If the new guidelines come into play, the children in China will have to face some of the world’s strictest rules.
Smartphones have now become an essential part of our lives, so much so that you might see right in the hands of every other person. The same importance is growing into the lives of children as well let it be for education, entertainment or anything else they’re allowed to use. But, the Chinese cyberspace watchdog is introducing new guidelines that limits smartphone usage for children to just two hours a day.
Not only this, they have also limited gaming on smartphones for youth below 18 years of age to just 3 hours a week. All these regulations have been drafted with the title ‘Guidelines for the Construction of Minor Mode of the Mobile Internet’. This draft is posted for public comments till September 2, 2023 after which it will go into further concrete state before being implemented by the year-end.
Spiritual Opium
As the Chinese authorities call it, Spiritual Opium is the name of the online gaming addiction that young children in China have become a victim of. To eliminate this addiction, the smartphones in China will have ‘Minor Mode’ that will curb the usage of phones to two hours, and regulate multiple application accesses.
What Will Minor Mode Limit?
- For children aged under 8, smartphone usage is limited to only 40 minutes per day.
- For kids under the age of 3 years, the guidelines said, “online internet providers should recommend children’s songs, enlightenment education and other parent-child companionship programs, and they are recommended to play via audio.”
- For youth aged 16-18 years, two hours of smartphone time is allowed, and that too on a prohibition of usage between 10 p.m to 6 a.m.
Too Good or Too Harsh?
The Chinese authorities will not only put these regulation mandates on the parents of these children, but also on the tech companies serving them. The practicality and aim of this new anti-addiction regulation will only be seen in the coming future. But on paper, this looks like the children might have to go through a tough digital cleansing period soon.
