Nanny States which want to micromanage every aspect of everyone's life "for their own good" are far worse threats to the future of a society than "cultural decay", especially when the "decay" is something that *can* be abused, but usually isn't. How is four hours on an online game worse than four hours in front of the TV watching football games? Or four+ hours carousing at a bar with your buddies? Or four hours of Freeping?
Washington DC. August 23 2009. AP - The Hillary Clinton administration unveiled a new system Tuesday to prevent individuals from participating in online forums for more than three consecutive hours, which must be installed for every forum server in the country."This timing mechanism can prevent young people from becoming addicted to political activism," Sandy Berger, Deputy Director of the Audiovisual and Internet Publication Department of the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), said during a press conference.
The new system, developed under the guidance of the GAPP, stops individuals from reading forums for more than three hours [...] Furthermore, the system keeps track of hours of forum usage. Individuals who immediately log back onto a game after three hours of consecutive usage will continue to have the access restricted.
The GAPP has defined the reading of online forums for less than three consecutive hours as "healthy," read three to five consecutive hours as "tiring," and reading for more than five consecutive hours as "unhealthy."
"It's for the Children", said President Clinton.
There is no difference. The rules for matters like this ought to be set in the family, not by the state. Families of drunks will not prosper. Families where children are taught to relish knowledge and the value of study will produce future leaders. Culture, as an wider extension of "family" clearly has an impact too: witness the large numbers of Indians and Japanese in technology and medical research, for example.