Two hour screen time limit and curfews for children being considered by government

43 comments

1. Just copy the Chinese.. they mastered how children can use the Internet.

2. And of course we’d need to prove we’re 18 to allow us to continue using the internet. We are China.

3. If they don’t stop all of these ridiculous decisions, I swear I will never vote labour ever again.

4. More authoritarian crap dressed up under “Think of the children”

   So much for personal responsibility in this country. Hand over your kids, the state will raise them for you.

   The only way this system works is with mass surveillance. This is just a smoke screen

5. Social media like ticktock and instragram/facebook clearly benefits the companies who own it and the advertisers/data gatherers and users. It clearly benefits the few people who become influencers or whatever and make money out of it that way.

   Does it really benefit everyone else? I wonder how many times these apps are closed the person closing them is genuinely ‘better off’ and satisfied they spent their time well.

6. They do know that parents should do that since my dad did it for me.

7. Just another way of making the right noises and not being able to do sweet FA about it.

   It’s really condescending when they come out with stuff like this.

   Maybe something should be done about it – But, it should have been done a long time ago and whatever they do now will be too little, too late and completely inadequate.

   Better off trying to find a way to manage or educate everyone (parents included) than whatever this nonsense will turn out to be.

8. Fuck right off, it’s more of the current “provide ID to continue” crap they are rolling out for porn.

   How about parents do their job and parent, you know how I know my kid doesn’t spend too much time on his computer? I unplug the thing and take the mouse.

9. I don’t think it’s the government’s job to be doing this.

   I wish parents would be parents though.

10. >”I think some parents feel a bit disempowered about how to actually make their kids healthier online.”

    Then those parents need to be sat down and told that the smartphone they’ve just handed their 9 year old already has these restrictions built-in, if only they could be bothered to switch them on.

    Failing that, a dumb phone will cost a fraction of what the smartphone costs and solve the problem entirely.

11. They can determine this. But not determine an appropriate tax package for amazon? Get the feeling Keef aint the one. 

12. Why are we allowing this authoritarian dictatorship bullshit.

13. The country is in the bin and they are arsing about with shit like this. The internet has been in people’s homes for the best part of 30 years. The horse has well and truly bolted. Parents need to take responsibility here.

14. Idk… I don’t think “screentime” is necessarily the issue. I was raised early 2000’s, no YouTube, no Snapchat, no TikTok, just classic windows games and a whole bunch of classic games. Maybe a movie here or there as well. I grew up just fine, and became a functioning member of society.

    I believe the actual issue nowadays is specifically social media. Mainly the short form content, like TikTok, that saps attention span and seemingly intelligence.

    Noticed this with my little sister, who is only 7 or so years younger than me, but at any social gathering, she can’t keep off her phone for more than a minute. Checking her notifications, doing a Snapchat, scrolling through TikTok… I can quite happily sit in silence for hours, enjoy nature, engage in conversation, but she can’t seem to, her attention span has become virtually non existent.

    So, screentime isn’t necessarily the main issue, sure it will help, but I believe the underlying factor is actually the content they engage in on it.

    But frankly… it’s the parent who should be doing this, not the fucking government. Like their new attempt to curb mature content… with identification or “AI age detection” with a photo… most stuff now has parental controls… just learn to use them.

15. All ready seeing a few sub reddits in a panic as they get locked behind “give us your data” protections, because someone deemed the content “adult”. 

16. I’m sorry miss I couldn’t do my homework… I spent 2 hours on my history and maths….

17. Govt needs to spend more time policing capitalists and less time policing kids

18. I was looking for a labour government but right now I’m very disappointed. As much as I noticed they are policing the Internet more than they are policing the streets. People getting prison times for mean online posts, data collections, face scans for entering adult sites, limited screen times…. There are so many problems in the UK (gang violence, illegal migration, grooming gangs, poverty) but nah the government decided that Internet is a major problem

19. We don’t need more unenforceable laws, we probably need some education on how not to be a god awful parent, relying on tablets to bring up children. Tbh a few society based lessons at school isn’t a bad idea, how to pay bills, taxes and how not to suck as a person in society.

20. This government is bought and paid for by the VPN industry, literally the only people (except illegal immigrants) that have been winning day in day out since labour won.

21. So now adults are going to be banned from using the internet that they’re paying for for more than 2 hours for any reason other than work because “think of the children”. More authoritarian BS.

22. To be enforced how exactly? None of the government’s business.

23. Tbf if parents did some actual parenting these ‘nanny state’ laws wouldn’t have to be a thing.

    My kids have to leave their devices downstairs at 7pm and go do something like reading/drawing/building.

    It’s really not hard if you try.

24. People said I was crazy when I said Labour would try and introduce an “Internet ID”…

    First is getting people used to having to verify their age via face recognition or signing up.

    After a year or two they will announce that you will have to sign up for an “Government Internet ID” as the age verification systems put in place by Websites are ineffective as they can be just bypassed by the use of VPN.

    Am I crazy, maybe, but we all know this is Labour’s ultimate end game.

    All forms Social Media, Forums, anywhere you can leave a comment or interact with other people will require you to sign in using your “Government Internet ID” and it will all be done under the guise of “Protecting Children”

    No longer will people be able to groom children on the Internet as the cloak of anonymity will be lifted etc etc etc..

    Of course we will let it happen because apathy amongst the voter base has well and truly set in.

25. I’m sure this will work

    Someone posted a video of kids dragging their pubs signs and throwing them into the middle of the main road. It was 00:23.

    Any child of their age which was no more than 14 will have parents who don’t care anyway. So the curfew will only impact good kids as these shites will still go out and fuck about

26. It’s not going to work for everyone, but we have an hour and a half time limit on our daughter (age 7’s) tablet, and she had the option to earn more time when it runs out.

    Now we spent a week clearing the area under the tree in our garden and putting up a rope ladder.

    She is in that tree almost constantly and has a bucket pulley full of Dogman and Looshkin books up there. I haven’t heard her asking for extra time on her tablet in over a week.

    Maybe the government just needs to give children treehouses and climbable trees?

27. Labour think they can govern us like communist China where the people are lifeless drones who obey orders. I dont think they understand British people.

28. I generally want to see social media and gaming companies doing more to reduce harm to children, but imposing curfews etc isn’t the answer and doesn’t help people become responsible parents.

    The trouble is those in charge don’t understand how much manipulation goes on with the algorithm and how much content is fine tuned to be utterly addictive to small children. Plus the absolute explosion in the volume and availability of content.

    I suppose to some degree a curfew on kids TV shows could emulate the fact that kids TV stopped at a certain time (certainly on normal telly, I’m guessing it did on sky, but lie rishi sunak I had a deprived childhood and didn’t have sky TV).

    So part of it is supporting parents – this is the sort of thing sure start centres would do really well.

    But there’s also a wider societal challenge – we need to create communities and neighbourhoods and third spaces where kids can hang out with their friends without a screen. Parents are scared to let their kids out because of traffic, or the fact the park attracts problematic people. Old people get nervous if more than one 11 year old in a hoodie is loitering outside the coop. A day out to an attraction with the family can easily get to £80+ before you’ve even bought an ice cream.

    So it’s no wonder more kids spend more time in the digital world, most of which is fine – learning things playing games with friends etc but sometimes – 3 hours of cocomelon in a row ruining dopamine receptors, becoming vulnerable to exploitation, getting hooked on “gambling”, watching hours of extreme porn – it’s not.

29. Our government really need to focus on more important issues.
    But I’m glad this is taking time and tax payers money.
    Girls can’t walk alone in some areas. Poverty, homelessness and unemployment are wide spread, boats come here daily.
    Roads and services are crumbling around us 😂

30. From the party that wanted longer and harder lockdowns, quelle surprise, they’re itching to introduce more authoritarian policy.

31. > Social media limits for children are being planned by the government to tackle “compulsive” screen time, the technology secretary has told Sky News.

    Good. At least stop kids from being addicts or being future mental health patients. Why not have a national digital id next?

32. Why just children? Get adults limited too.

    Oh wait THAT’S nanny state. But not for kids. Right.

33. And they are allowing 16 year olds to vote against them? Have they lost their tiny minds?

34. Are they going to induct all our children into the Starmer Youth as well?

35. And in other unenforceable policies, we have this…

    Tune in next week for “Government bans soft drinks for under 18s”

36. This is entirely unenforceable. How many parents out there would just log their kids in for them anyway?

    The people who want to limit their kids screen time already do, there are ways to limit the internet from the router, you can have it turn off at 8pm easily. You can also just take the devices off them at a set time.

    Like I said, the parents who don’t care about this will allow their kids to bypass it anyway.

37. I think this is the best evidence starmer is intentionally trying to lose power: why else would he give 16 year olds the vote and then shit all over them?

38. And how the hell are they going to police that?
    Ridiculous!

    Curfew? You need bobbies on the beat to police that. Haven’t seen a copper walking anywhere for about 30 years or more.

39. So instead of parents actually being arsed to look after their kids, they’re going to go the route of china, and just start acting more and more authoritarian…

    How exactly will this actually stop lazy parents? The parents who *want* their children on their devices all the time?

    Also soo much of young peoples culture is online, we play video games, we share memes and chat online… this feels like the kind of bullshit a 60 year old who moans about “kids these days” and reminisces about the good old days where kids used to go play football in the park… a world which simply doesn’t exist anymore, because the culture has changed

    Thank god I’ve got my VPN, which was comically easy to do, and nicely bypasses the bullshit the government is forcing on the internet

40. Poorly thought out policy.

    Create more options for young people, third transactionless spaces. Build it and induce demand.

    Rather than remove even more options and create bored young people who will turn to other less socially acceptable kicks.

41. Is it possible to stop any of this? I feel like anti-censorship groups aren’t doing enough.

    Between this and the Online Safety Act things are getting really bad.

42. While I support parents doing stuff like this as needed for their kids, why can’t the government just stay out of our lives.

    I am so sick and tired of more and more rules and regulations. This is just getting insane.

43. This is pretty bleak. I’m not sure why this government seems so obsessed with curtailing civil liberties. It’s also an incredibly stupid policy announcement to make a week after announcing sixteen and seventeen year olds will now be able to vote.

    If the government genuinely want to reduce the amount of time children spend on their phones or whatever, there are sensible ways to encourage this. Higher wages, a four day week, more affordable housing are all things that can help children and parents to spend more time together. The government could also invest in services for children, so better funding for sports clubs or scouting, keeping public transport cheap and accessible, funding councils to improve areas like parks and provide dedicated spaces like skate parks etc, and pushing councils to re-evaluate business rates to attract business like cinemas, arcades, bowling alleys, cheap restaurants or whatnot, basically just spaces that teenagers can hang out. I don’t think those ideas would solve the problem, but I think the amount children spend on their phone is probably partly influenced by being poor and bored.

    Also they should just trust parents to raise their own children really.

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