{"id":5259,"date":"2017-07-13T16:12:46","date_gmt":"2017-07-13T23:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lpatucson.org\/lakeside\/?p=5259"},"modified":"2017-07-13T16:12:46","modified_gmt":"2017-07-13T23:12:46","slug":"managing-childs-mobile-device","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lpatucson.org\/lakeside\/managing-childs-mobile-device\/","title":{"rendered":"Managing Your Child\u2019s Mobile Device"},"content":{"rendered":"

Other than perhaps pagers in the 1990s, it\u2019s difficult to think of any product designed for adults which has become as ubiquitous among kids as mobile devices have become. (Tell your kids about pagers<\/a>. It\u2019ll make them laugh.) Smartphones\u2014and, to a lesser extent, tablets\u2014are a necessity<\/a> in most children\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n

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Nielsen<\/a> recently surveyed parents and found that 45 percent of kids received their own service plan between the ages of 10-12, with 72 percent of those having mobile service that included voice, messaging, and data.<\/p>\n

Parents monitor what TV shows and movies their children see, and parental control over mobile usage is just as important. What\u2019s the best way to monitor a device that can be used in so many different ways, is always in a child\u2019s possession, and is out of parents\u2019 sight for most of the time?<\/p>\n

Some fairly extensive parental controls are native to every smartphone\u2019s operating system. Google makes the Family Link<\/a> app for Android devices, with which parents can manage apps, get reports on screen time, and set limits on when the device can be used. For iOS<\/a> devices, parents can restrict apps, block media, limit Siri\u2019s vocabulary, and more, all from iOS\u2019s Settings.<\/p>\n

There are also several choices of free<\/a> versions of commercial software available that will send regular reports on websites visited, programs used, online searches, and time spent. For more complete monitoring and control, parents can purchase software<\/a> which will send real-time notifications of violations and abuse, monitor social network activity, and allow the child\u2019s device to be managed remotely.<\/p>\n

With the proper restrictions in place, parents should want their children to have and use mobile devices. For parents, the reasons are:<\/p>\n