Taming the beast

I am not an expert, just a parent trying to figure out how to get this under control for our family.

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Problems

• Types of content (age-inappropriate, certain news topics, graphic violence, consumerism, etc)
• Stickiness (autoplay, addictive in nature)
• Lack of control over time (access from a variety of devices)
• Visibility into kids activity

Parental Controls Options for YouTube

• Restricted Mode
• Top level control of filtered content on YouTube (this setting is specific to device and NOT to account)
• Problem(s) addressed: Content
• Time Watched
• Reminder to take a break, disable autoplay
• Problems addressed: Time (passive), stickiness
• YouTube Kids
• For small kids that haven’t been exposed yet
• Requires a parent to set up an account
• Problem(s) addressed: Content, visibility, time
• Google Family Link
• Google’s parental control app for their app collection (Google Play, YouTube, Chrome, Search, Google Assistant, and Google Photos)
• Problem(s) addressed: Stickiness, content
• 3rd party apps
• Bark, Norton, others
• Problem(s) addressed: Potentially all of them

Restricted Mode

Attempts to filter out the following:

• Natural disasters, war, disturbing news reports, �and crime all feature graphic violence.
• Use and discussion of drugs and alcohol
• Inflammatory or demeaning content aimed at a specific user or group.
• Sexual content that is explicit (including discussion or actual depictions of sex).
• Terrorism, crime, and violent political conflicts are discussed and depicted.
• Profanity and mature language include racial slurs, swear words and other adult languages.

Restricted Mode

• Available in app and browser window
• Click on photo/image in right hand corner and you’ll see this drop downmenu
• Default: Off
• Can turn on even if you are not logged in
• Must be turned on separately for every device where YouTube is used
• Filtering is not perfect
• Can be easily turned back on by users who are aware

Time Watched

• Only available on mobile app
• Default is OFF
• Must be logged in
• It’s just a reminder
• Can turn off autoplay also

• Filtered content curated for children
• Filtering standards are vague
• Additional parental controls
• Hundreds of human moderators monitoring content
• Can set a ‘timer’ that limits time ?

• Requires a ‘gmail.com’ account for you and your child
• Child’s account must opt in/agree to parent supervision if they are over 13
• Interface very convoluted, lots of options, hard to determine what effect they will have.
• Primarily for use on Google devices.
• Works to modify settings of kids under 13 on google websites.

Google Family Link: Features

• Lock devices (Chromebook, Android)
• Content restrictions on google apps (Play, YouTube, Chrome, Search, Assistant and Photos)
• Account settings (Privacy, location, data storing and sharing)

Google Family Link: Lock devices

If you set this up for your Chromebook or Android devices, you can lock the device but phones will still be able to receive incoming calls and make emergency calls.

Google Family Link: Content Restrictions (YouTube)

• Content Settings
• Explore (Aligns for content ratings for viewers 9+)
• Explore More (Aligns with content ratings for viewers 13+)
• Most of YouTube (Almost all content on YouTube) – Almost all videos on YouTube except for content marked as 18+ and other videos that may not be appropriate for viewers using supervised experiences
• General Settings
• Disable autoplay
• Pause watch history (Stop using new video views to recommend content)
• Pause search history (Stop using search terms to recommend content)
• Clear history (deletes search and view history)
• Unblock videos (clears settings for blocked videos on YouTube and YouTube Kids)
• Review User’s watch history
• Links to privacy policy and a parent guide

Google Family Link: Account Settings

• Account Data settings
• Also allow child to change these settings [Y/N]
• Web & App Activity
• YouTube History
• Allow child to change settings [Y/N]
• Contact info from devices (save information about child’s contacts?)
• App info from devices (save info about apps installed on child’s devices)
• Controls for Signing in
• Require child to ask permission to sign in
• Controls for 3rd party apps
• Signing in with google account, potentially shares child’s name and email address
• Require child to ask permission to sign into 3rd party apps
• Can turn off the option to sign in with google account (but it’s buried)

Google Family Link: Account Settings Cont.

• Location Settings
• Let’s parents see the location of signed in Android devices specifically
• Unclear if location is shared with other apps, might need to be managed per app
• This can be used to define locations and be alerted when a child arrives/leaves those locations

Google Family Link: Account Settings -> Privacy settings

• Family Link app activity
• allows you to see which apps you Child is using and for how long
• Account data settings
• Allow child to change these settings [Y/N]
• Web & App activity
• On by default
• Saves activity on Google sites and apps, including location, search history, etc. unclear how this data is used and shared.
• Subsettings
• Include chrome history and activity from sites, apps, and devices that use google services
• Include voice and audio activity (from Google voice services)

Google Family Link: Account data settings

• YouTube History - [On/Off]
• Saves the youtube videos you watch and the things you search on youtube to give you better recommendations, remember where you left off, and more.
• On by default
• Subsettings
• Include the YouTube Videos you watch
• Include your searches on YouTube

Account Settings -> Privacy Settings -> Account data settings

Google Family Link: Account Settings -> Privacy settings

• Other Account settings
• Allow child to change these settings [Y/N]
• ON by default
• Contact info from devices
• Choose whether to save info about your child’s contacts from their signed-in devices
• App info from devices
• Unclear how it is used, but is meant to help interact with contacts across google services
• Choose whether to save info about the apps installed on your child’s signed-in devices
• Used for Google assistant or google search

Account Settings -> Privacy Settings -> Account data settings

Age requirements on Google Accounts

• 14+ [South Korea, Austria, Cyprus, Italy, Lithuania, Spain, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela]
• 15+ [Vietnam, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Serbia]
• 16+ [Aruba, Caribbean Netherlands, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia]

Everywhere else: 13+

What do we do?

Everyone has to decide for themselves and their family

My Family

• Restricted mode
• Experiment with Family Link settings and see how it goes
• Talk to my 13.9 yr old, come up with a plan together
• Ongoing discussions with both children regularly about their device usage, videos watched, experiences with content and feeling stuck on devices
• Participate more in device-free activities

Coming up next in March…3rd party apps to explore!

• Bark
• Qustodio
• Net Nanny
• Norton Family
• Kaspersky Safe Kids
• There are so many!
• Other suggestions?