Chinese officials look to limit social media and screen time in China

While some youth in China admit to spending an excessive amount of time on the internet, many are skeptical about new government proposals aimed at regulating the time young Chinese spend online and on social media sites.

In conversations at China’s annual political meetings that wrapped up in Beijing this week, retired international basketball star Yao Ming, called for some limits on internet access for young people in China.

Yao was advocating for a plan that would mandate children turn off all electronics for one full day every academic semester and get outside and exercise.

Officials also called for tighter controls of online gaming and cited concerns about harmful online content, warning that excessive internet use is hurting the physical health and academic performance of Chinese minors under the age of 18.

China already has some of the world’s tightest internet controls, with tens of thousands of websites, foreign social media sites and content blocked. It also has a massive online population.

On social media in China some commenters praised the efforts, but many expressed frustrations with what they viewed to be an inherent contradiction within the policies. Some noted that children are already in school most of the day and rely on internet resources to complete assignments.

“Schools should assign less homework that requires phone check-ins and online research,” wrote one user from northern Hebei Province.

“Minors get home around 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. at night, so when do they even have time to use social media?” wrote another user from Beijing.

A college student in Beijing, who spoke with VOA on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, said she agreed with officials’ concerns, but added that policies like the one suggested by Yao are likely to have a limited impact.

“Chinese teenagers and young people are absolutely addicted to the internet. You can find people walking on the streets looking at their phones everywhere and all the time. We use the internet to do almost everything,” the student told VOA.

“I don’t really think proposals to limit internet accessibility for young people would be effective. The addiction is always hard to get rid of, so how can a ‘limit day’ alleviate the excessive internet use?” the student said, using the word “addiction” to describe the excessive use of the internet.

According to the "2024 China Game Industry Minor Protection Report" released by the Game Working Committee of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association, as of December 2023, the number of internet users in China under the age of 18 reached 196 million, with the percentage of minors who are on the internet and can access it reaching 97.3%.

During Chinese New Year this year, Tencent Games issued a "limited play order" for minors. During the 32-day break from academics, teenagers were only permitted to play the company’s games for a total of 15 hours.

However, all of these regulations can be circumvented through using or creating accounts belonging to adults, who are not subject to the restrictions.

Despite previous momentum, A Qiang, who used to work in the Chinese media industry, thinks proposals from the recently concluded political meetings in Beijing are just talk and won’t lead to any concrete policy change.

The real way forward, he argues, is by lessening burdens impacting the quality of minors’ lives offline such as intense academic pressure.

The problem is not that they have too much freedom online but have too little freedom offline, he said.

Will Wang, a Chinese student attending college in the United States, said when he returns home in Beijing during school break his impression is that the internet is used heavily in everyday life, and that teenagers are very active on social media platforms.

“There’s definitely a significant increase in screen and internet usage across all ages in China…many Chinese teenagers are deeply engaged with TikTok, RedNote, Bilibili, and many internet platforms,” Wang said in a written response to VOA.

Amid the busy academic and personal lives of young Chinese, the internet provides them with a rare space for privacy, which Wang said is fueling high levels of internet use.

“Most Chinese teenagers don’t have a lot of private space for themselves at home or at school so [the] internet is the only option, especially with their busy schedules––nearly every kid has to attend some sort of classes or studying-related activities outside of school,” Wang said.

“For teenagers, if anything, [the] internet makes them more connected with their friends and the world.”

Xu Quan, a media commentator based in Hong Kong, said online spaces can have a positive effect on children, who are often overwhelmed with parental and educational expectations.

"Contrary to what some might think, the internet helps them deal with stress to a certain extent. If you were to remove the internet from their lives, that would actually be harmful to their physical and mental well-being," Xu told VOA.

The recent proposals to limit internet use build on previous regulations regarding youth internet use. In October 2020, China revised the “Law on the Protection of Minors,” adding an “internet protection” chapter requiring that social media, gaming and live streaming platforms implement tools to limit their excessive use. The law targeted gaming addictions in particular.

A 2021 notice required strict limits on gaming time allotments for children under 18. The regulation banned gaming between the hours of 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., and limited minors to no more than one hour of gaming per day on weekdays or two hours per day on weekends.