This move by the Chinese government is driven by concerns over the potential detrimental effects of prolonged mobile device and online service usage on children’s development. The government has already imposed limits on online video game time, allowing young people only three hours of gaming per week, and only on weekends and public holidays.
While the draft is open to public consultation and not guaranteed to pass, it signals the Chinese government’s ongoing efforts to protect children from excessive screen time and addictive behaviors. However, there are questions about the practical implementation of these rules. It remains unclear whether hardware manufacturers or operating system developers will be responsible for implementing the proposed kids mode. This could pose challenges for companies like Apple and Google, as it might require them to make changes to their devices and parental control features.
