I was astonished to learn that various studies (from University of New Hampshire, University of Alberta) show that between 40% to 80% of kids have viewed adult content on the Internet. Our kid is young, we still have a few years before this becomes a concern for us. He needs to learn how to read and write (or type) first. Nevertheless, we already start collecting ideas from other parents about how they monitor their kids 'online life'. However most of those tips, such as having computers only in the living room, apply only to Internet surfing through desktop or laptop computers.
Mobile Internet surfing increasing at a rapid rate. Mobile devices are super portable and have small screens that makes them more 'personal' than desktop and laptop computers. This makes monitoring kid's online activities on those devices much more difficult. Luckily iPhone and iPod Touch support parental controls for Internet browsing, iPod movies, YouTube, iTunes, installing apps and using camera app.
How to setup parental controls for iPhone or iPod Touch?
For enabling restrictions, first run Settings, then select General, and then select Restrictions. Pressing on 'Enable Settings' button will direct you to enter a 4 digit passcode. After you entered your passcode, you can then select which applications you need to set restrictions for. Screen shot on the right shows disabling iPod explicit content, Safari and Installing apps.
You may want to write your passcode down. If you forget your passcode you have no choice but to reset your device. When you reset, you lose all your app data, such as your game scores. Resetting can be done by running Settings, selecting General, Reset, and 'Reset all settings'.
When Safari browsing is disabled, your kids will not be able to access even the useful Internet content, such as Wikipedia or dictionaries. In this case you may like to install a kid-friendly browser with content restrictions to porn, gaming, and other inappropriate web content on iPhone and iPod Touch. Such browsers include Mobicip browser, which is a free app, iWonder Surf Web Browser available for $14.99 and Safe Eyes Mobile available for $19.99. You can find review of Mobicap here.
Do you have additional tips, concerns that you'd like to talk about? Drop us a note.
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