China wants to limit screen time for kids to just two hours per day to prevent internet addiction
Topics: China, Technology
Stewart Perrie
Featured Image Credit: Sally Anscombe/Getty Images. Keiko Iwabuchi/Getty Images
Topics: China, Technology
China is looking at cracking down on the amount of screen time that children have every day.
Technology has become an integral part of the way society works.
Many people will be scrolling on a smartphone when they wake up, take public transport to work, on their break, while they're cooking dinner and just before bed.
The same applies to kids and they're being introduced to devices like tablets and smartphones before they can even talk.
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However, China is worried this is creating a generation of technology and internet obsessed people.
To rectify the problem, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAA) has proposed introducing screen limits for children under the age of 18.
For teens aged 16 and 17, they would be allowed two hours of screen time each day.
Those aged eight to 15 would only get one hour and kids under that age bracket would be reduced to just 40 minutes.
It's hard to imagine for some people to only get that amount when most would spend hours upon hours every day just mindlessly scrolling.
This writer's daily average is sitting at a little more than six hours, so cutting that down to at least a third would be a big change.
But that's not the only suggestion from the Cyberspace Administration of China.
The group would also ban kids from accessing devices from 10pm until 6am, according to Engadget.
They're also proposing the type of content that kids would be able to access.
Children under three would only be allowed to listen to songs and other types of audio, whereas kids older than 12 would be permitted to engage with news and educational content.
People under 12 would also have to get their parents' permission to download apps.
The CAA says these restrictions would be installed to 'better play the positive role of the Internet, create a good network environment, prevent and intervene in the problem of minors' Internet addiction, and guide minors to form good habits of using the Internet'.
It's unclear whether these screen time limits would be built into a device's hardware or it would be up to each individual app to have the proposed children's mode.
China has already limited a child's screen time on video games to just three hours a week in a bid to prevent addictions forming.
The rule means under-18s will only be permitted to play video games for one hour a day, between 8pm-9pm - and exclusively on Fridays, weekends and public holidays, according to the Xinhua state news agency.
The move is designed to protect the physical and mental health of young people - although no doubt the announcement of the ban will have done nothing for the mental health of children in the short term.