China and our children. AIBU to be deeply concerned?

[Concerningalgorithms]

I read this article and am so concerned. So many of our kids are on TT.

https://nypost.com/2023/02/25/china-is-hurting-us-kids-with-tiktok-but-protecting-its-own/amp/

Basically, TT and other SM have the same effect on our brain as addictive substances such as heroine. Developers know this and create highly addictive (make use of our knowledge of the reward centre in our brain), apps/platforms/games that leave us with dopamine crashes when we can’t have it. So that tantrum or meltdown when we say ‘turn screens off now’ is partly, if not mostly, to do with that, is one example.

The article above says that China use different algorithms there for TT so it is helpful for children’s development. They are peddling addictive, concentration lowering crap to children around the world, but protecting their own children.

Why are we allowing this? Why are we not protecting our children too? The science is there.

And AIBU to think that we are at risk, as a country, of raising a generation that will be less well adapted and more vulnerable in the future to a hostile take over?

As a parent, ultimately you have control over your child's devices and what they view and how long they view it for. The apps themselves have parental controls as well as the devices.
American is very anti-China at the moment, and anti-TikTok (they are trying to ban it!), so I'd take that article with a pinch of salt.

See quote above. And no. No clue about contract law. Never studied law. What’s your point? It clearly says that the law is about prevention of harm.

So true. It’s also hard, I find, when their friends have different rules. Not impossible but a much bigger challenge!

I don’t think I said it should be banned did I? I think that’s unrealistic. That’s not what China have done. They’ve created the kids version so that it goes off over night, only works for a limited period and pushes kids towards maths puzzles and such that increase skills and knowledge rather than free flowing access to anything.

I’m not sure exactly what the ideal legislation would be, but the limits on time and being off over night seem wholly sensible to me. We have this ability because we pay for a guardian thing but many parents wouldn’t have means to do that. Many parents wouldn’t know to. I work with them.

I don’t know exactly what the answer is. I just recognise it as a problem.

Ha ha ha. Well yes. It’s a big heavy unwieldy machine! Although we have done it with cigarettes. No more sponsorship, hidden away in shops, no colourful packaging, honest advice about the health risks on the packet. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that we could make changes. At the end of the day, there is money to be made so providers will adapt if we do stipulate.

Well indeed. We are gleefully allowing this to happen. I guess it got me thinking that they have put these checks and balances in for their kids and we barely even talk about it in the UK.

I’m not suggesting it’s a deliberate dumbing down of other nations children (although that’s not beyond the realm of possibility) but it’s unlikely to be out of compassion and care for children. Much more likely to be strategic.

These things are so addictive. They play to the reward centre in our brain and this is still in development during childhood and early adulthood. Adolescence in particular is a critical time for brain development and connectivity.

A contract involves an offer and acceptance. You have to be 18. Social media accounts are not contracts. It’s completely different. If you don’t have a basic understanding of why they are different this is a pointless conversation.

It's actually very concerning. Our kids are becoming screen addicts, less literate, less active, more obese with more mental health issues.
We seriously need to counteract this.
Getting them off screens and outdoors would be a good start.

Where are you getting less literate from?

I guess it got me thinking that they have put these checks and balances in for their kids

I would say that you are thinking wrongly and they are not 'checks and balances' but a tool for control and propaganda. Stop aligning Chinese cultural and political motives with Western values.

And both China and the USA have been flexing their military might in the East and South China Seas. Are you concerned about the American presence too?

I think that it is right to be concerned about the overuse of all social media, especially amongst young people, but you lose my support when you insist on blaming it to China without any evidence bar a less than disinterested American newspaper article using emotive language. I agree with a pp about your 'Yellow Peril" vibes.

Your solution of government intervention is also unrealistic and unworkable in a democracy.

Noone has to have a smart phone, but we've changed the social norm such that it's weird not to.
It's acceptable to ask policymakers to ban or place restrictions on things that damage us. We do it with alcohol, with food with activities like driving...

Banning alcohol because some abuse it is as acceptable as completely banning smart phones. And you’re ignoring the enormous benefits of smart phones.

@Otherstories2002
Numbers of articles out there about declining literacy rates.
Some articles are linking it to covid but that's also linked to screen time. If kids read books in lockdown instead of being on screens, then literacy levels wouldn't have fallen (not a judgment as many parents did what they had to do)

That’s an assumption on your part.

I'm not suggesting that there are no benefits of smart phones or that anything needs to be banned. I'm saying that it's within the realm of what policymakers do to restrict and regulate things like social media. Shifting all responsibility to individual choice is a policy in itself.

They have. There are age restrictions. Mobile phones have ability to turn off tracking, algorithms etc. parents don’t bother.

@Otherstories2002 I think we may be talking at crossed purposes.
I'm not suggesting that we follow China's policies, I'm saying it is legitimate to have our own.

Which we have. No one is suggesting we don’t. What we have is quite adequate. The issue is parents.

@Otherstories2002 UCL conducted research in 2018 before the pandemic as we were already seeing negative impact of social media use.

This is from a blog published in the UCL website

Does using social media affect literacy?
A follow up piece of research looks at whether there are links between the amount of time young people spend on social media and their levels of literacy. Findings suggest a link and that this is the same for boys and girls.
In this research we look at whether the more time young people spend on social media, the less time they have for the things that might improve their literacy such as reading for enjoyment and doing homework.
There are some clear messages from our research so far:
1 Heavy users of social media are less happy and have more problems at school and at home – interventions to help them limit and manage their social media use better are likely to be important
2 Girls are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of social media and may be an important group to focus on among those looking to mitigate thse effects
3 More hours spent on social media appear to impact negatively on young people’s wellbeing and could have knock on effects for their longer term prospects at school and work

You’re familiar with correlation doesn’t equal causation? Perhaps they’re on social media because of underlying pre existing difficulties.

@Otherstories2002 anyone common sense can see the impact too much screen time is having on children and adults. It's concerning enough that this issue is being raised, researched and spoken about endlessly.
Even if there are underlying pre existing conditions, more screen time isn't usually the healthy option.

There is no need to be patronising. I don’t see what your point is. It makes no difference to my point which is;

SM is addictive.
I see kids as part of work who are addicted and falling behind.
I’m concerned about the impact on children’s development
I notice China have changed TT algorithms and structure to protect children.
I doubt that’s a child centred decision and more likely to be strategic.
I have read about China’s military posturing, data mining and espionage over the last few years and their explicit plan for domination.
I am concerned for our kids development for them and for our ability to hold our own in the global economy.
I am surprised we aren’t more worried as a nation.
I am not sure what the answer is but legislation similar to the limits put on cigarettes and gambling seem sensible.
I like that China has a TT app that is for under 14s that limits time, nudges towards helpful content and switches off at night. I can’t see why we can’t have legislation that goes further towards protecting children’s development for their sake and for the sake of our future.

What, please tell me, has to do with contract law - something I’m unfamiliar with and quite frankly don’t care about. But well done you for knowing all about it. Good job petal!

Well yes. And I can’t really see what the controversy is about that view really. I’m rather surprised to be honest.

I haven’t seen a valid enough argument as to why not. It’s just ‘I don’t want that’

You are typing like a bot OP and coming across as increasingly xenophobic - time to stop now! There's only one person here obsessed and thankfully it's not the children.