Parental Controls for Internet Enabled Devices

In this post-Covid time, iIt seems as though our lives are now lived in two places, the online world and the physical world. It is amazing to have so much information at our fingertips. I strongly recommend that families make sure parental controls are on all your devices. 

I have done some searching and most of these parental control applications are not free. This article lists good apps that have free trials and a few are completely free. If you have an Apple device, you can use the Screen Time app that is integrated in all phones and ipads. This program allows parents to control how many minutes per day each app is allowed and what the total time per day. There is also an automatic downtime that can be implemented. I like this system because if my son wants more than his scheduled 30 minutes of screen time, he has to ask me to put in a password for me to approve of more time. 

Another good option for watching videos is the website videolink. It’s a video sharing site like YouTube but it doesn’t offer suggestions or immediately plays another video when the one you are watching ends. The algorithms for YouTube can sometimes lead kids down a path of inappropriate videos and videolink doesn’t allow for this. Another good idea for monitoring screen time is to watch what your kids are watching with them. I have watched a lot of episodes of The Simpson’s lately and while it’s not my favorite, it is nice to have the shared experience.