We live in a time when children on the streets running after the ball, riding a bike, or playing with their friends can be seen less than ever. New generations prefer to play on smartphones or tablets – or so prefer their parents. Business obligations and the accelerated pace of life don’t leave them enough time during the day to spend with their children. And even when done with those endless and numerous obligations, the things they need most are peace and quiet.
Therefore, it isn’t so strange that it’s often much easier for them to replace their commitment by putting a gadget in children’s hands. And, if so, at least there should be enough awareness of how excessive use of mobile devices might have a serious impact on their psyche and development.
It definitely isn’t advisable to take the situation lightly and let things go too far as the consequences can be felt later. We’re all conscious of the fact that there are so many ways in which the wrong use of cell phones could affect our children. Some of them might be good – language classes, cartoons and baby stuff. But the Internet is flooded with content that promotes immoral things, such as violence or pornography. And, with just a few clicks, it could become available to your child, too.
For that reason, reacting in time and limiting their access to these things in some way might be crucial for proper prevention of such occasions. It’s incorrect and unjustified to expect that a child could always know when it’s enough and at what moment they should stop.
Parents are the ones who bear such responsibilities, so, considering that the safety of the child is in the first place, let’s try to help each and every parent with the following tips. In case you have the same problem, stay on this page and find out how to fight this.
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Create a special profile for a child
Users of Android devices have the ability to activate an option in their settings that denies access to certain applications to some users. The tablet version that makes this possible is 4.2 and the mobile phone version is 5.0.
You simply need to select the particular user and then set the ‘’restricted profile’’ option. Then you have the opportunity to specify which applications your child will be able to access, while the others are automatically locked in this mode. That way, you’ll know exactly what apps are available for them to use when playing on their phone.
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Availability of Google Play applications
In case there are no inappropriate applications for children in the phone itself, they can always be found and downloaded through Google Play Store. However, they don’t need to have access to everything here either – if you don’t want them to.
The creators of this store developed an option called ‘’Parental Control’’ and thus helped all parents to monitor their children’s activities on these devices. It’s necessary to enter a pin of 4 characters and specify the criteria according to which the selection should be performed. You need to set a limit for the program to eliminate any games, movies, books, or music that aren’t intended for those ages.
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YouTube Kids
For the needs of the safest online experience for the youngest users, YouTube has created a version specially for them. YouTube Kids consists of a large number of filters that enable better tracking of what they’re watching.
The ability to adjust the time that the youngest members of the family will spend in front of the screen is just one of the numerous features of this great invention. By selecting the “watch again” option, you can check at any time which video content was on, and if you don’t like what you see, you can block it with one click. Lastly, you can report disturbing and inappropriate videos so that the people who edit the site can take care of it.
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Location trackers
You’ll admit that you must have been in a situation where you weren’t sure where your kid was at the moment and you weren’t able to reach them on the phone. At first glance, these so-called spy applications seem to disrespect privacy, but could actually be rather useful for security purposes.
Everything works with the help of a GPS locator that needs to be turned on on the tracked device. It has the role of assistant. The technology is simple and not difficult to use, and it takes a few moments to install it. From that moment you’ll know where your kid is every minute. In some phone call tracking applications like spyphone.com all data is stored and available during the day, seven days a week.
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Airplane mode
Every smartphone today has the option of entering airplane mode. We utilize it for other purposes as well, but with its help, we can also control some kid’s activities.
When you turn it on, you disable incoming and outgoing calls as well as internet utilization. However, there are still applications that can be launched even when there’s no internet connection, so pay attention to what their features are. Make sure that some games remain active and accessible so that you don’t completely ban them from using the device and probably cause an explosive reaction and dissatisfaction and make them notice that you’re suspicious.
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Talk to them
In the end, in addition to hidden methods that your little ones won’t be aware of, be sure to use direct methods as well. Talk to them openly and try to explain to them what isn’t good for them and why. If they understand this in the right way, you may not need any of the mentioned steps above for long terms.
If Facebook is their zone of interest, it’s important that they choose the option of a private profile while making an account. Try to influence them to accept only the requests of people they know as friends and not to respond to messages from strangers they might receive in the inbox. Let them know that they should never share their contact information publicly.
