By Julie Jargon
Many parents ask how they can keep tabs on their children online
without shelling out a lot of money -- and without major headaches,
especially when juggling multiple devices for multiple children.
The first step isn't to buy expensive software, but to look at the
devices themselves.
The settings sections of common household Apple and Amazon
devices, along with those that run Google's Android and Chromebook
software, allow parents to do everything from block explicit
content to set a fixed gadget bedtime -- all without paying extra
or ceding privacy to an outside service.
This week, with the expected rollout of Apple's iOS 13, parents
will more easily be able to set time limits on individual iPhone,
iPad and iPod Touch apps. Later this fall, Apple will launch its
most compelling upgrade: the ability to manage children's contacts
and control who they can communicate with.
Google recently extended its Family Link parental controls to
teens and made it a part of the latest Android operating system,
and Amazon continues to develop the voice assistant in the Echo Dot
Kids Edition, which has the same parental controls as its kids'
Fire tablets.
Before you go too crazy turning on controls, proceed with a
megabit of caution. Family media experts advise parents to begin
with more stringent controls when children first get
internet-connected devices, then relax them as kids demonstrate
maturity.
"We call them digital on-ramps. When your child is really young,
talk to them about everything they do with a device. When you snap
a photo, talk about whether you're sharing it with Grandma, so it
becomes embedded in their everyday practice of using devices," said
Diana Graber, author of "Raising Humans in a Digital World: Helping
Kids Build a Healthy Relationship with Technology."
It's much harder, she said, to impose controls once kids have
tasted freedom.
Researchers at the University of Central Florida last year found
that too much parental control fosters distrust and encourages kids
to do the very things digital controls were designed to
prevent.
What these settings won't do is tell you what your kids are
seeing or posting online. That is where third-party services like
Bark, which charge fees to monitor kids' online activities, come
into play.
Also, remember that tech companies tend to treat teens as
adults, because of a decades-old online privacy law, so managing
their activities becomes harder. And of course, teens are notorious
for finding workarounds to even the most sophisticated parental
controls. Just as previous generations got around curfew by
sneaking out of basement windows late at night, today's digital
natives can venture out online by disabling settings, creating fake
social media accounts and smuggling burner phones.
Still, it's best to take a catalog of the devices in your kids'
lives, and know the basic parental-control settings for all of
them.
Apple: iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch
Even though Apple Inc. introduced parental controls for the
iPhone back in 2008, its big leap into this space came last year
with iOS 12. With the introduction of Screen Time, parents can
track their kids' device usage, set time limits for categories of
apps, such as games or social networking, and schedule downtime for
their kids' devices.
Starting Thursday with iOS 13, parents will be able to more
easily create time limits for specific apps within the "app limits"
section of Screen Time. Parents previously had to search for
specific apps in their child's usage report, which went back only
seven days. And now, they also will be able to track usage data for
a month instead of a week.
Apple said it would update Screen Time further later this fall,
giving parents control over who their children can text, call and
FaceTime -- and who can communicate with them -- by managing their
kids' contacts. Kids won't be able to bypass the controls by
entering phone numbers manually. And parents will be able to get in
touch with their kids, even when their devices are otherwise locked
down.
Having no control over who kids can communicate with is a common
complaint among parents, according to Christine Elgersma, senior
editor of parent education at Common Sense Media.
Another complaint? Children whining when the game they are
playing suddenly shuts down because they have reached a preset time
limit. The new iOS has a feature that allows kids to tap "one more
minute" when the Screen Time limit is met, giving them a chance to
finish what they were doing.
Google: Chromebooks and Android phones and tablets
Alphabet Inc.'s Google has an app called Family Link, designed
to allow parents to create and manage Google accounts for children
under 13.
It allows parents to set screen-time limits, approve app
downloads and set a bedtime for their devices. Parents also can see
apps that are recommended by teachers.
So what happens if a teenager has a normal Gmail account,
instead of one created under Family Link? Parents can still use the
Family Link app to manage that teen's account. Just follow the
steps to add a child with an existing Google account.
Family Link will now be accessible from the settings of every
device running Android 10, which was released earlier this month,
initially on Google's Pixel phones. Here's the rub: Teens must
agree to allow parental supervision and can turn it off, though
Google will alert parents if they do.
Amazon: Fire tablets and the Echo Dot Kids Edition
For younger children using Fire Kids Edition tablets, Amazon.com
Inc. offers multiple controls under its no-charge FreeTime app. The
FreeTime app is included on all Fire tablets, since many kids also
use their parents' tablets. (Parents can upgrade the app by paying
a monthly fee to get FreeTime Unlimited, which provides subscribers
with e-books, audiobooks and other curated content.)
Beyond the usual bedtime, screen-time and app limits, FreeTime
allows parents to create up to four children's profiles per tablet
and to customize age filters so that each child sees only
corresponding age-appropriate content.
Parents can set daily goals for educational content, blocking
access to entertainment apps until after the day's educational
goals are met. They also can set different time limits for
different activities, allowing more time, say, for reading than for
games. And they can disable the web browser.
For kids using the Echo Dot Kids Edition, parents can create the
same controls as they can in the tablets, as well as filter songs
with explicit lyrics.
Even with all of these handy built-in settings, family media
experts and tech executives alike say that nothing replaces the
lessons parents can teach kids about safe and responsible internet
usage.
"No matter how good the product is, it's super important that
parents talk to their kids," said Kurt Beidler, director of Kids
and Family at Amazon. "No product is the magic pill."
Write to Julie Jargon at julie.jargon@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 17, 2019 08:14 ET (12:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024