINESS
Oct 14, 2025
Instagram accounts for teens to be in tune with U.S. PG-13 rating standard
The move comes as Meta and other social media platforms face pressure to show they aren’t putting profit and engagement over the well-being of users, especially children.
High school girls wear rented Chinese dresses for <i>purikura</i> photo stickers on Aug. 20 in Tokyo's Toshima Ward.
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2025
‘Purikura’ photo sticker machines keep offering more 30 years after debut
The first photo sticker machines in 1995 were much simpler than what’s offered today, but the novel feature of turning photos into stickers led to their blockbuster popularity.
Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful from the popemobile after a Mass for the canonization of Carlo Acutis, the first millennial saint, in St. Peter's Square, Vatican City, on Sunday.
WORLD
Sep 7, 2025
Huge crowds at the Vatican as teen becomes first millennial saint
Tens of thousands of people gathered at the Vatican Sunday as Pope Leo XIV proclaimed the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint, an Italian teenager dubbed “God’s Influencer.”
Some 93.1% of Japanese teenagers who struggle with school life said they felt like they “wanted to disappear from the world" at the end of summer vacation ahead of the start of a new term, according to a recent survey released by Yokohama-based nonprofit Daisan Kazoku.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 28, 2025
Most Japanese teens struggling with school find end of summer ‘painful’
In a recent survey, 93.1% of respondents said they felt they “wanted to disappear from the world.”
At Yawata Junior High School in Nagoya, there are no more rules on clothing and hairstyles. Students are free to wear either the school's uniform or clothes of their own choosing.
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Aug 18, 2025
Schools get students involved in revision of unreasonable ‘black rules’
Positive outcomes have emerged from such revisions, including greater student confidence and stronger trust between students and teachers.
Among the middle school students who admitted to abusing over-the-counter medication, the majority — around 64% — said they got them from pharmacies while a third said they had access to them in their own households.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 13, 2025
1 in 55 Japanese middle schoolers abuse over-the-counter drugs, survey shows
Most of them got the drugs from pharmacies and their own households.

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival