LETTERS: Video game addiction is a serious problem. Not enough is being done by governments, including ours, to address it.
It's a nightmare for every parent. I was appalled to find out that a child who turns 12 and has a MyKad can walk into any store and buy a mobile phone and a prepaid SIM card.
Now consider this. Parents are in the dark about the mobile devices their underage children are using. Parents also don't know what their children are doing on the handphone. They could be accessing dangerous content.
Here are several proposals.
THERE has to be a law that prevents children under the age of 18 from buying mobile phones or tablet cards on their own. These gadgets should be bought only by the parents.
Laws take time to be tabled, debated and approved. In the meantime, we are losing many children to this addiction. Please delist, deactivate and blacklist all accounts belonging to underage children, pending their parents' approval.
WE need to set up a regulatory body to monitor online content available to underage children and create a clean cyberspace.
Regulations should also be applicable to companies making and selling mobile devices. They should, by law, be required to accept government and social supervision and instal access-restriction software in their products.
Internet platforms should be required to limit daily/weekly use by minors and bar them from soliciting their participation in online purchases.
THE education system needs to be looked into. Since schools have long reverted to physical classes, all homework or assignments should be communicated to the students only during school hours.
The Education Ministry and schools must understand that once children are able to access the Internet at home, they can bypass all the pre-installed child- restricted apps and go where they want.
It's absolutely impossible for working parents or even housewives to monitor what their children do on the Internet.
Children have all the time in the world to delete or disable the tracking devices in their gadgets while their parents are multitasking or struggling to pay the bills and and put food on the table.
KIRAN JAYARAMAN
Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times