The Chinese government, concerned that prolonged use of mobile devices and virtual games may harm children's development, has added new measures to its previous measures to eliminate addictive behaviors in children.
According to a new draft prepared by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), all mobile devices and apps will have a "child mode" that will limit daily screen time to a maximum of 2 hours per day, depending on age groups. If the draft is approved, the apps used by those whose devices are in this mode will automatically close when their time is up.
According to the draft, no one under the age of 18 will be able to access the screen from 22:00 until 06:00 in the morning while using the mode. Children under 8 will only be able to use their phones for 40 minutes a day, compared to 1 hour for 8-15 year olds, while 16-18 year olds will only be allowed 2 hours a day. All age groups will receive a reminder to rest when they use their devices for more than 30 minutes. Parents will be able to override time limits and certain services such as education and emergency services will not be subject to time limits.
The general consensus is that it is in the interest of Chinese parents to control children's screen time in this way. They say that children who spend time online without time limits cannot protect their eye health. More importantly, they believe that content in child mode will be more positive and healthy. Some experts attribute the fact that myopia has become a national health problem in China to insufficient sunlight and too much screen time. This regulation could help parents supervise their children and limit screen time.
China has one of the largest networks of internet users in the world. Roughly 1.07 billion of the country's 1.4 billion people have access to the web. As of December, a fifth of these users were under the age of 19.
The new measures also signaled a troubled period for the technology companies responsible for implementing the regulations. Shares of the country's leading internet companies fell sharply after the announcement of the new rules.
2 years ago, China banned online gamers under the age of 18 from playing on weekdays and only allowed them to play for three hours on weekends.