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China has taken some of the most far-reaching steps globally to regulate children’s digital lives. From regulations limiting how long children can play video games to the Cyberspace Administration of China’s “minor mode” rolled out on mobile devices last year, policymakers have taken decisive, forward-thinking steps. Yet new global research suggests that Chinese families themselves remain divided on whether outright bans are the next step forward.

Preliminary findings from Family First, a Varkey Foundation initiative, reveal that while 64 per cent of Chinese parents support a social media ban for under-16s, only 50 per cent of their children agree, a 14-point generational gap. The data comes from the world’s first global intergenerational study on under-16 social media bans, conducted across 15 countries, surveying children, parents, grandparents and Gen Z respondents.

China’s figures sit in the middle of a striking global spectrum. Parental support is far higher in Malaysia (77 per cent), India (75 per cent) and France (74 per cent), and markedly lower in Japan (38 per cent) and Nigeria (39 per cent). Among children, China’s 50 per cent supporting a ban ranks third globally, well above the 37 per cent global average, yet the gap with parents persists.

Perhaps most revealing is the Gen Z perspective. In China, 50 per cent of Gen Z respondents back a ban, virtually mirroring the global average of 51 per cent. That the first generation raised on social media is this ambivalent about its own digital habitat ought to give us all pause.

As a researcher in education and a parent, I see these numbers as a call for dialogue. China’s existing regulatory architecture, from content classification rules and device-level controls to screen-time limits, has laid important groundwork that few nations can match. The opportunity now is to complement those protections with the conversations that need to happen within families and classrooms.