As digital immigrants we spend a lot of time trying to understand the dangers of technology. We make it our priority to keep our future generations—and inherent digital natives—safe. We tell them not to say anything online that they wouldn’t say in person, we delete inappropriate applications from their smartphones, and we work hard to educate ourselves and keep up with the constantly evolving threat landscape. All of this is important work, and all of us here at McAfee have dedicated ourselves to the cause. However, it’s important when working with younger generations (who have a tendency to hear the word ‘no’ and think ‘yes’) to not only protect them from cyber dangers, but help them understand the exponential possibilities of technology. Allowing kids the freedom to explore the digital world safely so they can fully explore their potential as the generation that will lead us through—as our McAfee President Mike DeCesare says—”One of the most major transformations of mankind”, is one of our responsibilities. In a world where an estimated 15,000 new applications are created each week, this can seem like an impossible task.
Don’t worry. I’m here to help.
Here’s how to lock down what the type of applications your child is able to download on their smartphone.
iPhone:
- Select ‘Settings’
- Select ‘General’
- Select ‘Restrictions’
- Enter a passcode – something different than your child would suspect (do this twice)
- Select ‘Enable Restrictions’
- From here, scroll to ‘Allowed Content’ and click on the applicable settings, changing them as desired
- * Bonus: To turn off Geotagging: Scroll to ‘Location Services’Select ‘Allow Changes’
- Turn ‘Location Services’ to OFF.
- If you’d like to keep Location Services on for certain apps (such as maps) and not others (such as Instagram) leave location services as on, and then turn it off in those selected apps you deem inappropriate.
Android:
- Select your ‘apps folder’
- Navigate to the ‘Play Store’
- Select ‘Menu’
- Select ‘Settings’
- Select ‘Content Filtering’
- From here, you will be able to set a maturity level for the applications the user will be able to download
- Lastly, set your PIN (something different than your child would be able to guess)
- * Bonus: To help ensure your child doesn’t bypass your new restrictions, turn off installation of apps from sources other than the Play StoreSelect your ‘apps folder’
- Navigate to ‘Settings’
- Deselect ‘Unknown Sources’
And voila. You’re now a few steps ahead of your digital native.
What other ways do you stay ahead of your tech savvy kid? Share your tips and tricks below, or feel free to ask me questions on Twitter @tctompkins.