According to a Common Sense Census, the use of screen media is up 17% for tweens and teens from 2019 to 2021 – growing more than the previous four years prior (Common Sense Media, 2022).
Children between the ages of 8 and 12 are on their devices for an average of 5 hours and 33 minutes a day. Kids are spending almost 3 hours a day watching online videos, one and a half hours playing games and an hour browsing websites and on social media sites.
Your child may have recently opened a new tablet, mobile phone or even game console at Christmas. All these devices provide internet access to your child. While we trust our children, it is tough as a parent to know what your child is doing and who they might be communicating with online. With any online access there are risks, like accessing inappropriate content and bullying. Social media apps and websites also pose risks, predators might pose as children to get your child to provide personal information like their address or phone number.
As parents we must be aware of what our children are doing online and talk with them, letting them know what is appropriate to say to people they might meet online. I tell my children that information like their real name, address, and phone number is never information we provide people online. We only give that information to people that we know in real life (IRL). While this might seem overwhelming, there are free tools that go a long way in helping protect your child online and providing us parents peace of mind.
Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act
In 1998 the federal government passed the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) (Federal Trade Commission, n.d.). This rule imposes requirements on website or online services that they must require parental consent for the collection or use of any personal information of children under 13 years of age. Sites like Microsoft and Google require parents to make a small payment to verify that you consent to your child using their service. COPPA provided parents with tools to help make sure they have explicit control over their child’s personal information.
Family Accounts / Sharing
A number of online services that we use provide families with the ability to create and manage accounts for their children and in some instances, families can even share the features of their subscription. Family accounts allow parents to create and manage the online accounts for their children. This provides parents the ability to set restrictions on what the child account can access; as an example, Apple offers family sharing. This allows parents to restrict applications, games, TV shows and movies based on the child’s age and even pose time restrictions on the device. Microsoft and Google both offer similar types of features that parents can take advantage of to help supervise what their children can do and see online. These types of restrictions even exist on video streaming services like Netflix and Hulu where parents can create specific child profiles that restrict their access to content that would otherwise have been inappropriate for them.
These features can be challenging to implement and frustrating for parents, and typically not well received by our children. Some parents have instead decided to move the family computer into a room where they are able to see what their child is doing online; however, this has become harder because kids are accessing the internet from the devices they keep in their pocket or room.
Taking advantage of some of the services and account management tools available help provide parents with a peace of mind knowing that they are doing everything in their power to protect their child. With the amount of time our children are spending online, you want to make sure that they are safe.
References
- Common Sense Media. (2022, March 9th). The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens, 2021. Retrieved from www.commonsensemedia.org
- Federal Trade Commission. (n.d.). Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule ("COPPA"). Retrieved from www.ftc.gov/legal-library
To view the article in the online 2023 Winter Partners Magazine, click here.
