Here's How to Let Your Kids Use Their Smartphones Safely | Free Antivirus

Here's How to Let Your Kids Use Their Smartphones Safely

How can children safely use their smartphones? This is a question that parents all over the world are asking themselves more and more often and earlier and earlier. On the one hand, it has become essential that children quickly learn to master new technologies, and social networks are obviously one of them. 

We are willing to bet that you remember the day you bought your first cell phone very well. Discovering new technology like this was obviously a moment to remember. Since then, these small devices have turned our lives upside down and are everywhere. But for young people born at the turn of the millennium, smartphones and tablets are an integral part of their lives and development. Sooner or later they will get going and your role will be to control their use.

1. Choose a smartphone suitable for children

It is more than likely that your child already knows exactly which model of smartphone they want. But of course you, as parents, will have the final say, right? So think carefully about what will be really useful for your child. Let's face it, teens mainly use their phones for social networks and watching movies, videos and series. So you don't have to buy the most expensive device in the store. There are many cheaper devices available today that will suit the needs of your children perfectly.

2. Delete the apps your kids shouldn't use

In their factory version, smartphones have a few applications installed automatically. Review them and remove any apps your kids won't be allowed to use. This is all the more important if you give up your old phone on which you had installed a bunch of apps. Of course, it's likely that your kids will reinstall them right after, but we'll get to that later.

3. Make sure your kids can safely search Google

We subconsciously use search engines like Google all day long when we are surfing the Internet. It will be the same for your children and it is therefore important to install an effective filter so that they do not come across inappropriate content. Moreover, Google itself offers a solution to this kind of problem:

Go to the smartphone user's Google account. For very young children, you need to create another one in your name. Go to settings and look for “search settings”.

At the top, you will find the Safe Search option. You have two choices: displaying relevant results and filtering explicit or inappropriate results. For your child, it is better to choose the second option.

Unfortunately, such a filter is never 100% perfect. But for your children, the risk of them coming face to face with a pornographic site is greatly reduced. Other search engines also offer similar functionality. So double-check all the settings before letting your kids use these search engines.

4. Set restrictions on YouTube

YouTube is one of the apps that kids use the most. But this video hosting site is also a nest of inappropriate content for your children:

Go to the YouTube account settings directly on your smartphone.

Go to "general" and activate "restricted mode".

All explicit videos will now be filtered. This includes videos with sexual content as well as violent. YouTube indicates, however, that this filter is not 100% waterproof. This is why we recommend that you let young children use YouTube Kids first. This application only offers videos suitable for younger people. And as parents, this app gives you a lot of possibilities to set your preferences. In this article, you will learn all about YouTube Kids.

5. Monitor your children's social media activity

Most apps have some sort of filter or parental control option. However, social networks are more complex in this regard. Facebook and its partners will filter out inappropriate content where possible, but you can never be sure what your children will see on these platforms. Apps like TikTok may seem innocent, but you should know that on this social network your kids can share videos of themselves with complete strangers.

That's why it's important that you discuss social media with your kids before they sign up. They need to be well aware of what they are allowed to share and the dangers they will face. If you're worried, you can always ask your child to share their username and password with you. This may seem a little intrusive but this way you can make sure that your teenager will not communicate with malicious people.

Create your own account on the social networks your children use. Thus, you will be fully aware of what they are doing on certain platforms and what are the risks they run. In this article, we take a look at the security of the apps kids use the most.

6. Limit the choice in the app store

For the youngest, an app store is a bit like a digital toy store. The difference is that in a "physical" store, children cannot buy anything without their parents' money. While in the app store, they can choose from hundreds of free apps and games. Of course, it's okay if you don't want your kids to be able to download sexual and violent content. Fortunately, the app stores also have some useful settings for you and your kids.

7. Use a parental control app

Finally, know that there are very practical applications that allow parents to monitor what their children are doing on their smartphone. Android users, for example, have the option of installing Google Family Link . This application makes it possible to establish rules of life and to correctly guide your child when browsing the web. This service gives you access to reports that show the time your child has spent on a specific application. Via Google Family Link, you can decide to block certain apps and manage your children's purchases on them.

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