this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2023

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China to limit teenagers’ smartphone use to two hours a day (www.telegraph.co.uk)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

56 comments fedilink hide all child comments

also bar users under the age of 18 from accessing the internet from 10pm to 6am.

Meanwhile, a tiered system will mean those under the age of eight will be permitted a maximum of 40 minutes of usage a day, with up to two hours permitted for 16 and 17-year-olds.

Children aged between eight to 16 will have their time limit capped at one hour. ‘Teenager mode’

The proposed reforms are open to public feedback as part of a consultation process scheduled to run until Sept 2.

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[–] [email protected] 103 points 1 year ago (6 children)

If you actually read the thing it's fine. It just requires phone manufacturers include a parental control function that is CAPABLE of those limits built in without charging extra for it. The parents still have to turn it on and can exempt apps from it or not set it up at all.

The most "authoritarian" part is online services with recommendations are "encouraged" (not actually required) to set up separate age algorithms. Algo for 3 year olds they recommend to be mostly audio and not ADHD video, algo for 8 year olds educational only, 12 year olds "positive" entertainment, 16 year olds "age appropriate". And they want app store recommendations to not advertise lootbox games at kids.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is reasonable and I'd like to have features like those to control time my (future) kids will have on their smartphone (when they are old enough for one). Also, informative post, thank you.

[–] Corkyskog 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Those things already exist, they just can be broken if your kid is smart enough. For me if they spend the time learning enough coding/base computer knowledge to break out of the box then I will applaud them and keep visually monitoring them and having regular conversations about online safety and privacy like I always have intended.

My parents did this, but it was way back right after we got out of dial up and I was already a teenager or very close to it and trying my hand at programming my own games. My mom got the software out of some bargain bin and the point was to limit screen time and stop certain programs from launching. I realized if I completely broke it my mom would probably realize, as it had a reporting function. So I went in and changed the unit from "minute" to hour. So if I was on the computer for 3 hours and my mom looked at it would say 3 minutes, she didn't check those logs much anyway, but the few times she did I was just like "needed to search something on Ask Jeeves for homework real quick". It actually took my mom more time to install the software then it took me to make that change... probably because that was a time when people actually still read through the Terms & Conditions...

[–] Reverendender 10 points 1 year ago

Frankly, I wish my sister would do this for my nieces. Their addiction to TikTok is extraordinarily troubling, for several reasons.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Thanks. This is the kind of comment I originally went to reddit for. Good that I didn't click the link

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[–] [email protected] 87 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

These are teenagers - if you make a law telling them not to do something, you're just making them want to do it. There's a reason why young Russian hackers are some of the best - it's a direct result of the restrictions Putin put on the Russian internet. The CCP just made the dark web cool, and I have a feeling that once this law goes into effect, we're going to see a whole generation of Chinese hackers inspired to hone their craft as a result.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

Fascinating thesis.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Russia is a dysfunctional oppressive mess.

China is a functional oppressive mess.

It makes a difference.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

young Russian hackers are some of the best

[Citation Needed]

When I think "young Russian hackers" I think, "folks that broke into ATMs, Bitcoin scammers, and organized crime." That doesn't make them amazing hackers it just makes them unethical opportunists.

[–] fresh 62 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think it's such a boomer-y perspective to treat phones as toys. For a lot of people, smartphones are their main computer. People do their homework, do research, learn languages, fill out forms, and lots of other productive activities.

Even communication is not frivolous. What if someone wants to talk to their father working in a factory in distant Guangdong for their birthday?

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Apps related to China’s emergency services and education will, however, be exempted from the restrictions.

[–] fresh 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What counts as “education”? China recently has the chess world champion. Is studying opening chess moves “education”? I doubt it. Is reading video game websites in English to study English “education “? There are so many useful ways to let people flourish by following their passions.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There are so many useful ways to let people flourish by following their passions.

You know that's sort of the opposite of how China operates, right? I mean, to be fair they have 1.4 BILLION people and a very centrally-planned authoritarian government that doesn't have much flexibility. When the Chinese government is doing their planning they'll often designate entire regions of the country like, "these folks will be textile workers" or "these folks will be farmers". The last thing they want is for any large number of people to "follow their passions" because it would completely screw up their plans!

I'm sure they expect--and hope--some useful deviants emerge from their centrally-planned education and economy but I'm positive they'd prefer it if at least 99.9% of the population just falls in line.

[–] fresh 2 points 1 year ago

I am all for criticizing authoritarianism, but I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration (similar things were said of the supposedly “conformist” Japanese in the 80s and 90s). You don’t hear the same things said of the US, even though the US school system is one of the most segregated in the developed world. If you grow up in certain neighborhoods, often along racial lines, you are designated to be a poorly paid service worker, with no real option to follow your passions. Social mobility in China remains higher than in the US.

In any case, we’re mostly in agreement inasmuch as I’m obviously criticizing this bad authoritarian policy in China.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Haha, a lot of educational apps were banned in China already

[–] [email protected] 56 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I like, but this is something parents should enforce, not the government.

[–] [email protected] 61 points 1 year ago

It isn’t even something any government should be allowed to enforce in my opinion.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

It's easy to like it when it doesn't affect you and never will.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Agreed 100%

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

The CAC also said service providers should allow parents to opt out of the time limits for their children.

Bullshit headline

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Came to say exactly the same, this rules should be standard good parenting practice.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Chinese kids going to be walking around with 8 smartphones like some of those people early in the Pokemon Go days. Long Huawei.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Maybe Linux phones.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (4 children)

This sounds difficult to actually implement.

For example, I play a mobile game where if you have an iOS account that is set as an “under 13” account anywhere in the settings, the in-game chat is permanently turned off for you. But, there’s nothing that stops an actual 10-year-old from having an account that doesn’t have the age settings, thusly allowing them to access whatever gets said in the game chat.

The proposals for app devs described in the article also don’t make a lot of sense and sound like huge hurdles to overcome.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_real-name_system_in_China

China has that level of control over the lives of its citizens.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

China actually already has a system in place that kinda works for their existing video game restrictions - your accounts are connected to your social ID, or to a social media which in turn is connected to your social ID. Alternatively I wouldn't be surprised if like what they do is connect your SIM card to your national number (which is possible - some countries do it for 2FA for government stuff and banking) which is what they use to control internet usage

...of course it does little against the tried and true method of "using your mum's phone/ID for games"

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Doesn't China straight up ban apps that don't meet it's specifications?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah cell phone use and access to the internet in general is so ingrained in most modern cultures that it really can't be meaningfully stopped. These devices connect people, particularly teenagers to friends, significant others, trending news, and provides an outlet to many things they don't have other accesses to as not-yet-adults. Full implementation of this law would literally be enough to start the next cultural revolution.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I see we're just gonna keep the Reddit norm of posting bullshit headlines for clicks

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's a problem with users, not the platform.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I'm aware. I was hoping this would be more like the old Reddit... but its not unfortunately. Dumb users have made their way here as well

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's like prohibition. You ban it, they're gonna find ways around it to use their phones even more. Source: I was once a teenager.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Features like this would've been amazing when I was a teen! I would mess with my friends (and teachers) phones and force them into toddler mode! Oh what fun!

I was a teen in the 90s but these days kids have access to far more fun technologies like $2 development boards that you can program to execute whatever mouse/keyboard functions you please (and yes, they work when you plug them into phones too!). If I were a teen these days that's probably what I'd be having fun with instead of hacking into AOL (oh what fun that was!).

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

Today on "what else can we come up with to marginalize young people and isolate them from their social support in one fell swoop..."

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

While I agree with the overall positive intent, I'm very opposed to the government mandating this sort of thing.

Especially when there are a wide variety of reasons why kids might need more than that time or at odd hours to work on something. Particularly with the internet becoming more and more a facet of everyday life and just being involved in schooling as a whole.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I’m very opposed to the government mandating this sort of thing

You're opposed to the government mandating that smartphone makers provide these features? The title of the article is wrong: The new regulations are simply requiring that smartphone manufacturers provide controls that allow parents to implement such restrictions.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

While at it make sure they don't mastrubate

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Porns already illegal in China, so they’re trying.

Like really trying…

https://jpost.com/international/article-711219

Worn on the head by the subject the device can pick up a spike in brainwaves triggered by explicit content, each time an indecent photo appeared, an alarm went off.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I could really see that as a bit in an old '80s or '90s stupid comedy.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Rampant teen pregnancy is definitely one way to solve their demographic problem.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Misleading title. Should say “china to PROPOSE”

I thought you could edit titles here?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I just used the article title. It's also authoritative China.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I think it's our duty to provide them with a utility that resets their time allotment.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Should instead be on the device and/or carrier side of things. Allow to set limits on mobile/wifi data and screen usage on the OS level for parental controls. Should definitely not be enforced by governments, but rather easily enforceable by parents.

[–] SimplePhysics 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well, its China. 99% of parents will enable it if given the choice.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I can't help but think Chinese parents are as reasonable as US or EU parents. Letting your teen drive a car risks joyriding but also means they run errands and pick up groceries for you. Limiting a teen's phone time means they're going to prioritize friends and mischief over responding to parents or researching for schoolwork given their 120 minutes.

[–] SimplePhysics 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, it was a joke, albeit a poorly worded one. Chinese parents are mostly reasonable.

Source: am of Chinese decent.

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