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Home / Sponsored Stories

Sponsored by Vodafone Business

Vodafone Business

Keeping online kids in line

10 Feb, 2021 11:00 AM
Photo / Getty Images.

Photo / Getty Images.

Sponsored by Vodafone Business

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New Vodafone feature provides keenly desired & easy parental control of internet usage.

You've heard the kids talk about Karens and Pepe the Frog – and you suddenly realise they have become YouTube mini-memelords with dark rings under their eyes.

If you know what the above means, you've probably been looking at ways to manage the use of internet in your home.

The internet is an amazing general purpose network connecting billions that, unfortunately, is also a warts-and-all reflection of humanity.

Carolyn Luey, Vodafone Chief Consumer Officer. Image / Supplied.
Carolyn Luey, Vodafone Chief Consumer Officer. Image / Supplied.

A recent Vodafone Consumer Insights survey showed that more than 9 out of 10 parents believe it's important to manage internet access in families. However, only 4 out of 10 felt they had full control over the smartphones, tablets or laptops their children use.

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Device-free meals, restrictions on devices in bedrooms and set times for internet access are some of the ways parents attempt to manage screen-time and online behaviour. Vodafone's research even found that 14 per cent of Kiwi parents resort to switching off the wifi altogether or changing the password.

"Online access can be wonderfully enabling," says Vodafone Chief Consumer Officer Carolyn Luey. "It allows us to connect with loved ones, get access to educational information and be endlessly entertained. However, as young tamariki have access to online tools, parents are rightfully concerned about aspects such as cyber-bullying, inappropriate content, or simply too much time spent in front of a screen."

Gaining control over internet use in the home can be complex and expensive — at least that was the case before Vodafone's SuperWifi provided mesh wifi units, complete with built-in parental controls free for three years.

Luey says: "SuperWifi gives customers a greater ability to manage internet usage within their home and keep their youngest family members safer online. Through a simple app, parents can block inappropriate content or apps on individual devices, set daily limits for total time spent online, see which apps their kids are using or pause the internet completely if need be."

TP Link. Image / Supplied.
TP Link. Image / Supplied.

The TP-Link HomeCare suite of services Vodafone SuperWifi provides comes with antivirus software and the ability to prioritise specific devices over others on the wifi. However, the feature that will most excite parents is the power to control internet usage and curate online content – all through a smartphone app.

Profiles can be created for each SuperWifi user (with multiple devices on each if needed). Depending on age, content filtering can be set to Child (most strict), Pre-Teen, Teen and Adult (the latter is unfiltered by default).

The default filtering choices are frequently updated remotely by TP-Link and can be edited, with broad categories of sites and apps added or removed.
It's also important to understand the type of internet content being viewed. HomeCare generates real-time and monthly reports that provide visibility of online activity – very handy.

Of course, young people can quickly develop a working understanding of internetworking and routers, especially to get around locked-down connections. They "shoulder surf" to snag router passwords or set up potentially unsafe bypasses like Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to tunnel traffic to untrusted provider's networks.

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To prevent that, parents should make sure they retain admin rights to stop settings changes and don't allow software to be installed without permission.

However, no one wants parental controls to turn into an unwinnable battle against tenacious, bright minds and Luey says it is hugely important instead to get buy-in from the kids as to what constitutes acceptable internet use: "They need to understand they're not anonymous or invisible online, and that the rules are set up for their own safety".

Talking to other parents to work out similar and consistent rules for internet access could remove some peer pressure. One child with freer internet access could sabotage parental controls for other families.

It's also important to note that, while the parental controls in SuperWifi are very useful, no filtering tech is perfect.

Some undesirable stuff can get through blocking tech. If that happens, the only filter is common sense instilled into your children – so make sure that's set up and configured right.

To learn more about Vodafone SuperWifi see www.vodafone.co.nz/superwifi

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