Parents in the internet age are somewhat overwhelmed. Training children in this digital era is becoming challenging. This write-up presents simple and effective steps you can use to monitor, control, restrict and manage the sort of information your children consume or have access to via the internet.
This method of controlling and restricting what a child sees on the internet works effectively for children that are below the age of 18. And it is majorly applicable to kids that make use of common Android devices.
This is because, before they approach that age, they are not entirely responsible for the sort of actions they take and their right to a certain level of privacy is not entirely up to them.
Why do you need to control and restrict what your child sees on the Internet?
Parents need to understand they are no longer solely responsible for their kids’ upbringing. The internet heavily influenced the behaviour of our kids.
Thus, it is very important as a parent you find a way to manage and control the sort of information your kids have access to on the internet. Taking phones away from kids may not always be a feasible option because we still want them to stay abreast with the tech space and in touch too.
Steve Jobs, Apple founder, 2012, following the excitement that comes with the release and promotion of the sale of the iPad was asked in an interview, ‘You kids must have loved the iPad’? He replied; ‘we don’t allow iPad in the home. We think is too dangerous for them in effect.”
He made that statement because he knew how addictive and influential such devices can have on children.
As a parent, you will still want them to have access to the tech space, regardless of the dangers that may be involved because of the benefit and usefulness. So, how can we do that as well as control part of the things that they consume on social media?
steps on how to restrict / control what your child sees on internet via their phones and gadgets
Step 1
The first step is to register a Gmail account for them with the correct age and with your email as the parent.
Step 2
Install the Google family link on your own phone.
Step 3
Add their registered email to your Google family link.
Step 4
Factory reset their Android device. If they already have one, then log into the device with your own Google. That is, with your own Gmail account that is linked to your Google family link.
Step 5
Now the next step is if it is a new device make sure it is the Gmail You use to activate that device.
And remember the Gmail has to be opened or the account has to be opened with the original age of your child. That is if they’re below 18, of course, it has to be there if they’re below 18. Make sure it is the real age.
This will make Google know you are responsible for that. And that will automatically place some restrictions on the type of websites and content they can see.
Step 6
Immediately you carry out the four and five steps above, your phone will get a notification to allow them to activate the device. This is the beginning of you taking control of their phones and other devices from anywhere.
So once this is activated you as an adult, or you as the parent, have access to control, manage and monitor whatever content your child is consuming with their phone.
How the Google family link controls and restrict the use of phones children.
- All adult content of any form will never load on their phone. And this is, this happens because Google already can detect that the person having access to the content is a minor. So there will be outside restrictions for adult content for such a child.
- Now they cannot install anything without your approval remotely from the family link.
- Also, you can lock or unlock their device from anywhere. This is how you have full access to their phones, full access to their account
- You can set a start and stop time for their device. The phone will lock when it gets to that time even if you forget.
- Youtube will not allow them to see any adult content as well. This will be highly restricted.
- You will see how long they spend on each of the apps. Thus, you can caution them on the same if need be.
