Mobile phones are not bad, their misuse is

Editor's Note: A proposal by Zhao Zhizhong, a member of Hainan provincial committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, has sparked a public debate on whether a law should be promulgated to ban schoolchildren below 16 from using mobile phones, especially in school, because tech products bring more harm than convenience for adolescents. Two experts share their views on the issue with China Daily's Yao Yuxin. Excerpts follow:

Parents can help kids to curb mobile phone use

Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute

The government has already set rules to limit the use of mobile phones by school students.

In August 2018, eight ministries and departments including the Ministry of Education and the National Health Commission jointly issued a plan to curb shortsightedness among children and teenagers. The plan includes limiting the use of smartphones in the classroom, because the excessive use of electronic devices has become a main cause of shortsightedness among school students.

Although a policy to limit the use of mobile phones in specific places, including the classroom, is welcome, it is unrealistic to ban schoolchildren from using cellphones at all times. Without mobile phones how will students contact their parents or elders in case of an emergency?

As for stopping the misuse of smartphones by primary and middle school students, parents can play a crucial role by strengthening supervision over their children and making them aware of the pros and cons of a smartphone, and telling them to use it only for specific purposes, including to communicate.

In addition to limiting the time they can spend online, parents should also warn their kids that the internet has a lot of sites and contents that contain sex and violence, and so they should never try to access them.

Students should be free to decide their future

Chu Zhaohui, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences

It seems that the provincial political advisor proposed the idea without doing any field survey on children below 16. Based on our research, if a school kid does not use a mobile phone－a device which has become the most important means of communicating with others－he or she will find it hard to even make friends, as the rest of his or her peers would consider him/her outdated and therefore not worthy of their friendship.

Limiting the use of smartphones by school kids makes sense, though. For example, students should not use mobile phones to calculate while solving math problems.

The debate on the political advisor's proposal shows Chinese parents are increasingly concerned over the misuse and overuse of smartphones by children, and many of them believe the excessive use of such devices from an early age would harm their children's physical and psychological health. In fact, an increasing number of schoolchildren are addicted to smartphones and many of them refuse to play outdoor sports or engage in face-to-face conversation.

But since it is reasonable, even healthy to take rest after heavy work, a smartphone can be used as a source of entertainment. The point therefore is the abuse rather than the use of mobile phones.

I believe school kids get addicted to smartphones mainly because they lack independence. Forced by parents and teachers, many Chinese students have long considered getting admitted to a good university the only goal in their life. So after achieving that goal, many of them don't know what to do and use their spare time on computer games.

Therefore, to wean the children away from smartphones, we should give them more freedom to decide what they want to do when they grow up, which will make them more aware of the realities of life and help them make informed choices about what they want to do with their life.

Besides, the authorities should make good use of the existing resources to promote equality in education, and regulators should strengthen supervision to ensure children are not exposed to sexual and violent contents on the internet.

The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.