How China is fighting smartphone addiction (5 photos)

It is easiest to get a child hooked on a smartphone, addiction is almost instantaneous. And in China, this is a real pandemic, according to statistics, China is the country with the highest average time per person on the phone in the world. Next comes South Korea. Do you think that we are gadget-dependent? Here, Asia is at the top on all counts.





We bought it especially for the girl in pink. Fashionista

So we have to come up with different ways to pull children - the most vulnerable to gadgets - out of addiction. While the government issues new laws (that children are not allowed on the Internet after ten o'clock at night, that children are not allowed to play online for more than three hours a week), the population is coming up with their own homemade ways to protect themselves from the gadget.

The dog cone works

These photos went viral almost instantly. A grandfather put a collar with a dog cone on his

five-year-old granddaughter to stop her from playing on her phone. And this method worked! Many took note of his example.



The man in glasses is her grandfather, also incredibly fashionable

And since harnesses for children were used in China to prevent them from running away and being kidnapped, this method attracted much less condemnation than it could have in our country.

And in October 2022, a blogger recommended using GPS collars for pets to track and keep children safe. And then he received very broad support among viewers.

Just another useful thing for dogs that has migrated to children - why not?





A very Chinese photo

A grandfather from Xi'an in Shaanxi could not wean a girl off mobile games, but he says that she herself "made her choice" because she did not want to tear herself away from her phone in a good way.

The girl's mother said that at first she was very angry, because she knew it was a dog cone. However, gradually she remembered the phone much less and finally began to look around, and not just down at the smartphone screen.



A sweet girl rebels, but resigns herself

Mom notes that it took only three days to correct the girl's behavior. She did not wear it around the clock, but only when she climbed to play on her phone. After that, she wore this collar for a couple of hours until the urge disappeared. On the third day, she was no longer drawn to the smartphone at all.

Sounds like a very fast development of a reflex, like Pavlov's dog. But ... if it works, why not. Bad habits are developed by reinforcement, why not do the same with good habits?



So far, humanity does not know how to distract children from smartphones voluntarily

Why is it that only bad habits can be played with dirty, and good ones you always have to take out only by your own will. No will is enough for all good habits, especially for a child who is just forming.

In general, I am on the grandfather's side. He is doing everything to save his granddaughter from the Chinese "smartphone pandemic". Other parents do not achieve such results.