Parental Controls for Cell Phones
April 3rd 2011 -
As you might have noticed from your monthly cell phone bill, your teen loves to talk! One of the most popular topics we receive questions about is teens and cell phone usage. Today’s cell phones have incredible capabilities. Even some of the most unsophisticated cell phone models allow access to social media and the web. With these capabilities come an array of issues and concerns for parents, guardians, and teachers – whether it be sexting, cyber-bulling, cyber-stalking or simply abusing cell phone privileges during class time.
As a parent there are steps you can take to monitor cell phone usage for your family. It is no longer an all or nothing deal. You can give your child a way to stay in constant contact while implementing safety precautions to that will limit usage and ultimately keep your child safe and your phone bill in check.
Most major wireless providers provide some type of parental control settings. Find out what particular settings are offered through your service provider. Many mobile carriers offer a variety of features with varying levels of sophistication. Many offer the ability to block communication from specific numbers and some even limit communication to pre-approved contacts. Most offer some kind of filter for web browsing and the ability to restrict the times of day the phone can be used for browsing, messaging and outbound calling.
These services often come with some additional charge. Be sure to check if these services are offered with your child’s particular cell phone model. Also, note the limits and loopholes of these settings. (For instance, web filters may not work if your child is using a wi-fi connection.)
Here are links to information about family settings for a few of the major mobile service providers.
AT&T – Smart Controls
Verizon – Usage Controls, Family Locator, Content Filters
Sprint – Parental Controls
T-Mobile – Web Guard, Message Blocking
If you’re looking for an even more sophisticated method of tracking your teens cell phone usage there are a number of tracking software applications available. These often come with a bigger price tag, but they allow you track text conversations, incoming and outgoing calls, and view any communications your teen may have deleted from their phone. You will need access to the web to view data and you will need access to the cell phone itself in order to download the tracking software.
My Mobile Watchdog (recently featured on KTLA & The Today Show) offers a range of features including:
• Notification when an unauthorized person tries to call, text, or email your child.
• Access to full content (all text and images sent and received by your child).
• Reports for all monitored activity (printable for school officials, parents, or law enforcement).
My Mobile Watchdog runs $9.95/month and works on all BlackBerry, Android and Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6.0 Smartphones.
Mobile Nanny offers similar features but is compatible with the iPhone as well as Android and BlackBerry. Mobile Nanny software starts at $49.97/per year.
Once again, be careful when shopping for these tools. Make sure your device is compatible and be sure to look out for hidden costs. Do your homework and research a little about the “spyware” you are considering.
It’s important to remember that these are supplementary tools. The most important thing you can do is TALK to your teens and tweens about appropriate cell phone usage. Discuss what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior in the digital world.
Tags: cell phone tracking, cell phones, cyber-bullying, cyber-stalking, family settings, monitoring cell phone usage, parental controls, sexting, teens, tweens
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Sara Says:
March 22nd, 2011 at 10:12 pm
The easiest way to exert some “parental control” and save money when it comes to cell phones is to put your kids on prepaid cell phone aircards or no contract plans – it gives you all of the minute control. The best value for that is def Tracfone prepaid since they offer super low cost phones and aircards that allow kids to have phones and minutes and even share in the purchase – its what I did with my son. When my partner and I decided to put our 12 year old on a cell phone plan, we bought a $10 phone and $10 aircard from Tracfone as an experiment – the phone had no internet, email, or camera since I wanted to make sure the phone was going to be used just as a phone. It’s saved me from another potential bill and when he saves his money, he is able to buy his own aircards and take on responsiblity.