In February 2023, the research team carried out a survey in a village in the central province on the phenomenon of left behind children addicted to mobile phones.

"I'm even glad that my childhood did not live in the era of smart phones." Xia Zhuzhi sighed.

The research team learned that the short videos of thrilling games on mobile phones that they still want to play are "too attractive"; In today's rural areas, most of the young parents go out to work, and the left behind children play mobile phones, which is "beyond the control of grandparents".

"Compared with urban children, left behind children are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of mobile phone addiction." The post-85 associate professor of the China Rural Governance Research Center of Wuhan University said that if they were themselves, they might be unable to resist the temptation of the online world in mobile phones.

In Xia Zhuzhi's view, for a long time, the state and society have focused on and cared about whether the left behind children have enough to eat and wear, as well as holiday safety. At present, with the popularization of smart phones and mobile Internet in rural areas, the phenomenon of left behind children indulging in mobile phones is becoming a new problem. It is urgent for regulatory authorities to implement "source governance". At the same time, schools, families and society need to cooperate to create a safe and healthy growth space for left behind children.

Xia Zhuzhi noted that since 2021, the newly revised and implemented Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors has set up a chapter of "network protection", and the "five management" issued by the Ministry of Education (regulations on the management of primary and secondary school students' mobile phones, sleep, reading materials, homework, and physique. -- Reporter's Note) documents list mobile phone management as the core, and the General Office of the CPC Central Committee The General Office of the State Council issued the "Double Reduction" document, which clearly pointed out that "guide students to prevent Internet addiction", "which shows that the party and the government attach great importance to the governance of minors' Internet addiction, and more stringent policies and measures are also being promulgated in succession." He said.

In August 2021, the State Press and Publication Administration issued the "strictest new rules for online games", which clearly requires all game manufacturers to provide one hour service to minors only from 20:00 to 21:00 on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, so as to tackle the problem of online game addiction from the source.

However, Xia Zhuzhi's research team learned that in the vast rural areas, a large number of left behind children still can be seen holding mobile phones to play games from morning to night, or even all night. Children have many ways to crack the "minor mode". They either use the account of their parents or other adults, or buy an account online, or have other more hidden ways.

Sun Min, a member of the research group, believes that the key is to implement source governance and joint management. For example, from the field of "face recognition", further optimize the "real name registration and anti addiction system". Through the "three in one" accurate identification of online users through registered accounts, ID cards and their faces, minors are not allowed to participate in mobile games through the use of adult accounts.

For minors' accounts, game developers should make refined classification design in terms of game time, game rules and competition mode. For example, limit the number of participants in the "team game mode" and prohibit the "city mode" competitive track, so as to eliminate the space for group hand games.

At the same time, relevant departments should effectively identify and restrict the "addiction" links specially designed by some game developers for minors in the game process by using big data.

The research group shows that, in addition to mobile games, left behind children are also prone to indulge in short videos, live broadcasts, social software, online novels, etc. In this regard, the research group believes that further legislation and policies should be introduced to expand the scope of supervision and strengthen the responsibility of Internet enterprise content review.

"Mobile games, short video platforms, live broadcast industry and other industries have developed rapidly in recent years, behind which is the influx of a large number of capital and the iteration of technology. In a family environment lacking correct guidance, left behind children in rural areas are naturally difficult to control themselves and easily addicted." In Xia Zhuzhi's view, the development of Internet is not only related to the economy, but also to the growth of children and the future of the country, Relevant enterprises should consider how to protect the healthy growth of the new generation of minors, especially left behind children.

In terms of system governance, some rural primary and secondary schools have continuously increased the cost of human and material resources management to prevent students from indulging in mobile phones in recent years. The research group appeals that government departments should increase financial and professional support; In view of the "dare not manage" problem generally reflected by teachers, appropriate empowerment should be given.

While doing a good job of mobile phone management in school, primary and secondary schools should actively carry out ideological education to advocate healthy leisure, explore some effective ways and methods, and carry out a variety of extracurricular activities. For example, organize a theme essay contest, speech contest, hand painting contest, etc. of "Stay away from mobile games and grow healthily".

In the vast rural areas, we can use public places to expand the recreation space for left behind youth, organize the village's old party members, retired teachers, and college student volunteers to regularly carry out village history explanations, cultural and sports activities, etc., so that left behind children can "play with friends, play with places" after school, and find a broader space for children outside the mobile phone screen that is conducive to physical and mental development.

For parents and grandparents of left behind children, we advocate the new trend of "setting an example, putting down mobile phones, and expanding forms of accompanying children". "The children don't like to get close to nature, but few people take them out to play." Xia Zhuzhi took the initiative to lead the children to carry out activities: return to their hometown in the countryside during the holiday, call on the children to go out and climb the mountain, "everyone is extremely excited, and it is no problem to follow 20000 steps". (Zhu Juanjuan, Lei Yu, reporter of China Youth Daily, China Youth Network)