My Biggest Parental Hot Take
Children should be allowed to get well acquainted with the technology of their generation. Specifically children younger than school age.
This may seem controversial coming from a security professional, but I believe that it is the right thing to do, with the right security and parental controls in place, of course. Children as young as 6 months are smart enough to notice the connection between a power button on a remote and a tv. If you allow that child to use a mobile device such as an Iphone or an Ipad, the child will quickly learn to operate the device. It is an impressive sight to see and it reminds me that I got a similar start with technology due to access to the home desktop computer that my parents purchased without knowing how to use it. This ultimately advanced my knowledge of computers and led me to where I am today. As parents, we know that kids are sponges and we often feel that it’s just too much dangerous or inappropriate content out there on the internet to allow our kids to have a device of their own. While this is true, I am advocating for a solution that does not give the kids access to the open internet. I’ll explain.
Making a Mobile Device Safe for Use
To keep it short, we’ll focus on Apple products in this journal. Iphones and Ipads have many features that make these devices safe for children. My child is a toddler with an Ipad so I will focus on the features I use that make the device safe for use. Initially when setting up the device, the child will need their own icloud email address, however you will manage this icloud account as it is just to ensure separation between your icloud and the child’s icloud. You’ll want to use the family features that icloud has in order to link the accounts. Now the fun begins, from here you can block to your hearts desire. In my child’s Ipad, the allowed content is set to suitable for 4+, the internet is blocked, tracking is turned off, and incoming calls and messages are only allowed from contacts. Additionally we have set his contacts to a very short list of parents and grandparents. The device is not network enabled so it does not have a cell phone number, only the icloud email. This further lowers the chance of receiving calls from unapproved numbers or spam. This is nice because the toddler is able to facetime and call grandparents and great grandparents who do not get to visit regularly. My child spends hours on calls and facetimes with them and it is by choice, which is really important in my opinion.
The app store has restrictions on purchasing and downloading, it is set to require a password as well as it will send a push notification to mine or my wife’s phone to approve or deny the app in question. This setting is mostly for the adults because my child never opens the app store app as we have also removed the apps that he should not be using off of the home screen. The apps can only be located through search. We only download apps with games that do not have ads, and if the apps do have ads we will pay for the version without ads to ensure that no inappropriate content sneaks by in the form of an ad. Apps like Youtube Kids and Netflix are installed but he has his own account/profile where we manage the content that is allowed/disallowed. I’ll provide more details on steps to do this and content we allow on the products page in the future. There are many more security tips and tricks that we use to make the devices safe and useable for a toddler and I’ll create a document to share on exact details in the near future.
Why Go Through All This Trouble?
As mentioned earlier, I believe it is important for children to use the tech of their generation. In this tech forward world it helps them to be ahead of the curve in life as the technology isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Additionally, when done correctly, these devices can provide a great source of learning content. My child learned ABCs and 123s from games on the devices much quicker than my efforts of teaching him myself. Furthermore, the ability to let children create genuine and intentional relationships with family members through facetime is incredibly important. Forcing toddlers to talk on the phone with people that they rarely see is a disaster, as it’s depressing for the family member who loves the child, and aggrivating to the child who is confused. While parents should guide children, it is healthy to create safe ways for children to excercise choice and independence when possible. These choices made over time are what develop a person’s personality, interests, and aspirations.