Whether young people spend a lot of time in front of screens is common all over the world, especially in China, which usually tries to alleviate it and end it even though it has the largest share of the gaming consumer market. Recently, as we know from the New York Times, the Chinese government has decided to end the state of gaming addiction by restricting the time children and adolescents spend playing video games.
The National Press and Publication Administration of China have announced new restrictions that will prevent players under the age of 18 from playing games between 10 pm and 8 am. They also set a time limit of 90 minutes per day on weekdays and three hours per day on weekends or different holidays. That is not all. There are new restrictions on how much young players can spend on additional content, appearances, and weapons. They are allowed to pay $ 28 to $ 57 depending on age.
Chinese officials say these new restrictions are necessary to reduce rates of video game addiction among young people, which they also say leads to vision problems and poor academic performance. So far there is not enough evidence and studies to suggest that there is something common among young people called video game addiction. The World Health Organization (WHO) categorized “gaming disorder” as a disease last year, but the move drew strong criticism from psychologists for the lack of evidence and facts to support the subject as well as the existence of studies to prove the opposite.
Certainly, some players are overly playing video games and are leaving their real lives, but we don't know whether restrictions like this help them. Young players will often find some way to avoid these restrictions as they do with some other restrictions that are common in China.
But dear reader, this question for you: Do you support these decisions or some similar decisions that impose restrictions and rules on young players and players in general and force them to play for a specific time of up to one and a half hours a day? Do you wish to apply something similar in your country? Share your opinion with the comments below.
