This is Roundtable.
A new rule in Chongqing lets schools ban smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches, but it's not an education policy.
It's buried inside a juvenile crime prevention law.
But what does a kid's screen time have to do with delinquency?
Today, we'll go beyond the usual school phone ban story to find out what's actually happening on the ground
and whether the research backs it up.
We are live from our studios here in Beijing.
This is Roundtable.
I'm Steve Hatherly.
Thank you very much for joining us today.
And for the show, I'm with Yuxin.
And you shine first up China has been trying to get smartphones out of school children's hands for years.
Now, one of the country's latest moves has put that issue in a much more interesting place.
A new regulation in Chongqing allows schools to prohibit students from bringing smartphones, tablets, smartwatches,
and other smart devices onto campus.
Now, on its own, that just sounds like another story about schools banning phones.
But this regulation is specifically part of a juvenile crime prevention law,
What does excessive smartphone use have to do with juvenile delinquency?
And is there actual evidence connecting the two?
We're going to talk about all of that today.