It is indeed a daunting task for parents to constantly keep a tab on what their kids are watching on their smart phones. The internet abuzz with loads of adult content can pose a serious damage to the developing psyches of kids. While most of the kids spend time texting their friends all day, some of them love watching videos. Childproofing is the need of the hour for all parents to ensure that their kids view content that is kid-friendly. In an attempt to enable children to view only child-friendly content on your smart phone, here are some hacks that will come handy.
1. Effective Management of Adult Content in Online Videos
It is a common sight to witness young kids toying with a smart phone to watch and enjoy online cartoon shows, rhymes and funny videos. If you are the parent of a child who is glued to YouTube most of the times, it pays to steer clear of online adult content that your child can accidentally come across. All thanks to the in-built feature of YouTube that you can now restrict your kids from browsing videos that call for adult supervision. This is an effective means to manage what your kids watch via YouTube videos.
2. Allow Your Kid to Watch Age-Appropriate YouTube Videos
Make the most of YouTube’s algorithm which can successfully block inappropriate content for kids. To enable this function, you need to tap the three dots that are present on the top right side of YouTube’s home page. Then you need to select Settings, followed by the General option. After making these selections, you will see the Enable Restricted Mode. Aptly named, selecting this option will allow you to heave a sigh of relief that your kid will not accidentally browse inappropriate online content.
3. How to Make Netflix As A Child-Friendly Entertainment Platform
Netflix has caught up as a popular video streaming platform for the young and old. Featuring a host of entertaining animation videos for young kids, Netflix is a chosen interface for all such videos which do not stream on YouTube. With Netflix, you have the luxury of creating a separate profile for kids. To activate this kid-friendly viewing option, you need to navigate to the main menu on Netflix by swiping from left to right. You will then find an arrow icon on the top. You need to tap this icon which will prompt you to add a children’s profile by checking the kids’ box. This is a safety mechanism in place to ensure that your smart phone does not become an instrument of inappropriate viewing.
4. Safer Web Browsing Strategies
It is not only for entertainment that your kids pick up your smart phone. Growing kids look up for online assistance to complete their academic projects and school assignments. Your kids might need your smart phone for all such academic purposes. They will start browsing the internet to extract information in the form of educational content and images that will help them with their homework. However, they can be unmindful of the plethora of malwares that plague the online territory. Your kid can click on a malware that can harm your smart phone.
You can enable the “safe browser” settings and activate them. Another way to safeguard your smart phone is to install an anti-virus software which enables browsing features.
5. How to Play Safe While Installing Gaming Apps
Notwithstanding the fact that you can find a host of gaming apps featured on Google Play Store or the iStore, but you need to exercise some caution while installing games. While some of the games are authentic, you should be wary of many fake and unwarranted apps that not only post online content but can also damage your smart phone. Since it is impossible for a kid to identify a fake game from a real one, you as parents should ensure that your kids are not exposed to such games which contain explicit content. If you have an Android phone, you can ensure that your phone is made child-friendly by restricting inappropriate content on Google Play.
All you need to do is to go to Settings, followed by an option called “Parental Controls”. You then need to enable this option. Upon enabling it, Google prompts you to key in a 4 digit pin number. This will work as an authentication code for your kids to install genuine gaming apps.
6. Mindful of Health Hazards Caused By Smartphones
Smartphones have already turned into an addiction not only with kids but also with adults as well. Along with causing an irreparable damage to the eyes, smart phones are also leading to back problems with frequent users. Headaches and migraines are following suit.
Another precautionary measure that can be taken to protect the eyesight of your kids who browse via smartphones is to install a Safety Screen app. This is an app that sends constant reminders about the ideal distance kids should maintain between them and the phone so as to stay safe. Once your kid comes very close to the phone, a distance that is damaging to his eyes, the app blocks a part of the screen with a warning. This warning disappears once the optimum distance between your kid and the smartphone is maintained.
7. Make the Most of the Kids’ Mode
You don’t need a pair of eyes to keep a close watch on what your kids are viewing on the net; through your smartphone. Parents can check out the Kids’ or Child Mode that is made available in a number of branded smartphones. Along with Windows Phones, Android Smartphones too have this child-friendly feature which needs to be activated. Once this mode is chosen, your kids will be able to view only those apps and games that are exclusively meant for kids.
The recent announcement from Facebook that it is all set to launch a child app specifically for kids to chat with family and friends is an innovative move. Once this comes up, parents will be comfortable with their kids staying in touch with their connections through safe means.
Key Takeaways
Tech savvy kids are attracted to various online games and videos that at times contain explicit content. While you as parents can fail to keep smartphones within the reach of your kids, there is one thing that is within your circle of influence. And that is about ensuring your smartphone displays only child-friendly content to your kids.
All the above mentioned tricks can work in your best interest. However, if you find your kids outdoing the tabs you have installed for them, it is best to keep an open channel of communication with them. Allow them to speak up their concerns as and when the necessity arises so that they don’t fall prey to a host of explicit and kid-unfriendly content that is posted on various online platforms.