What Does Parental Control Do?
The media has taken on a life of its own. On a daily basis, society is bombarded with countless media messages that are attempting to entertain, inform or persuade you to either do or buy something. However, not all media messages are for everybody. In fact, some media messages are a little too adult for children. In order for a parent to ensure that her child is not consuming information that she is not mature enough to handle, the parent needs a way to manage the media messages that come into the home. Parental controls are a way to do just that.
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Identification
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Parental control allows a parent to restrict certain information from being seen on a computer and a television. Parental control on computers permits a parent to restrict certain websites, games, words and even the time a child can spend on the computer. Parental control is similar to a baby sitter for parents when they are not free to monitor what their child is doing online.
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Types
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There are numerous kinds of parental control programs that can be downloaded on your computer for free. However, most computer systems are already equipped with parental controls on them. Every computer is different, but the parental controls setup is very similar. (For directions on how to set parental controls, see Resources.)
Warning
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Parental control allows you to restrict certain websites if they are not "age-appropriate." For example, if your child tried to visit a website that had certain adult content, (i.e. pornography, violence, drug-use, language), access to the website could be restricted. However, keep in mind; it is your responsibility to block specific content when you configure your parental control settings.
Be Mindful of Human Errors
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Parents can pretty much glance at print media and determine whether it is child-friendly. Even television programs have been equipped with ratings since 1997. However, keeping children safe online is an ongoing battle because websites do not have any age-appropriate sign postings. Parents restrict websites according to certain content, language, violence, etc. However, this type of management leaves a lot of room for human error.
V-Chip Technology
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Any television that is bigger than 13 inches is required to have V-Chip technology. The V-Chip is a chip inside your television that understands the television rating system. So for example, if you want to restrict your child from viewing any shows with a TV-14 or TV-MA rating, you can set your television up to do so. Or, you can set the television to prompt for a password to access particular programs.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit "Happy New Year" is Copyrighted by Flickr user: woodleywonderworks (woodley wonderworks) under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
