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.
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.
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.
Thanks. This is the kind of comment I originally went to reddit for. Good that I didn’t click the link
How it will work is thdt if you don’t use it, your social credit score will be affected or your kid’s teacher/class monitor will include it in their spy reports. This will prevent you from entering your preferred university or from joining the party later in life
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.
Fascinating thesis.
Russia is a dysfunctional oppressive mess.
China is a functional oppressive mess.
It makes a difference.
young Russian hackers are some of the best
[]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.
I like, but this is something parents should enforce, not the government.
It isn’t even something any government should be allowed to enforce in my opinion.
It’s easy to like it when it doesn’t affect you and never will.
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Agreed 100%
Came to say exactly the same, this rules should be standard good parenting practice.
The CAC also said service providers should allow parents to opt out of the time limits for their children.
Bullshit headline
Chinese kids going to be walking around with 8 smartphones like some of those people early in the Pokemon Go days. Long Huawei.
Maybe Linux phones.
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.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_real-name_system_in_China
China has that level of control over the lives of its citizens.
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”
Doesn’t China straight up ban apps that don’t meet it’s specifications?
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.
I see we’re just gonna keep the Reddit norm of posting bullshit headlines for clicks
That’s a problem with users, not the platform.
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
People haven’t realised that paper had become a tabloid as of about 4 years 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…”
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.
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!).
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.
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.
Misleading title. Should say “china to PROPOSE”
I thought you could edit titles here?
I just used the article title. It’s also authoritative China.
While at it make sure they don’t mastrubate
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.
I could really see that as a bit in an old '80s or '90s stupid comedy.
Rampant teen pregnancy is definitely one way to solve their demographic problem.
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.
I think it’s our duty to provide them with a utility that resets their time allotment.
I am all for it. Ban smartphones and bring back dumbphones.
