PARENTAL CONTROL TOOLS: CONCEPTS AND FUNCTIONALITIES TO CONSIDER

     

PARENTAL CONTROL TOOLS: CONCEPTS AND FUNCTIONALITIES TO CONSIDER

Parental control systems have traditionally been designed to block and filter access to certain Internet sites or to monitor the activity carried out through a technological device. However, today they offer greater flexibility and more functionality in order to better adapt these tools to the different contexts and needs that parents find in the increasingly frantic digital life of their children.

Children and adolescents have more and more experiences through screens , apps and social networks, experiences that parents had in a more supervisable offline context. In addition to PARENTAL CONTROL systems, it is highly beneficial to include the use of new technologies as another aspect that is part of your education. With this, we make it easier to create a good climate of trust , and justify the need to also support them through Parental Control tools that a priori feel intrusive or restrictive.

FILTERING TOOLS AND USAGE CONTROL

Once we better understand the context that those born after the turn of the millennium have had to live in, it is easier to find the tool that best suits our needs. For children who are in early childhood, we can choose parental control tools that try to prevent or limit access to content that is not appropriate for their age , or limit the time of use of the different applications and games that are installed in the device they use.

Filtering tools use different techniques to ensure that a minor does not access harmful content for which he or she is not prepared. The most common systems use lists where either what cannot be seen is filtered (known as black lists), or only certain content is allowed to be accessed (white lists), following blocking criteria set by a manufacturer or by own adult users of the tool. These are usually the systems installed by both educational centers and libraries.

It is possible to limit access to content by blocking certain keywords (such as: random, bombs, shopping, drugs, hackers, pornography, sects, violence), although this may produce false positives, denying access to legitimate or educational pages that they should consult without problem. To avoid this problem, several institutions propose creating content labeling systems to classify their suitability according to the age of the visitor. Another way to limit would be by blocking the access of several applications or by limiting their use (so that they do not have access to the Internet or simply to the chat function).

To avoid problems of abusive use and try to help them balance the use of technology with other healthy habits outside the screens, you can also control the time of use, being able to configure both the maximum time (of a device, of an app), such as an access schedule and calendar (e.g., only on weekends).

MONITORING AND FOLLOW-UP

As their technological knowledge, curiosity to discover the world, and desire to contact other people increase, we can choose to activate the functionalities that allow us to monitor the activity to know what services they access, what they do, who they contact, and how long. and where they are connected.

Parental Control systems provide various surveillance or supervision techniques. In all of them, the use of devices and apps is allowed , but how it is used is controlled and some are even used to track where they are used, thanks to GPS and location techniques that all mobile devices incorporate.

As the level of supervision offered by these tools is so high, it is always recommended to carefully evaluate the use of these types of solutions, and especially in pre-adolescence and adolescence, to choose to try to build a relationship of trust that promotes I dialogue , and not think that they would never tell us or show us what they do on the Internet. Although they are minors, boys and girls also have the right to privacy, which must be taken into account together with their right to be protected against all forms of abuse. Therefore, we should avoid invading their privacy unless we believe they are in danger.