'Oh, that's an idea...': American parents respond to China screen time ban

For many families outside of China, news of the country's strict social intervention underscores a challenge to reign in video game use in their own homes, particularly during the pandemic. Photo: Unsplash/sigmund

Raleigh Smith Duttweiler was folding laundry in her Ohio home, her three children playing the video game Minecraft upstairs, when she heard an NPR story about new rules in China that forbid teenagers and children under age 18 from playing video games for more than three hours a week.

"Oh, that's an idea," Duttweiler, who works in public relations at a nonprofit, recalls thinking. "My American gut instinct: This is sort of an infringement on rights and you don't get to tell us what to do inside of our own homes.