Kids Corner

PARENTAL CONTROLS: CUTTING SCREEN TIME AND SAFEGUARDING WHAT KIDS ARE DOING

By Team Ooma ing on the Safari browser and limiting

Do you miss the days of simple, and not cellular data. Parents can also tangible safety measures like prevent in-app purchases and implement covering electrical outlets and an approval option before the child can securing cabinet latches? It can be download an app. difficult to navigate how to keep your kids safe in an increasingly digital world Android devices include parental conthat is dominated by personal mobile trol settings such as restricting children devices with Internet access. Thanks to from downloading an app with specific the technology boom, the young and maturity ratings and preventing in-app vulnerable could be exposed to a sea of purchases by requiring authentication. inappropriate content and extraordinary Although blocking adult content in the risks. web browser is not possible, Google’s Children depend on their parents and adult content. other adults for online safety and promedia streaming apps to only use Wi-Fi SafeSearch can prevent searches for tection. Here is a breakdown of your PARENTAL CONTROL TOOLS parental control options. There are many comprehensive parental Amazon Video: Parents can block control tools available on the market. video content based on selected audiTHE BASICS – Top-rated utilities include ContentWatch ence categories: general, family, teen CONTENT FILTERING Net Nanny 7, Qustodio Parental Control or mature. Set different categories for Content filtering is a way for parents to and Symantec Norton Family Premier. different registered devices. Access to block access to inappropriate content. Before implementing anything, it’s parental controls is protected by a PIN. You can set it at the household level important to consider which operating Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick through your router or Internet provider. system your family’s devices use and have parental control settings directly Alternatively, you can set it on individu- whether you’re looking for a whole-net- on the device. al devices or individual apps. work system or a device-specific one. Access scheduling is how parents can set up schedules and time limits for Internet access. Look for availability in MEDIA STREAMING SERVICES YouTube Kids: This kid-friendly app presents limited content that is safer for Hulu: “Family” and “Kids” genres can help you find appropriate content to watch, but there are no customized ” “ Children of all ages are using technology. Of children age two and younger, 38 percent have used a mobile device for media. Of age eight and younger, 21 percent use smartphones. 56 percent of children ages eight to 12 own cell phones. And in the age 13-17 bracket, 91 percent access the Internet on cell phones or other mobile devices. apps. kids. Just set your child’s age to deter- parental controls available through mine the content on the homepage. A Hulu. Mature content is only accessible Good communication is not to be over- built-in timer can limit how long your to account holders who must be age 17 looked. An endless amount of tech pro- child spends with the screen. Search can or older. tection will only go so far. Discussing be turned off to limit content to only seonline risks, concerns and privacy is just lected videos on the home screen. Addi- Prime Music: There are no parental conas important as any parental controls tionally, your child’s viewing history can trols to block songs with explicit lyrics. that are put in place. be reviewed so you can monitor activity. Spotify: There are no parental controls CHOOSING A PHONE/TABLET Netflix: There are four maturity lev- to block songs with explicit lyrics. iPhones and iOS devices have more els that can be applied to individual parental controls than Android devices. profiles: little kids, older kids, teens and Apple Music: Parents can use iTunes Some settings on an iPhone include adults. Access to parental controls are to restrict access to music, videos and restricting adult content from load- protected by a PIN. podcasts with explicit content.

Google Play: Explicit content can be blocked on the radio feature, but not with on-demand streaming.

Amazon Echo: While it may be a hit when the voice-activated device answers your kids’ homework questions, Amazon is not currently supporting children’s accounts on Alexa-based device (Echo, Tap and Dot). However, if you are playing games like “Simon Says,” the device will bleep out profanity rather than repeat it back to you. Parental controls can be set on the apps you connect to the device (if available).

Google Home: This artificial intelligence assistant is a competitor to the Amazon Echo, with many of the same voice-activated features. One of the known drawbacks of this first-generation device is that there is currently no functionality for multiple Google accounts. So everything from search histories to account settings will be aggregated across the family, and there is no way to isolate Mom and Dad’s functionality from what the child can access.

As your kids grow and technology changes, so too must the ways we establish technological safeguards. Start with an ongoing dialog about the role of technology. A two-way conversation is helpful to the whole family.