2 . A first year undergraduate (本科生) student in Chengdu, recently complained (抱怨) online that her mother refused to raise her monthly allowance to 4,500 yuan ($633) even when she said her current allowance (津贴，生活费) 2,000 yuan was not enough to cover her expenses, sparking a debate on how much money a college student needs per month. One expert shares his views on the issue with China Daily: Students should pursue education, not comfort.

Even for a college student studying in a big city in China, 2,000 yuan is enough to cover all his or her monthly expenses. In fact, for a college student in Chengdu, a monthly allowance of 2,000 yuan is more than enough. According to a survey (调查), the average monthly expense for an undergraduate in cities other than Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou was less than 2,000 yuan in 2019; for Chengdu, it was 1,900 yuan.

Claiming that she can hardly afford new clothing and cosmetics (化妆品) with her 2,000 yuan monthly allowance, the undergraduate student in Chengdu criticized (批评) her mother for refusing to raise her pocket money. Her “meager” allowance, she said, prevented her from buying branded goods that her roommates enjoyed.

By the time a person enters a college, she or he should have developed a sensible consumption (消费) habit. And a youth should adjust her or his consumption according to her or his family income. On a deeper level, the money they spend in college should depend on how much they value their parents' hard work. Besides, some college students could take up part-time jobs to meet their needs if they feel their parents don't or can't give them enough money. In this way they can also learn to meet the requirements of life in the future and develop sensible consumption habits. More importantly, they should always bear in mind that education is their top priority in college.

4 . China has set new rules limiting the amount of time children can play online games. The rules limit children to just three hours of online game playing a week. That is one hour between 8 p. m. and 9 p. m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday most weeks.

Li Zhanguo has two children aged 4 and 8. Even though they do not have smartphones, they enjoy playing online games. Like many other parents. Li is happy with new government rules. But experts say it is unclear if such policies can help prevent addiction to online games. Children might just get addicted to social media instead. In the end, experts say, parents should be the ones to set limits and support good practice.

There has been a growing concern in China about gaming addiction among children. Government reports in 2018 found that about one in ten Chinese children were addicted to the Internet. The new rules are part of an effort to prevent young people from spending too much time on unhealthy entertainment. That includes what officials call the “irrational fan culture”

Under the new rules, the responsibility for making sure children play only three hours a day as largely on Chinese gaming companies like Net Ease and Ten cent. Companies have set up real-name registration systems to prevent young users from going past game time limits. They have used facial recognition technology to check their identities. And they have also set up a program that permits people to report what is against the law. It is unclear what punishments gaming companies may face if they do not carry out the policies. And even if such policies are performed, it is also unclear whether they can prevent online addiction.

A specialist treating Internet addiction expects about 20 percent of children will find ways to break the rules by borrowing accounts of their older relatives and find a way around facial recognition. In his opinion, short-video alps such as Douyin and Kuaishou are also very popular in China. They are not under the same restrictions as games.

5 . Most children now chat daily either online or through their mobile phones.     1     Some are shy in real life but are confident to communicate with others online; others find support from people of their own age on relationship issues, or problems at home.

Sometimes the online world, just like the real world, can cause problems, such as bullying (恃强凌弱) or arguments.     2     But there are also a few people who use the Internet for illegal aims. Children must be made aware of both the good things and the dangers.

    3     Just as you decide which TV programs are suitable, you need to do the same for the websites and the chat rooms your children visit. Remind your children that online friends are still strangers. Reminding them of the risks will keep them alert (警惕的).

    4     So it’s likely that your children may know more than you do. We get left behind when it comes to the latest gadgets and the interactive areas of websites, like chat rooms and message boards.     5     Chatters love to use abbreviations (缩略语) such as: atb (all the best), bbfn (bye bye for now), Idk (I don’t know), xlnt (excellent).

6 . A recent report from the United Nations group UNESCO warns that using technology in classes may not help as much as many people believe. The report suggests that technology should be used less in schools, and that smartphones should be banned from classrooms.

The goal of the new report was to improve how technology is used in education. It says that technology can be helpful, but it shouldn’t be the focus. “Too much attention on technology in education usually comes at a high cost,” the report says.

These days, it’s common for students to use computers or tablets (平板电脑). In many places, it’s normal for students to look up information on the internet rather than using books. UNESCO claims that technology changes so fast that it’s hard to study how it really affects students.

The new report says that many of the studies show that technology helps students come from rich countries. As classes moved online during the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of technology in education grew even more quickly. Many students were forced to study at home, using video calls to communicate with their teachers. But the report points out that around 500 million students were unable to take part in online classes. That’s one example of what UNESCO says is a larger problem — that the advantages of technology aren’t evenly shared. People and countries with less money are often left out.

UNESCO admits that technology can help in many ways. It can allow students to learn in ways that are more interesting; it can also help teachers explain difficult ideas; it can also help students who have special needs. But UNESCO says technology can also be very perturbing. One study showed that when students use phones in class, it can interfere with their learning. Even so, less than 25% of the world’s countries ban phones in schools.

The report suggests that the best way to learn is still to work closely with teachers. Working with other classmates also helps students learn. UNESCO says that most schools should spend more money on things like books, classrooms, and teachers.

7 . I have some important information. The average American... Oh, wait.〈ding!〉New notification. CNN: something about Taylor and Travis. Hmmm.〈ding!〉And our dog food is out for delivery.〈ding!〉A winter sales promotion of soap and socks. Whew....

The average American reportedly gets about 70 smartphone notifications a day. And according to a new study, the number is far higher for teenagers, whose phones ding hundreds or even thousands of times. This constant sound puts us off from work, life, and each other.

“The simple ding of a notification is enough to pull our attention elsewhere,” Kosta Kushlev, a behavioral scientist at Georgetown University, told us. “Even if we don’t check them. This can have obvious effects on productivity, but also our own well-being and of those around us. Humans are not good at multitasking. It takes extra time and effort to switch our attention. We get interrupted so many times a day that these effects can add up to meaningful decreases in our well-being and social connection,” he added.

I am grateful to learn that the Bears have won. I’m eager for messages from my family. But I wonder why The New York Times feels it is urgent to inform me, as they did this week, about “The 6 Best Men’s and Women’s Sweaters”.

This is, of course, a circumstance mostly of our own creation, constructed click by click. We can choose to check notifications just a couple of times a day. But does that risk delay, real or imagined, in seeing something we really need to see? Or that would simply delight us?

The promise of instant communication has grown into information congestion (拥堵). So many urgent notifications, not many of which are truly urgent; and only a few are even interesting. So many hours spent staring at the small screen, and searching for news, gossip, opportunity, and direction, while so often being unaware of the world all around us.