China is determined to fight against the addiction of the youngest to the internet and screens. The government of beijing is so determined to prevent those under 18 years of age from becoming addicted to using digital entertainment which has published a draft of rules that provides that both smart phones and their mobile applications have a specific mode for minors.
The Chinese Cyberspace Administration has published a document presenting the youth mode of the phoneswhich shall have an automatic switching function that allows the user to access and exit an age-appropriate interface with parental verification and authorization.
In addition, Youth Mode will be divided into five age ranges: Under 3, 3-8, 8-12, 12-16, and 16-18.
Children under the age of 8 may not use devices such as smartphones for a time of more than 40 minutes a day, and young people between 16 and 18 years old will have their connection limited to 2 hours a day.
Falls of technology companies
It is unknown if the plans of the Chinese authorities will achieve their purpose of ‘detoxifying’ those most vulnerable to screens, but for the moment they have caused widespread falls among all those companies that are dedicated to leisure and electronic commerce.
The shares of technology companies have received the Administration’s proposals with significant falls on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Thus, the titles of Weibo 4.79% were left, those of Baidu 3.75%, those of jd.com 3.48% and those of meituan 3.30%, while the shares of Tencent yielded 2.99% and those of Alibaba 2.76%.
Also with video games
In 2021, the Chinese authorities restricted three hours a week the access of minors to online video games with the stated objective of “effectively protecting the mental and physical health” and “healthy growth” of young people.
The large multinational technology company Tencent opted for its part on the facial recognition for your gaming platforms. His intention is to prevent minors in the country from skipping his new rule that will allow those under 18 to play only 14 hours.
