Fate of children should not rest in games

A POST TITLED “A HEART-BROKEN MOTHER’S open letter to all students sitting the national college entrance exam” drawing attention to the damaging consequences of video game addiction has gone viral on social media. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

One thing is for sure, few children addicted to internet video games will bother to read the long letter telling the story of how the otherwise promising life of a boy was ruined by his addiction to internet games.

Although some internet video games have a minimum age requirement, it is easy for children to borrow an identity card of an adult for the real name registration process that is supposed to act as a firewall keeping underage players away.

In April, the Ministry of Education issued an urgent notice demanding the education authorities and schools implement measures to prevent and control middle and primary school students from playing internet games. The ministry has also advocated parents take joint actions with schools to strengthen supervision over children’s use of the internet. (quánmiàn qīngl zhèngmíng shìxiàng) The State Council, China's Cabinet, has decided to completely clean up all kinds of certifications, in order to eliminate the obstacles that the public and enterprises face.

For certification based on the regulations and documents of departments of the State

Parents should spot if their children have a tendency to play games on the internet and nip any fixation with playing in the bud. Once children are addicted to the games it is a lot harder to wean them off the games.

The game operators and owners must fulfill their social responsibility and strictly prevent juveniles playing internet games. For instance, they could use face recognition to guarantee the person registering to play is not underage.

The authorities should also establish a rating system for internet video games. Resolving the issue entails joint efforts of the authorities, schools, parents and the game companies.

If the companies cannot fulfill their social responsibility and only focus on getting profits from children, the authorities will be obliged to step in. Council, if the certification can be canceled, relevant authorities should revise or abolish the relevant regulations and documents as soon as possible. Before the end of this year, a batch of certifications, such as the certification on available funds currently required by construction companies applying for a construction permit, will be canceled first.

As some certification is required by law at present, these certificates could be replaced by writing notifications of commitment or inspections among government departments. The relevant laws should be revised, and the certification they required should be replaced by information sharing and a credit system.

Hiring goods allows people to enjoy things that would otherwise exceed their purchasing abilities. Especially, now we live in the fast consumption period, hiring things means people can save money and also space by returning the things after using them.

It also promotes environmental protection because many people simply throw their old things away after using them. By renting, instead of buying, the waste will be cut by a large percentage, which avoids harming the environment.

In one word, the old consumption mode of “buy-use-throw” might be replaced by a new one of “rent-use-return”.

Actually, the tendency of renting instead of buying has been emerging for a while. According to several surveys, quite a high percentage of young people have long been renting cars instead of buying them. The new car-calling app can also be considered the short-time hiring of a car and driver.

In economics, that new mode will rebalance the rights of usage and the rights of ownership. As early as 2016, technology observer Kevin Kelly predicted that usage rights will be more important than ownership in the future, and people will obtain services instead of “owning” things. Now it seems his predictions are coming true faster than expected.

The new renting mode will also help to rebalance society. In our consumerist society, consumption capacity is the main standard distinguishing different social groups, now those distinctions are blurred by people hiring goods that would otherwise be beyond their purchasing power.

Of course, currently the new mode featuring hired goods is popular mainly among young people, particularly students and young white collar workers, who would like to follow the latest trends in society. How to spread the practice to other demographics will be a challenge for the new mode.

Completely cleaning up certifications

Certifications required by local authorities should be canceled before the end of this year, unless they are stipulated in local laws and regulations.

Authorities at various levels should release a list of the certification still required and provide guidance on how to acquire them. Any government departments, public institutions and service organizations should not require certification not on the list.

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