China was way ahead in seeing the danger.
Its cyber space regulator announced last year that children under 18 should be limited to a maximum of two hours a day on smart devices. Makers must limit use through “minor modes” similar to those which followed curfews for the country’s teenage video gamers in 2021. Chinese teenagers can’t watch Douyin, ByteDance’s Chinese version of TikTok, for more than 40 minutes per day. The western TikTok, meanwhile, has introduced a one-hour daily time limit default for teens but this is cosmetic: it can simply be turned off.
The fact that China has been far more effective in protecting its children from the excesses of technology should make western legislators think. Discussions in Washington centre on whether TikTok’s ownership makes it a threat to national security. But hyperactive apps and addictive algorithms are already a threat because they diminish children’s mental stability and their ability to learn. In 2022, a third of American teens said they were using at least one of YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat or Facebook “almost constantly”. We are hardly going to win the battle with China over artificial intelligence, or anything else, if we raise a generation of zombies.
Where China is going for the manufacturers, Europe is focusing on the classroom. France, Italy and Netherlands have banned smartphone use in schools; England this year gave teachers the power to search bags and confiscate devices.
But how do we handle home and holidays? Here, we parents have to look very hard at ourselves.
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