Parental Controls - Are They Necessary?
This is part of QuaranTeens + Tweens, a series of conversations with experts and curated resources on youth cyber safety and mental wellness.
Q. Why do I need to worry about Cyber Safety?
A. To help your children maximize the Internet’s benefits, it is essential to minimize the risks. Cyberbullying, predators, addictive behavior, privacy, and inappropriate content are just a few of the risks.
Q. How do I get started with Cyber Safety for my children who are in control of the new or existing devices in their hands?
To get started with addressing Cyber Safety, Parental Controls must be in place. Parental Controls are free, simple to use and included on devices. However, Parental Controls do require set up, so set aside some time in your schedule. Set up requires 30-60 minutes depending on your family size, type of devices, etc.
Q. When is the best time to activate Parent Parental Controls on my family’s devices?
The best time to activate these controls is before you hand over a device to a child. The younger they are when you begin Parental Controls, the more children and youth will accept it the settings as part of the privilege of having a device. Parental Controls can be set up at any time – now would be a perfect time. ☺
Q. Why do I need Parental Controls and What Do They Do?
A. The benefits of Parental Controls are clear. They provide the first step to peace of mind for parents by protecting children from the perils of online access. Parental controls can also help parents manage, restrict or block:
Screen time
Changes to other phone settings
Purchases for games, music, shopping
Restrict built-in intelligent assistants such as “Siri” “Google Assistant” - Content & Privacy Restrictions
Public or Private browsing accessibility and history
Parental Controls can function to dramatically reduce the likelihood that children will be exposed to inappropriate images or videos as well as to online predators.
Be prepared for your children to report that “none of their friends” are controlled or monitored on their devices. This is where having good relationships with the parents of your child’s friends will help you all to parent together as a community!
Please share this parental control information and also encourage other parents to follow us on social media or sign up for email updates!
The following are links for more information about setting on Parental Controls on different devices you may have:
For iPads, iPhones and iPods, click here and here.
For Android Devices, click here.
To set up Chrome Book Safety, click here.
Q. What can Parental Controls do and not do?
A. The highlights of Parental Controls:
Parental Controls are NOT a replacement for parenting.
Parental Controls are NOT "set it and forget it."
Parental Controls ARE a great way to minimize accidental exposures to inappropriate online content. They are also a great conversation-starter about meaningful issues.
Parental Controls SHOULD BE set stronger for young kids and tapered as a child matures.
The right Parental Control solution is going to be different for different families. We believe that Parental Controls and monitoring solutions (provided in the next post) will be enough for MOST families.
Q. What does family sharing mean?
A. Family sharing means, for example, for those with iPhones and iPads, each user needs his or her own iCloud account. Family sharing needs to be set up for all accounts to be managed. Go to: Settings and iCloud family sharing.
Q. How do I use built in Parental Controls on iPhones and iPads?
A. Go here to watch a video.
Q. How do I use Parental Controls on my child’s iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch?
A. Go here to watch a video.
Q. Are there Screen Time insights about how to use my device?
A. Go here to watch a video.
Q. Can Screen Time prevent purchases on my iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch?
A. Yes. Go here to watch a video.
Q. Are there Parental Controls on Android Devices?
Yes, for those running Android devices, click on Google Family link here.
Note: These can only be used with gmail accounts/addresses. You can NOT link a school email address to Google Family Link. In a coming edition of our series we will address school accounts used at home.
The next in our series will discuss “clean” DNS servers and monitoring your family’s devices and why this is so important. Watch this video: NIGHTLINE and BARK parental controls. This segment is eye-opening to how quickly things can turn dark online when parents are not keeping track of who is contacting their children. (The Wired Family)
* * * * *
Please share any feedback or topics that interest you by emailing us here.
About Gabriel's Light
In 2019, Carol and Brendan Deely founded Gabriel’s Light in honor of their son who died by suicide at age 12. In honor of Gabe and all those lost to suicide, they share their journey with the hope that others may learn and grow from their tragedy. Focusing on three pillars of cyber safety, suicide prevention, and kindness campaigns, through outreach, programs, partnerships, and funding, they raise awareness and inspire youth, parents, and educators to take action and help forward their mission.