China drafts new rules to curb internet addiction among children and teens
www.scmp.com
Online regulator says proposed rules will apply to anyone under 18 and public will have a month to submit feedback.

Summary of proposed limits by Twitter user @Orikron

🇨🇳 China is set to limit the amount of time children spend on the internet:

16 to 18 - 2 hours

8 to 16 - 1 hour

Under 8 - 40 minutes

No internet access on children’s devices from 10pm-6am

Parents will be allowed to opt out of the time limits for their youngsters.

Edit: additional info from @qwename@lemmygrad.ml:

Parents can change default time limits

Reminder to rest every 30 minutes

Apps not subject to time limits include:

  • Emergency-related (safety, emergency calling etc.)
  • Approved educational apps
  • Tools suitable for minors (image processing, calculator, measurement etc.)
  • User-defined by parents

Full draft available in Chinese: http://www.cac.gov.cn/2023-08/02/c_1692541991073784.htm

  • Addfwyn
    52·
    11 months ago

    I bet western media will just magically forget to mention that the parents have the final control over the system when they cover the story.

    My kneejerk reaction would be that too many parents would just instantly opt-out for it to be effective, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that a lot of people might just keep the default parameters. If I suddenly became a parent and didn’t have a good concept of what an appropriate amount of time would be, I might be inclined to keep the baseline restrictions. Even if they don’t, the government limitation could be good guidelines for them to base what they decide would work.

    Seems like a good first step, 2 hours seems like plenty of time for high school students, at least during the week. I wouldn’t necessarily mind lighter restrictions on weekends, but that would probably fall under the purview of parental discretion. No live-streaming for under-16 seems like a no-brainer that should be adopted everywhere honestly.

    • redtea
      1·
      11 months ago

      Good points. It’s more effort to opt out. And many parents will surely appreciate the fact they can tap their watch and say, ‘I don’t make the rules’. It can be hard for parents to limit things like this ‘because their friends are online’, etc. So this rule will make it easier for parents to be united against tech-creep.