Navigating the digital world with your child

Tips for balancing screen time • Talk about content your family might encounter online. • Create a plan as a family of howmuch screen time is allowed on specific days in the week. • Use parental controls on devices/your internet provider to manage the time connected. Ironically, children might be more accepting if a device automatically switches off rather than being asked to stop. • Enjoy screen-free mealtimes (yes, the whole family). • Avoid screens an hour before bedtime and no devices in bedrooms overnight. In the sections that follow, you are introduced to four of the most popular apps that your child is likely to use. As you would expect, features and settings on Apple and Android applications need constant review and updating. So, this guide focuses on the parental controls that are available, rather than on how to access the specific parental controls, as these are constantly changing.

The specific parental controls for applications can be obtained from the website: www.internetmatters.org