Though parents want to give their child a phone-free childhood, this is no longer a reality for many families. Children’s school teachers, instructors, friends, and even key contacts are increasingly reliant on smartphones to keep in touch, provide help, and deliver education.
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To accommodate these scenarios, parents can instead set reasonable limits and provide children with safer ways to access social media platforms and/or reduce their screen time.
Here are some strategies to help you understand what works for your family.
Since medical experts have repeatedly warned parents not to let babies and toddlers be exposed to screens, a “dumb” phone can be a safer way to introduce the technology to children and teach them basic digital safety. A screen-less phone can be used to teach children to type in their home phone numbers, dial emergency services, and communicate their need for help.
These interactions can be included in fun pretend-play routines or role-playing games, in order to teach children about using technology, without risking an addiction to screens. Child-friendly digital cameras also allow young users to grow familiar with tech without being exposed to algorithmic feeds or short-form videos.
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Most smartphones have dedicated Parental Controls or Digital Well-Being settings that allow adults to set usage limits for children, as well as remove access to certain apps/websites that are not age-appropriate. Adults can also set up schedules to make sure the device cannot be used during school hours or after bedtime. Parents and caretakers can further review the child’s app usage statistics via these settings, in order to make sure there is no excessive screentime.
As the child matures, parents can also allow certain apps or websites to be used for longer while other social media apps are locked down, so that the child can use the phone as a study tool without being distracted.
On-device controls make it easy to turn off all notifications such as ads or promotions from individual apps, all at once. These controls further stop children from downloading potentially harmful content or making in-app purchases without the adult’s knowledge, by requiring the adult to enter a PIN number or password to authorise such activities.
Similar to the phone’s Parental Controls or Digital Well-Being settings, Google’s Family Link app allows a group of people (both children and adults) to securely sync their Google accounts and their devices, so that the responsible adult can remotely review and control the supervised children’s phone usage and screen time.
On the other hand, the supervising parent can set up vastly different controls for their 7-year-old child via the Google Family Link app, by allowing them only 30 minutes of phone time each day. The younger child cannot download any apps at all unless the parent approves each request through their own app. All access to messaging and gaming apps have been cut on this profile, and safe search filters are always on. After 30 minutes of use, the device is locked for the day. The device also stays locked between 8 PM and 7 AM, while the child sleeps, and remains locked during their school hours.
Through their own Google Family Link app, the parent can track the locations of their children’s devices to see where they are, as well as check their phone battery levels. They can change permissions to give the children more/less time on specific apps, as per their daily needs. AI use by the children can also be regulated via the app. The Google Family Link app does not allow supervising members to view others’ private content and messages remotely.
However, some users have complained about slow and glitchy updates, as well as cross-platform weaknesses.
Google offers options for parents to set up accounts for their children, and adjust their cybersecurity settings to manage how they log into other services.
With a controlled email ID, children are better protected from ads and media that are aimed at adults. An email account also encourages parents to teach children to draft, edit, and send longer messages, helping them perfect professional communication from a younger age.
Gmail enables thoughtful communication while posing less of an addiction risk than a social media app with a constant stream of videos to watch. YouTube usage can also be appropriately moderated via the Google account.
As Meta faces legal flak world-over due to allegations that its apps lead to addiction and mental health struggles in young users, the social media company has been working to make its apps more child-friendly.
For example, Instagram Teen Accounts require parental permission to change the built-in protections, apart from restricting who can contact these teen users and what kind of material is suggested to them.
However, many users have complained that these parent-managed accounts are not available across all regions yet.
