What are parental controls?
Parental controls help families to make the internet a safer place for children to explore. Together with privacy settings, they help young people to avoid unsafe situations online and control what they see and who they share their experiences with.
With parental controls, you can decide what your child can see and do online. For example, you can:
- limit how long they spend online
- allow and block specific websites and apps
You won’t be able to control or see everything they do online, and it is important to balance protection with privacy. Therefore, the parental controls you use should be in response to a specific, identified risk for the individual young person. Discuss with your supervising social worker which controls are necessary for each young person, and record your actions in the young person’s risk assessment.
Privacy and openness
Young people must be aware of the parental controls being used and the reasons for their use. If you use parental controls without the young person knowing, they do not learn how to protect themselves. It can also adversely affect trust in your relationship.
Parental controls can be applied in different ways:
- Network controls – applied to the home broadband and mobile network. This can include filtering of ‘adult’ content.
- Device controls – applied to the phone, tablet, computer or games console.
- Service controls – applied to the specific website or app.
- Parental control apps – these allow you to apply time limits, block apps, monitor internet use and identify the young person’s location. Examples include Net Nanny, Qustodio and Our Pact
Advice and help with choosing and applying parental controls
Internet Matters provides step-by-step guides to applying parental controls for a range of devices including:
- Smartphones
- Tablets
- Amazon Echo
- Google Home
- BBC iPlayer
- PS4 and Xbox
- Home wifi, e.g. Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin
Alongside parental controls, it is important that parents and carers discuss online safety with young people, and Internet Matters also provides advice on this.
Click here to visit the parental controls section of Internet Matters
Click here to read about Snapchat’s Parental Controls (“Family Center“)
Click here to find out about Meta’s “Family Center“
