Having something taken away is worse than never having been allowed it in the first place. For a teenager who has done nothing wrong, it is intolerable.
The Chinese authorities are going to curtail computer gameplay for under 18s to Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, between the hours of 8 and 9pm.
Even if the vast majority of Chinese teenagers obediently observe the new rules, there will always be individuals with the motivation, curiosity and independence to seek a way around prohibition.
In my school, such individuals would have been considered cool. If they shared the spoils of their illicit activities, they would be heroes.
China has just incentivized its teenagers to find access to the parts of the internet that the Chinese state doesn't want them to see.
Even if such individuals are shunned by their cohort, it is only a matter of time before they find their fellow dissidents on the web.
The Chinese authorities seem to have misplayed this one.
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