During a parliament session yesterday, the Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye has revealed that the government is looking to the idea of restricting internet access for youth aged 17 years old and below after 12AM. The revelation was made as part of the respond to the question submitted by a fellow MP, Tuan Lukanisman Awang Sauni of Sibuti which revolves around video games addiction.
Citing Korea as one of the countries that have implemented such move, it is apparently among several ideas that the Ministry of Health is looking in order to curb such addiction. The minister has also pointed out that certain game providers have also set time limit for players under the age of 17 years old.
Under this particular method, such gamers are only able to play games for one or two hours before they were taken off the game. While these ideas might sound ideal on paper, they are actually rather hard to implement in real life though.
Generally, the government might have to come out with some sort of law that would require users to provide real life identify in order to implement either of these ideas. Technically, it is not only quite challenging to be implemented but it might not be well-received by consumers as well due to concerns of privacy especially given the multiple data leak incidents that happened last year.
That doesn’t we are dismissing the need to address the issue of video games and internet addiction. It just that we need more appropriate methods to tackle them.
(Source: Bernama, Parlimen Malaysia – pdf // Video: Astro Awani)
