On the same day, two stories were published presenting initiatives on the same topic, approaching it, however, from as different perspectives as… day and night!
On the one hand, Instagram announced that in order to better protect young users, it will ask all users who’ve not previously entered their date of birth to do so in the app.
On the other hand, the Chinese government has decided by law to limit online gaming for children to a maximum of 3 hours per week exclusively from Friday to Sunday.
Needless to say, our point of view is not interested in the political dimension of the issue. In other words, it does not matter to us whether we consider the approach of a multinational company of the Big-Tech or the powerful authoritarian government of Beijing to be more correct.
To the contrary, the fact that two such different philosophical systems identify the same problem highlights its gravity. The popular social networking platform seeks to “create a safer, more private experience for young users”, while the Eastern giant explicitly considers online gaming “spiritual opium”.
No matter how much the two sides disagree in principle, they seem to agree on the urgent need to regulate internet use by children.
How each side interprets this need is, of course… matter of perception.
