I often have a debates with friends and family about the kids of today using tablets and iPads. The main point I try and get across is that our kids were born into this technology. It is not foreign for them to swipe on things, similarly to the way we were brought up with Casio watches and Sony Walkmans. The thing is, the technology is here to stay, and we can’t keep our kids away from it, it is their life.
But one of the “risks” of having this sort of technology is that there is whole other world out there, that we don’t want our kids to see. It’s a reality and we need to firstly and most importantly EDUCATE our kids about what goes on out there. We can’t hide behind reality and by being honest with your kids, and telling them there are some crazy people out there, we can help protect them.
I also recently found a fantastic setting on the iOS devices which allows you to “Limit Adult Content” This doesn’t only block access to all adult sites, but also anything that could be deemed not safe for kids, such as gambling, religion etc etc. The setting is also controlled via a password so kids can’t undo this setting.
To turn this feature on do the following:
On your iOS device go to Settings -> General -> Restrictions
At this point if you have not used Restrictions before, you will need to set a password. I would suggest using a different password from whats normally used to unlock the iPad and only something you know :)
Once you in restrictions you can turn off a number of Apps etc. I personally turn off Safari & In App Purchases.
Once you go into Restrictions go to Websites and select “Limit Adult Content”
Once you try surf to a site Apple deems as unsafe, you will need to put in the restrictions password you set in the beginning.
If you ever need to go back to the full setting, you can just go into restrictions and take off the setting and allow all websites.
This is a really handy trick that works 100% of the time ;)
