Control parental internet: The Best Parental Control Software for 2022

Control parental internet: The Best Parental Control Software for 2022

The Best Parental Control Software for 2022

Today’s kids have never known a time when they couldn’t connect to the entire world via the internet. In fact, they probably spend more time online than anyone else—certainly more than their parents. If you’re a parent, this presents a problem, as there are explicit, disturbing, and illegal websites and apps you don’t want your kids to encounter. Parental control services can help you manage the ever-increasing number of devices your kids use.

These software and hardware solutions let you block unwanted web content, limit screen time, restrict the use of risky applications, and more. Basically, they help keep your kids and teens safer on their computers and mobile devices.

Before you start imposing limits and restrictions though, take some time to learn how your connected kid uses technology. Communicate with your child before implementing any of these options, as it is important they feel you respect their privacy. Otherwise, they’ll find a way around any restrictions, even if you put them in place with your kids’ best interests in mind. Also, as tech addiction increasingly becomes a problem, it’s important children learn the value of good device habits for themselves.

With that in mind, these are the top parental control and monitoring utilities we’ve tested, along with information on what to look for to best protect your family.


Norton Family

Best for Establishing Online Rules

4.0 Excellent

Why We Picked It

Norton Family encourages parents to talk to their children about online safety rather than just spying on their online activities. Norton Family can supervise an unlimited number of devices and lets you monitor all your kids’ activity from the web or from a parent option on the mobile app. We love the program’s affordability, easy setup, and handy geofencing tools.

Who It’s For

Parents who communicate well with their children. We admire Norton Family’s unique approach to parental control, which emphasizes cooperation and open dialogue between parents and children with the House Rules and Request Access features.

PROS

  • Affordable
  • Comprehensive web dashboard
  • No limit on the number of monitored devices
  • Easy setup and configuration
  • Excellent geofencing tools
  • House Rules encourage family dialogue about online safety

CONS

  • Does not work on Macs
  • Browser extensions can be disabled easily
  • Cannot block individual apps and games on PCs
  • Unlocking an iOS device breaks monitoring alerts

Circle Home Plus

Best for Multiplatform Monitoring

3.5 Good

Why We Picked It

Circle’s joint hardware and software solution is easy to set up and a quality solution for parents who want to monitor their children’s internet activity. You can manage devices on your home network while also keeping tabs on Android and iOS devices.

Who It’s For

Circle Home Plus is not an inexpensive option by any means, but it may be a great value for large households with a lot of children who use internet-connected devices. Parents can monitor an unlimited number of devices with a single subscription and also manage screen time limits for each child.

PROS

  • Easy setup.
  • Reliable web and time restrictions.
  • Detects and implements restrictions for devices on the network quickly.
  • Intuitive apps.
  • Supports an unlimited number of devices.

CONS

  • Expensive.
  • Lacks top features, such as geofencing and ability to fully lock device use.
  • Physical device introduces some vulnerability.
Sold By List Price Price
Circle Parental Controls $129.00 $129.00

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Read Our Circle Home Plus Review

Locategy

Best for Location Tracking

3.5 Good

Why We Picked It

Locategy takes some of the pain out of parenting with its geofencing capabilities, app blocking, activity reports, and easy setup. It’s not as feature-rich as our Editors’ Choice pick, Norton Family, but Locategy is still a good way to keep tabs on your kid’s activities.

Who It’s For

Parents who want a more hands-off approach to parental control tools. If you are primarily looking for an easy way to keep track of your child’s location or manage their screen time, Locategy is a good option.

PROS

  • Excellent iOS and Android app design
  • Accurate and well-implemented location tracking
  • App blocking and usage schedules
  • Free version available

CONS

  • No support for Macs and PCs
  • No social media monitoring
  • Web filtering only works on specific browsers

Qustodio

Best for Intuitive Apps

3.5 Good

Why We Picked It

Qustodio has just about every feature an anxious parent wants, including web content filtering, robust app blocking, and a detailed activity log. You handle all configuration and monitoring either via Qustodio’s attractive and easy-to-use online dashboard or the parental mode of its mobile apps, which means you can set rules and review your child’s activity from anywhere.

Who It’s For

Parents who don’t mind spending a little more money to monitor their children online. Qustodio is one of the more expensive parental control software options we’ve reviewed.

PROS

  • Well-designed web interface
  • Comprehensive time restrictions
  • App blocking on desktop and mobile platforms
  • Cross-platform support
  • Intuitive apps

CONS

  • Expensive
  • Child can evade web filter by using a VPN
  • No social media tracking
  • Sideloading required for Android calls and text monitoring
Sold By List Price Price
Qustodio 10% off all Premium Plans 10% off all Premium Plans

See It
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Read Our Qustodio Review

Net Nanny

Best for Online Monitoring

3. 0 Average

Why We Picked It

Net Nanny started as a web filter service for parents, and the latest version of the software features robust screen time management tools, location tracking, as well as YouTube and social media monitoring.

Who It’s For

Parents who want to keep tabs on what their children are doing online with the comprehensive Net Nanny Family Feed, which shows their activity in real-time. It also offers some social media protection when it comes to monitoring child activity on various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Tumblr.

PROS

  • Simple setup
  • Capable screen time options
  • App blocking
  • Custom web filters

CONS

  • Expensive
  • Web filters defeated by Tor
  • Relatively few preset web filters
  • Limited geofencing features

Buying Guide: The Best Parental Control Software for 2022


Where’s Kaspersky?

Kaspersky Safe Kids was on this list for quite some time. We have, however, opted to remove the company’s parental control software from our selection of recommended services.

Although Kaspersky has long faced controversy for its connections to Russia, we have continued to endorse many of the company’s products. That’s partly because our work at PCMag focuses on the products themselves, not their geopolitical ramifications. Also, despite accusations of being in cahoots with the Russian government, no evidence has ever been provided to definitively prove Kaspersky was a bad actor.

However, on March 27, 2022, the FCC issued a warning labeling the company a national security threat. This came after several other organizations and governments dissolved their relationships with Kaspersky in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While we stand by our evaluations of Kaspersky products, we felt this latest development warranted a different response. We have removed Kaspersky’s products from our “Best for” lists and added a statement to all our Kaspersky product reviews.


How to Monitor Your Child’s Devices

Gone are the days when a single parental control utility on the family PC was sufficient for keeping your kids safe and productive. Modern kids use all kinds of internet-connected devices, and parental control systems must keep up.

Note that some parental control utilities leverage VPN technology, running internet connections through a local app to enable content filtering. You’ll see the VPN icon when such a utility is active, but it doesn’t mean the child’s connection is secured by a full-scale virtual private network, nor that the device’s IP address is masked.

Check, too, that any limits on the number of child profiles or devices won’t be a problem. Large families, for example, will appreciate that Norton Family works on an unlimited number of devices. Most parental control software operates as a subscription service, so pricing tiers tend to align with device limits, though some offer free versions for basic protection on a limited number of devices. If your kids are strictly smartphone users, take a look at our roundup of mobile parental control apps.

If getting parental control coverage installed on each of your family’s devices starts to seem too difficult, consider a whole-network solution, such as Circle Home Plus. These systems perform content filtering at the router level, so your settings affect every device on the network. Naturally, you don’t get the same fine level of control and detailed monitoring you get with a local agent on each device, but this is a much broader solution.

Some kids spend more time on gaming consoles than any other device. The parental control services in this roundup don’t cover consoles, but we can help you learn how to enable parental controls on gaming consoles.


Web Filters, Time Limits, and Apps

At the very least, a good parental control tool features content filtering—the ability to block access to websites matching categories such as hate, violence, and porn. This type of filtering only really works if it’s browser-independent and works with secure (HTTPS) sites. With no HTTPS filtering, a smart teen could bypass the system using a secure anonymizing proxy website or even an uncommon web browser in some cases. Using a VPN or the Tor browser often breaks even the strongest protections, too.

Most also have the option to permanently enable SafeSearch, though those settings are often limited to Google, Bing, and sometimes YouTube. Your child can thwart most SafeSearch restrictions by using a privacy-focused search engine such as DuckDuckGo. Of course, the most capable solutions also keep a detailed log of your child’s web activity.

Practical Tips for Successful Schooling at Home

Access scheduling is another very common feature. Some services let parents set a daily or weekly schedule for device usage. Others specifically restrict the amount of time your kid spends on the internet. Qustodio lets you set time restrictions on individual mobile and desktop apps. This is particularly useful for children who have a habit of playing games or using social media apps when they should be doing homework. The most helpful time-based settings apply to all your kids’ devices, so they just can’t switch between them to evade limits.

Check out our coverage of additional ways to manage your child’s screen time on all of their devices, including options already built-in to the respective platforms.


As kids get older, content filtering may start to seem pointless. At some point, you start to worry more about their interaction with the wider world. Sure, if their friends come over in person, you can at least meet them, but what about friends on social media and other contacts your child never mentions? Who are they, really, and what are your kids discussing with them? Although some supervision is acceptable, you still need to respect your child’s basic right to privacy and encourage open discussion, rather than using parental control software as spyware.

Some services let you monitor contacts and messages and keep an eye out for potentially dangerous or unsanctioned situations. You can even block new contacts or view message content with some parental control software. Keep in mind, this primarily applies to SMS texts; messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Signal do not fall under the same scope. Most of the services we’ve tested have given up monitoring social media for now.


Parental Controls and Video Streaming

You can use parental control software to block access to video streaming apps and sites, as well as limit how much time your child can spend using them. However, if you are looking to restrict what your child can watch on Netflix, Disney+, and other video streaming services, none of these parental control tools provide that capability. Instead, you need to dive into the settings of each video streaming service.

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The parental control capabilities of video streaming services vary widely. Some do not offer any options to restrict content, while others may simply offer a kid-friendly mode that broadly limits the streaming library to content appropriate for young children. The best services allow you to set rating restrictions on individual profiles and prevent your kid from simply switching to an unmonitored profile without a password or PIN.


Parental Controls Notification and Management

Most kids are on mobile devices at least some of the time, and many are almost exclusively accessing the internet on their phones. Fortunately, many parental control services offer a companion app that lets you view your child’s activity, set basic rules, and view notifications as they arrive. This kind of companion app is particularly useful for responding to access or time-extension requests on the go. Otherwise, you manage everything online or locally on the PC, where you have fine control over activity reports and restrictions. Any changes you make should propagate to your children’s devices when they connect to the internet.

When your child tries to visit a blocked site, makes a post using iffy language, or otherwise bend the rules, the best parental control services send you a notification to your preferred channel, such as via the app, web, email, text, or some combination of those options.


What Is the Best Free Parental Control App?

Before settling on a particular parental control utility, you should to make sure it supports all the device types in your household. While all the products in this roundup support Windows and Android, compatibility with macOS and iOS varies. Apple’s Screen Time features for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS are quite capable and come with the added benefit of first-party support. Microsoft (Family Safety(Opens in a new window)) and Google (Family Link(Opens in a new window)) both offer first-party parental control tools, too. You should consider using these free first-party options before you pay for a third-party solution.

What Is the Best Parental Control App?

Make an informed choice for your own family: Check out our full reviews of these parental control solutions. Several offer free trials, which are worth checking out before committing your time and money.

When you get beyond the basics, parental control systems start to diverge, with many advanced features to help them stand out from the crowd. Among these standout features are YouTube monitoring, geofencing, and remote device locking. Microsoft’s Family Safety app even keeps track of your teens while they’re driving to encourage better habits on the road. You’ll also find advanced versions of standard features. For example, the best content filters don’t just use a database of categories. They analyze page content, filter profanity, and allow you to add custom keywords and categories you want to block. We also like those services that support multi-factor authentication for account logins.

Generally speaking, the more advanced features you want, the more you can expect to pay.

The Best Parental Control Apps for Your Phone in 2022

If you intend to monitor your children’s device activity in the modern age, you need a parental control service that works well on mobile platforms, in addition to desktops. Kids can get into all sorts of mischief on their mobile phones (or tablets), either on purpose or by accident. Maybe they spend too much time every day staring at a screen or use age-inappropriate sites and apps. In any case, a good parental control app can restore your sense of control and help you keep a cautious eye out for anything that can harm them.

Be sure to have open and ongoing conversations with your children about the importance of responsible device usage, so they don’t immediately scheme to get rid of whatever app you install or find some clever workarounds. Check out our article on what parents of connected kids need to know if you don’t know where to begin.

Qustodio

Best for All-Around Protection

3.5 Good

Bottom Line:

Parental control app Qustodio is an easy-to-manage tool for keeping track of your child’s activity, but it’s expensive and requires sideloading for a key feature to work.

PROS

  • Well-designed web interface
  • Comprehensive time restrictions
  • App blocking on desktop and mobile platforms
  • Cross-platform support
  • Intuitive apps

CONS

  • Expensive
  • Child can evade web filter by using a VPN
  • No social media tracking
  • Sideloading required for Android calls and text monitoring
Sold By List Price Price
Qustodio 10% off all Premium Plans 10% off all Premium Plans

See It
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Read Our Qustodio Review

Norton Family

Best for Easy Setup

4. 0 Excellent

Bottom Line:

Norton Family makes it easy for parents to track their children’s activity across many devices, though it doesn’t work on Macs, and its iOS app relies on Apple’s free Screen Time feature to do the blocking and tracking.

PROS

  • Affordable
  • Comprehensive web dashboard
  • No limit on the number of monitored devices
  • Easy setup and configuration
  • Excellent geofencing tools
  • House Rules encourage family dialogue about online safety

CONS

  • Does not work on Macs
  • Browser extensions can be disabled easily
  • Cannot block individual apps and games on PCs
  • Unlocking an iOS device breaks monitoring alerts

Boomerang

Best for Custom Geofences

3.0 Average

Bottom Line:

Boomerang is a solid parental control app for Android and iOS that helps parents track their children’s web, app, and mobile activity. It’s mobile-only, though, so you can’t use it to monitor Macs or PCs.

PROS

  • Good app and device usage controls
  • Useful web filters
  • Supports geofencing
  • Call and SMS supervision on Android

CONS

  • Only monitors mobile devices
  • Currently requires users to sideload Android app
  • Single-device plan is expensive
  • Limitations on iOS
Sold By List Price Price
Boomerang Free Trial Free Trial

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Read Our Boomerang Review

Circle Home Plus

Best for Seamless Home Setups

3.5 Good

Bottom Line:

Parental control device Circle Home Plus delivers good tools for keeping an eye on your home network and protecting your children’s phones and tablets, but it is susceptible to workarounds and its reporting features aren’t as robust as competitors’.

PROS

  • Easy setup.
  • Reliable web and time restrictions.
  • Detects and implements restrictions for devices on the network quickly.
  • Intuitive apps.
  • Supports an unlimited number of devices.

CONS

  • Expensive.
  • Lacks top features, such as geofencing and ability to fully lock device use.
  • Physical device introduces some vulnerability.
Sold By List Price Price
Circle Parental Controls $129.00 $129.00

See It
(Opens in a new window)

Read Our Circle Home Plus Review

Mobicip

Best for Cross-Platform Monitoring

3.5 Good

Bottom Line:

Mobicip gives you the basic tools you need to monitor your children’s web and app activity, but the lack of sophisticated time- and location-tracking features hold it back.

PROS

  • Well-designed mobile apps.
  • Organized web interface.
  • App blocking.
  • Supports lots of platforms.

CONS

  • Kids can bypass desktop browsing restrictions.
  • Awkward iOS configuration.
  • No geofencing.
  • Only lets you set time schedules, not total time limits.

Locategy

Best for Location Tracking

3.5 Good

Bottom Line:

Locategy’s parental control app for Android and iOS keeps track of your kid’s activities and location, but the apps are missing social media monitoring of any kind and there’s no support for Macs or PCs.

PROS

  • Excellent iOS and Android app design
  • Accurate and well-implemented location tracking
  • App blocking and usage schedules
  • Free version available

CONS

  • No support for Macs and PCs
  • No social media monitoring
  • Web filtering only works on specific browsers

Net Nanny

Best for Custom Web Filters

3. 0 Average

Bottom Line:

Net Nanny boasts customizable web filters along with solid screen time and app blocking features, but it’s a bit pricey and its geofencing features are not yet competitive.

PROS

  • Simple setup
  • Capable screen time options
  • App blocking
  • Custom web filters

CONS

  • Expensive
  • Web filters defeated by Tor
  • Relatively few preset web filters
  • Limited geofencing features

Buying Guide: The Best Parental Control Apps for Your Phone in 2022


Where’s Kaspersky?

Kaspersky Safe Kids was in this roundup for quite some time. We have, however, opted to remove the company’s parental control software from this list.

Although Kaspersky has long faced controversy for its connections to Russia, we have continued to endorse many of the company’s products. That’s partly because our work at PCMag focuses on the products themselves, not their geopolitical ramifications. Also, despite accusations of being in cahoots with the Russian government, no evidence has ever been provided to definitively prove Kaspersky was a bad actor.

However, on March 27, 2022, the FCC issued a warning that labeled the company a national security threat. This came after several other organizations and governments dissolved their relationships with Kaspersky in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While we stand by our evaluations of Kaspersky products, we felt this latest development warranted a different response. We have removed Kaspersky’s products from our “Best for” lists, and added a statement to all our Kaspersky product reviews.

How to Monitor Your Kids’ Mobile Devices

Parental control apps can help you maintain control in a variety of ways. Some of the most common types of monitoring include web content filtering, app blocking, time management, and location tracking. We dive into more detail about these top features below. Keep in mind some of the products we highlight are mobile-only solutions, meaning they cannot monitor your child’s activities on Macs or PCs. If these platforms are your greatest concern, make sure to check out our roundup of the best parental control software.

Most parental control services work similarly. You install a monitoring app on every device you want to keep tabs on and manage settings and restrictions from either a web desktop or a parent-focused mobile app. Changes you make on any devices take effect immediately. We appreciate those services that offer flexible device management.

Getting Started with Parental Control Software


Pricing and Platforms

Most parental control apps require you to pay for an annual subscription based on the number of devices you monitor. Prices range anywhere from $10 to $30 for monitoring one or two devices and go all the way up to over $100 in some cases if you want 10 or more licenses. Circle Home Plus requires a hardware device and, eventually, a premium subscription to get its full capabilities. That said, there are some exceptions. Some services, like Locategy, operate on a freemium model, albeit with some limitations that don’t apply to the premium edition. Others, like Kaspersky Safe Kids and Norton Family, do not restrict the number of devices you can monitor.

Parental control software tends to be more powerful on Android than on iOS, since Apple locks down app permissions and device access. Most parental control apps for iPhones require you to install a mobile device management (MDM) profile for all the features (especially those related to app management and time restrictions) to function correctly.

For monitoring iOS devices, consider using Apple’s Screen Time tools, which rival the for-pay offerings of standalone competitors. Apple’s built-in (and free) solution is account-based, meaning it keeps track of data across all a child’s Apple devices. Apple already included a good range of app-blocking and web-filtering options within the Restrictions section of its main settings app. Microsoft (Family Safety) and Google (Family Link) also offer first-party parental management solutions, which we cover in more detail in our guide on how to manage kids’ screen time. We also have a feature on how to manage parental control settings on every game console.


Web Filtering

The hallmark feature of any parental control app is its ability to prevent kids from accessing inappropriate or dangerous websites. Many apps bundle a proprietary browser that makes it easier for the services to manage, track, and control browsing activity. This makes more sense than trying to reverse engineer support for every conceivable mobile browser. As such, most of these apps instruct you to block every other browser or restrict your child from installing any other apps at all.

Some parental control utilities don’t force your child to use a proprietary browser. Rather, they leverage VPN technology, running internet connections through a local app to enable content filtering. You’ll see the VPN icon when such a utility is active. The presence of this icon doesn’t mean the child’s connection is secured by a full-scale virtual private network, nor that the device’s IP address is masked.

Most of these browsers operate similarly in that they block access to websites that fall under banned categories, including all the biggest offenders, such as file sharing, gambling, pornography, and violence. The best examples have no trouble picking up on HTTPS-encrypted traffic and blocking access to anonymizing proxies. Some apps, such as Net Nanny, let you create custom web-filtering categories, and the vast majority let you add specific rules for custom domains. Others can lock Safe Search settings and block profanity. The quality of web history reporting also varies from service to service.


App Monitoring, Messaging, and Time Restrictions

One area in which most mobile parental control solutions excel is in their ability to prevent children from using certain apps. This can come in handy for parents looking to prevent their kids from using social media apps, messaging services that are difficult to monitor, or browsers that get around the defined web filters. Still, it can be difficult to keep track of every new app your child installs. Better yet are those services, such as Boomerang, that automatically block new apps your child installs until you explicitly approve them. Mobicip gives you the option to whitelist only the apps you want your child to be able to use.

App blocking works differently on iOS. You can block access to system apps such as Safari, Camera, and Siri, if you wish. You can also disable the iTunes Store and App Store and ban in-app purchases. Some parental control apps can even remove app icons completely from the home screen, so there’s no chance your kid can access them.

One thing you won’t be able to do with most parental control apps is monitor calls or SMS, MMS, and encrypted messages. You can block secure messaging apps, but Boomerang and Qustodio are the only options aside from Apple’s ScreenTime function we tested that allow you to monitor SMS messages and call data. This capability is only for Android devices and is not built into the app versions on the Google Play store; instead, you have to sideload a custom version of the app.

Time restrictions are another major feature of parental control apps. Some services, like Norton Family and Locategy, let you specify how many total hours (or minutes) a day your child can spend on any given device as well as a schedule for when they can use it. Qustodio lets you set up schedules for specific apps and device usage, as well as specifying a total time allotment for your child that applies across every piece of hardware they use to access the internet.


Location Reporting

A mobile parental control app should at the very least be able to keep track of a child’s current location and some historical location data, too. It’s also important for them to offer some level of control over notifications and the frequency of location reporting, to avoid bombarding the parent with useless data. Both Qustodio and Norton Family offer these features.

Some services, including Locategy and Boomerang, go one step further, letting you construct geofences around a location. For the uninitiated, geofences are digital boundaries around a physical location that help parents keep track of when a child arrives at or leaves a given location. Kaspersky Safe Kids even lets you add a dimension of time to a geofence, so you can easily make sure a child stays where they are supposed to be throughout the day. Boomerang offers a unique feature that lets you draw custom geofences on a map; other apps just create a circular radius around a point you define. Android and iOS themselves also let you track your kid’s location.

Microsoft Family Safety users with an active Microsoft 365 Family subscription can monitor their teen’s driving habits with the Drive Safety feature and Drive History reports. The reports alert the Microsoft Family Safety group if the monitored person accelerated quickly or braked hard during their last driving session.


Talk to Your Kids

Although the range of features parental control software supports is impressive, no system is perfect. If your children want to get around the limitations you impose, they will likely be able to do so either by using unmonitored devices or finding ways to wipe their devices clean of the controlling apps. Thus, it’s worthwhile to take the time to talk with your child about why you have installed monitoring software in the first place. After all, digital safety and security are worthwhile topics for everyone. It’s better to approach these conversations honestly, rather than have them find out on their own and stop trusting you. Especially for older children, it’s also important to listen to your child’s specific privacy concerns, rather than just setting rules and restrictions that may otherwise be seen as arbitrary.

Should children be restricted from Internet content? – News of Uzbekistan – Gazeta.uz

In 2020, the Internet has become necessary for almost all children who are forced to study remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic. Parents may fear the negative impact of technology on their child’s academic and creative success, and their physical and mental health.

The father of two children, the capital’s restaurateur Pavel Georganov told Gazeta.uz whether it is necessary to control the Internet content consumed by children, what information security is and how parental control works. nine0003

Pavel Georganov. Photo: Gazeta.uz.

About devices used by children

My daughter Eva is 12 and my son Philip is 9. The eldest uses a smartphone, tablet and computer. The youngest is a tablet and a regular phone. In addition, they watch YouTube on Smart TV and their son plays PlayStation.

Advertisement on Gazeta.uz

I gave my daughter a computer for her last birthday. She did not understand its value before the pandemic and only recently plunged into a laptop and got acquainted with the Internet. nine0003

I am convinced that up to a certain age, children do not need smartphones. Why would a nine-year-old child need a smartphone if there is a simple means of communication? All requests to buy a smartphone come down to playing games and watching videos on YouTube instead of walking.

Maybe at 12 my son will need a smartphone, but I still don’t understand why. Sometimes I think to myself that he may need to contact me, but there will be no connection. But more often we just invent it for ourselves. To know where the children are, I have separate GPS trackers. You can put them in your pocket or hang them on your keys, but I don’t use them yet. nine0003

Tablets, smartphones and computers (small screens) are used by children for only three hours a day. During quarantine, I do not limit the time they play on PlayStation and the time they watch YouTube on TV, but this does not mean that they watch TV or play for 20 hours. I know what my children are doing because I spend a lot of time with them.

When children start school, all Internet use outside of school and play will be limited to three hours a day. In addition, during school, they will only be able to use their devices from 7 am to 10 pm. nine0003

I want my children to learn how to properly manage their time, enjoy every bit of it and entertain themselves so that they won’t get bored without a phone. Otherwise, you can get used to comfort to the point of satiety, and it will be difficult to survive any trouble.

About parental control

I started thinking about parental control when I started having problems with my eyesight. I see that children already in the first or second grades wear glasses. I would like to delay this moment for my children. Therefore, I try to minimize their exposure to small screens as much as possible and limit the time they use them

Parental Control sounds bad, but everyone should use it. It allows you to censor and restrict content. This is not digging into the phone, but safety and understanding where the children are.

No additional parental controls required. Although there are ways to control through an Internet router, when the time of using the Internet for specified devices is limited in its coverage area.

Parental control is available on the phone. You just need to install additional applications. They are free. Android and iOS operating systems have their own parental control apps. You can set parental controls even if the parent and child use different operating systems. nine0003

For example, I use an Android phone and a Windows computer. I manage my daughter’s smartphone through iCloud. If the parents have all iOS devices, and the child has Android devices, then Apple allows you to install the Google Family Link app on iPhone version 9 and higher to manage Android devices.

To set up parental controls on iOS, you need to enable Screen Time in Settings. The most detailed information about this is described on the Apple support site.

To set up parental controls on Android, you need to download the Google Family Link (for parents) app, and then install the supervised Google Family Link (for kids) app on your children’s devices.

The parent will receive the code from the children’s devices, enter basic data about the child. Then you will have access to all the functionality of the phone.

Parental control apps are linked to a Google account or Apple ID. Accordingly, this control extends to all devices of this operating system that are logged in with this child account. If a child wants to create a new account on a managed device, the parent will receive a notification. If on an unmanaged device, then the parent will not know about it. nine0057 But today we all depend on our accounts.

Android parental controls are very comprehensive. It allows you to lock and unlock the child’s phone, wherever he is, see where the child is, view the history of actions.

Give your child extra time to use their smartphone, choose who they can call. To control the phone offline, the Internet must be turned on. So the parent will be able to make changes to the control system and receive notifications. nine0003

Both operating systems allow you to set age restrictions so that a child will not see applications in the market for an older audience.

Children cannot install any application on a smartphone or tablet without my approval. I receive a request to install the application, and I make a decision.

There are no built-in functions for viewing messages. This is not a tracking system, and rightly so. I don’t read children’s correspondence because I’m friends with them.

I don’t follow children’s search queries, but it’s possible. Moreover, you can set filters to search for words and phrases and their derivatives.

The YouTube content that my children often watch on Smart TV is controlled through an account linked to an Apple ID or Google account.

On PlayStation, my children have no content restrictions, because I control everything myself. They don’t have their own accounts. But this does not mean that you cannot create a children’s account. PlayStation account settings are similar to computer accounts. You need to create an administrator account, and then child accounts. The system allows you to set restrictions on age, the period of time in which you can play, and the amount of time per day. nine0003

About social networks and instant messengers

My children are not registered in social networks. Only Eve has 65 minutes of three hours a day on TikTok. It seems to me that he allows her to develop creatively.

Daughter asks to give her the opportunity to register on Instagram for her birthday. Previously, I refused her because of her age. Soon she will be 13, which means that according to the rules of these social networks, she can already use them. But I decided to wait until the age of 16.

Instagram creates the impression of artificial life, changes values ​​and can develop self-doubt in a person simply by selecting content. And that’s not even talking about the comments. nine0003

I think children should be kept away from social networks. There is too much cruelty in them. It lies even in the most harmless things. Even an adult is not always ready for bullying in comments. And he can seriously harm a child.

Eva knows about the cruelty on Instagram, but doesn’t understand what I mean when I try to explain it to her. She says she can separate black from white. But she is 12, and this is the situation when she understands my explanations in her own way.

My daughter’s Telegram is only installed on her computer, because it’s easier to read on the big screen. She uses WhatsApp to contact me, because it is rarely used in Uzbekistan and she does not have a constant opportunity to correspond. nine0003

About information security

There are no risks of children’s data leakage due to parental control, because it is tied to a specific device or account. It will not be difficult to get the necessary information from the child if you ask him two or three uncomfortable questions. This is often the case with scammers.

Therefore, I am already starting to teach children basic information security. For example, I explain that there is nothing wrong with saying what country or city you are from. But it would be superfluous to say the last name or address. A little later I will explain that is financial, sexual and other fraud.

About parenting

Digital parental control is an integral part of parenting. But these are not mutually exclusive things. Of course, my children know that I control the content. We need to talk about this, because honesty is the basis of everything. Although it is often harder. The good news is that it’s only hard until the kids grow up.

Probably at 16 years old I will be forced to remove parental control. Until this age, I will try to instill a taste and understanding that a lot of the possibilities of the Internet are excesses. All that should replace parental control is friendship. nine0003

Friendship with children is everything. When they don’t understand something, they come to me for advice. I explain everything, and this allows them to be on an equal footing with me. I am not the feared authority, but another authority.

I don’t forbid many things, but I can ask the children not to listen to or watch something near me. Taboos lead to the fact that the child is immersed in the forbidden even more. I am not a parent who does not know his children. We exist in each other’s lives. It is necessary not to know your children so that they enter into communities that are dangerous to life and health. How can you not know your children? nine0003

set parental control on the child’s digital devices – Safe Internet League

Parental control – a function of digital devices and gadgets that has a set of useful features that allow you to control and track the time spent by the child on the Internet, as well as the sites that he visits, viewed content and more.

Basic parental control functions:

Control and regulation of screen time; nine0003

Possibility to set up a daily routine – at what time the child can or cannot use the device;

Control of visited sites, up to prohibition or restriction.

What is parental control like:

Parental control on smartphones – modern Android and iOS smartphones have built-in parental control functions that are connected directly in the phone settings.

Parental control in browsers – Some browsers on computers and laptops also have built-in parental controls. In this case, their functionality is limited to using the browser and does not apply to the entire computer.

Parental controls on game consoles – Xbox and PlayStation consoles also have parental controls that allow you to restrict what games your child can play, how they can use the console, and control their spending in game stores for these consoles.

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