YouTube Parental Control Options
YouTube is world’s favorite video sharing application but at the same time it has become a nightmare for parents. As a parent, you have the responsibility to guide your child with basic internet ethics and safeguard from bad aspects of Internet and other applications. Please note that there is no guarantee that these safeguards will keep bad content from reaching your children's eyes, but something is at least better than nothing.
Use YouTube Kids – Using kids channel doesn’t totally make kids safe, but there can be one more way to help filter and monitor what your kids are watching on YouTube.
Set up separate accounts – Another tip is to set up separate Google (and thus YouTube) accounts for your kids, but be sure you know the passwords so you can easily monitor it. You can check their history after each session to see what they have been watching.
Use YouTube Safety Mode /Restricted mode – There is also a Safe Mode feature that many parents find useful. Safety Mode allows you to block mature content from YouTube. It is an “opt in” feature and it’s not 100% reliable. Also, savvy children will know how to turn it off. You can use it as an extra safeguard, but know that it does not guarantee ultimate safety.
To enable YouTube Restricted Mode, follow these steps:
- Log in YouTube and open the home page.
- Click your profile picture (or the blank face icon if you don't have one in your account) on the upper right-hand side of the page.
- Select Restricted Mode from the drop down menu.
- Toggle Restricted Mode on by clicking the option to the right of the line that reads ACTIVATE RESTRICTED MODE.
Note: In order to prevent your child from just turning safety mode off, go to step 4 mentioned above click Lock Restricted Mode on this browser. Repeat this process for all other web browsers that are on your computer
Make playlists – This is a good way to protect younger children from bad content available in youtube. But it may not work well for other older age groups. You can create playlists for the videos you have already watched and allow them to watch. Then, make sure your child watch only from the playlist.
Check history regularly – it is always better to regularly monitor what your child is watching by checking their history. One thing that gets many kids is the “related videos” that preload after watching something. It is very tempting for a child to just click on a related video and it might not be something safe for watching.
Watch with your kid. Simply ask your kids what they are watching and join them.
Watch by yourself. If kids don't want to share, get the name of the channel they are watching and watch it later. Watch a few videos by the same creator to get a feel for the content.
Take a role of detective. If you are concerned about the content your kid is watching on YouTube -- and you have tried talking to her -- there are ways of tracking her viewing habits. If she has a YouTube account (which only requires a Gmail address), her YouTube page will display her recently watched videos, recommended videos based on her watch history, and suggestions for channels similar to the ones she has watched. Even if your kid deletes her "watch history," the recommendations all will be related to stuff she has watched.
Subscribe. Encourage your kids to subscribe to their favorite channels rather than hunting around on YouTube for the latest ones from a specific creator. Subscribers are notified when a new video is uploaded, plus all their channels are displayed in the Subscriptions section, making it easier, and faster, to go directly to the stuff they like. Consider choosing subscriptions together, and make an event out of watching the newest uploads with your kids.
Things to be taken care while sharing Mobile with kids
- Most mobile phone company like Microsoft's Windows, Apple's Mac OS, comes with robust built-in parental controls. Use the most updated version for best results.
- Download Google Family Link, Bank, Limitly and Teensafe to control and track online activity of children.
- Most Mobile phones allow parents to turn off features, like web access, texting or downloading.
- There are mobile phones designed for children with easy to use, and have features like limited internet access, minute management, number privacy, and emergency buttons.
- Turn on web filtering
- Phone with limited internet access
- Advise kids share GPS location to Friends that the trust and not with strangers.
- Web Browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari offers different ways of filtering out websites, that you don't want your kids to visit. Learn how to set restrictions in your browser.
- Sometimes called "walled gardens," these are protected environments that fill up your entire screen (so kids can't click out of them). They typically offer games, preapproved websites, email, and various activities. Examples include Zoodles, Kido'z, andTweens Browser.
Discuss these basic safety rules before you give your child a mobile phone.
Texting
- Be respectful, both to the people you are texting with and those around you.
- Be careful. Assume that even private texts can become public.
Calling
- Verify the caller or texter. Don't respond to numbers you don't know.
Taking pictures
- Ask permission before you take someone's picture, take a video, or forward a photo.
- Don't publicly embarrass people. Don't post someone's photo -- especially an unflattering one -- from your phone without his or her permission.
Apps and downloads
- Manage costs. Make sure your kids understand that they are spending real money when they download apps, games, and music. Consider giving them an allowance for downloads or password-protecting the download function.
- Use parental controls. Depending on the age of your kid, consider using the settings to filter out age-inappropriate content, restrict downloads, and prevent in-app purchases.
Posting
- Be selective, not impulsive. Make sure kids know to be very choosy about what they post from their phones.
- Be safe. Explain the risks involved in using location services.
What are the Dangers of Facebook?
Just like any social media, Facebook does come with potential risks and dangers. These include:
- Cyberbullying – Cyberbullying is the use of electronic equipment to bully a person. Any social media site provides a platform where cyberbullying can occur. Children may be bullied and peer pressured by their Facebook ‘friends’.
- Risk of grooming – A child may be at risk of being contacted by sexual predators if they do not take proper safety precautions. Often, predators create a fake account and pose as other children to build up a trusting relationship.
- Exposure to explicit content – Although Facebook does ban adult content, there may be a chance that some content slips through the net, which children may be exposed to.
- Over-sharing of personal information – Children need to be taught about the dangers of over-sharing. Sharing personal information and photos can reach predators’ hands.
- Exposure to radical/hate speech – Hate preachers can easily upload content onto Facebook which glorifies and comments terrorist acts and behaviors. While Facebook does have a team dedicated to monitoring and removing this type of content, things are not removed immediately due to high demand.
How to use Facebook Safely
There are certain measures you can take to ensure optimum safety on Facebook. You should show your child how to:
Use the safest privacy settings
If you access Facebook on a desktop, you should see a drop-down arrow in the top right corner. Click this for a settings option which allows you to choose your privacy settings, tagging settings, blocking, and many other features.
To ensure safety, we suggest the following settings:
- Make sure only your child’s friends can see their posts. To do this: go to ‘Privacy’ > go to the section ‘Your Activity’ > click on the edit button next to ‘Who can see your future posts?’ > set it to ‘Friends’.
- Only allow friends of friends to send friend requests. To do this: go to ‘Privacy’ > go to the section ‘How people can find and contact you?’ > click on the edit button next to ‘Who can send you friend requests?’ > set it to ‘Friends of Friends’.
- Use Timeline Review. Timeline review allows users to review what they have been tagged in, and what people try to post on their Timeline, before it appears there. This means they can hide any content they do not want their friends to see.
To set up timeline review: go to ‘Privacy’ in that go to ‘Timeline and tagging’ > go to the section ‘Who can post on your timeline?’ > set it to ‘Friends of Friends’
To enable timeline review got o ‘Privacy’ in that go to ‘Timeline and tagging’ > go to the section’ Review’ click on the edit button next to ‘Review posts that friends tag you in before they appear on your timeline?’ > set it to ‘enabled’.
The settings page can also be used to adjust various account settings, such as who can see posts on the user’s timeline. Adjust the settings accordingly.
Blocking
Facebook lets users block other users, message, app invites, event invitations, apps, and pages. Your child can freely block anyone who he/she feels is harassing him, or who he does not want to be in touch with.
To manage blocking,
Go to ‘Settings’ and then go to ‘Privacy’ in that go to ‘Blocking’. This will move to the page on which you can block accounts. Simply fill in the name of a friend or app that you want to block and click ‘Block’. You can unblock users or apps in future by using this same page.
Reporting
You can report abusive or explicit content, or spam, on Facebook. You can do this for anything you are able to see, including profiles, posts, groups, and ads.
To report a post: click the drop-down arrow in the top right of the post > click ‘Report post’ or ‘Report photo’ > select the option that best describes the issue and follow the on-screen instructions. For information about how to report other issues, Facebook Help Centre provides all the details.
Reporting Concerns to Police
Unfortunately, dangerous people do exist online. If cyber-bullying or grooming involves threats of violence, sending sexually explicit messages or photos, or stalking, you can report it to the police. Ensure that you keep messages as evidence, and do not hesitate to contact 100 in the case of emergency.
Parents guide for sharing a tab
- Settings for age appropriate Games and Apps
- Location services to be disabled
- Password control in app purchases
- Disable in app purchases
- Download age appropriate apps
- Change search Engine from google to child friendly search engine
Apps guide for parents
Some apps that allow children to create and maintain online relationships raise some important safety issues:
- Chatting with strangers
Meeting and chatting with strangers online poses risks to children who might be vulnerable to grooming and online (and offline) forms of sexual abuse.
- Sharing a location
Many apps share the user’s location. This can put children at risk from others who actively seek out children with the intention of meeting in the real world. Sharing a location can also raise concerns with identity theft and privacy.
- Sending inappropriate content
With the physical barrier of a screen, some people feel more empowered to pressurize others into sending messages, often of a sexual or derogatory nature.
Reference: Lifewire
