Technology

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.

Frankly, I wish my sister would do this for my nieces. Their addiction to TikTok is extraordinarily troubling, for several reasons.

Thanks. This is the kind of comment I originally went to reddit for. Good that I didn't click the link

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

[Citation Needed]

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.

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.

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

Apps related to China’s emergency services and education will, however, be exempted from the restrictions.

Maybe Linux phones.

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.

That's a problem with users, not the platform.

People haven't realised that paper had become a tabloid as of about 4 years ago.

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!).

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.

Well, its China. 99% of parents will enable it if given the choice.