Content Filters Every Parent Should Know About

The problem is: the hodgepodge of a-la-carte content filters for the web and beyond can often leave parents feeling overwhelmed and not knowing where to begin. That may explain why—despite the fact that about 65% of all parents and teens agree that teens are doing stuff online they wouldn’t want their parents to know about—only about half of parents have taken advantage of these often-free online safety tools.

It’s not just teens at risk, either. Approximately 40% of children have admitted to engaging in potentially unsafe behaviors online by the age of 12, whether it’s sending photos to a stranger, accepting a friend request from someone they’ve never met, or something else their parents would disapprove of.

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So, what exactly are content filters and how do they work?

Content controls can be “baked in” to many products—from software to hardware—and they give you the option to do things like block or filter unwanted content or apps, limit your kids’ screen time, set privacy rules, see your kids’ recent activity—and more. The best ones should go deep to analyze page content, filter out things like profanity and adult content, and allow you to customize specific things you want to block. They should also be easy to set up.

Of course, because of the multitude of devices, apps, browsers, and services you and your kids use—there’s no single suite of online safety tools guaranteed to keep inappropriate content or people entirely at bay. But there’s still a lot you can do to lessen the chances of it happening. One easy way is to choose an all-in-one family safety app that offers multiple content filters across all of your family’s phones, gaming consoles, computers and laptops.

Here’s how you can use content filters for the web and across different scenarios to help keep your family safe:

• Kid-safe browsing. All browsers offer you the option to turn on some sort of basic safe-search feature that allows you to set limits on what your kids can see online. If you want to get more detailed about what you block, there are also parental controls you use on your device’s operating system (e.g. Windows, OS). That means going in and setting up filters on each and every one of your family’s browsers, and on their phones, laptops, computers, etc.

  An easier option is to choose a one-and-done app that lets you set internet and search boundaries across all your devices at once—giving you the flexibility of flagging certain URLs as okay for your teen, or blocking specific ones you don’t want, despite age appropriateness. The only caveat with the all-in-one safety apps is that they tend to work with only a specific browser. That means, if you’re not careful, your child can sneak around those restrictions by downloading and using a different browser. But fear not! By setting up daily or weekly activity alerts, which should come standard with a good family safety app, you can quickly see if that’s happening and nip it in the bud.

What if you have kids of every age in the house? For the littler ones, a super easy solution is choosing a great browser that has a version specifically made for them. The Kids Mode feature on Microsoft Edge, for example, lets you choose from two versions based on your child’s age group: 5 to 8 or 9 to 12. The browsers are ready to go with a list of built-in, age-appropriate sites, and things like kid-friendly news feeds (for the 9-12 age group). Parents can also add additional pages, or remove some of the built-in sites if they see fit.

• Gaming. A recent survey of kids ages 8-12 found that 80 percent play games online. Of those, 61 percent said they had been contacted by a stranger and almost one-third had been bullied at least once. Content controls are an effective way to prevent access to mature games, or any games of your choosing, as well as access any age-inappropriate apps beyond gaming. Again, you can set up these controls on each and every device—or you could choose an all-in-one app that will let you designate the age limit for content your kids can access across Windows or Xbox devices, for example, and it’ll allow you to specifically name the ones that you’re okay with, despite age restrictions.
• Streaming services. Everyone loves to watch their favorite shows and movies on demand, and kids are no exception. In fact, streaming services now account for nearly 70 percent of all in-home viewing. So, what can you do to keep your kids safe when streaming on their devices? While you can certainly use your all-in-one tool to completely block access to apps like Disney+, Netflix, Prime Video, etc. that’s probably not the solution you’re looking for—since much of the content is age appropriate, even if some is not. So, in the case of streaming services, you’ll want to fully allow access to the apps of choice across your devices—but then you’ll need to set up individual parental controls and content filters on each streaming service’s settings menu.
• Livestreaming platforms. Do your kids spend a lot of time on sites like Twitch or YouTube? Fact is, a lot of kids love watching, creating, sharing, or interacting with people on these platforms, whether they’re into gaming, music, sports—you name it. But let’s face it—this is all happening live—and it’s impossible for your kids to un-see, un-hear or un-do, for that matter, something that’s already happened. As mentioned earlier, you could choose to completely block these platforms using your family app. But most parents want to allow some access. That will require a little research, since restrictions vary from platform to platform in terms of age requirements, types of content they’ll allow, privacy settings, interactive chat options, etc.

While there are no parental control solutions that are 100-percent foolproof—by using the tools at hand, keeping an open dialogue with your kids, and discussing the importance of online privacy and safety—you’re definitely one step ahead of the game.