Little hackers: kids can easily bypass parental controls -this is what you can do about it

You may have already set up parental controls to monitor your kid’s digital activities, but today’s children are much more internet-savvy than you think and will research ways to get around it.

Just google “how do I get around internet parental controls” and you will see pages of tutorials and videos on how to do exactly that.

Image: Arkan Perdana/Unsplash

One of the most common workarounds kids use to bypass parental controls is changing the time zone in the device.

Image: Luis Cortes/Unsplash

For instance, if you scheduled downtime to begin at 8:25 a.m. Pacific, at that time, all apps would go gray and couldn’t be opened. However, by changing the device’s time zone to, say, Honolulu’s (three hours behind), you’d be able to open any app.

Image: Rob Hampson/Unsplash

When children reach their time limit on an app, they can remove it from their device and redownload it without parental approval. The app is then accessible until the next downtime period is scheduled. 

Image:Dimitri Karastelev/Unsplash

After setting up a downtime schedule, parents sometimes forget to toggle on “Block at Downtime”. If that’s not turned on, kids can tap “Ignore Limit” and keep going.

If you’ve set up ‘Screen Time’ on your child’s device and your kid hands it to you to type in the ‘Screen Time’ passcode, they can secretly record the screen by turning on the option in the control center, so when you hand it back, there will be a video showing what you typed.

One of the more obvious places to access parental controls is also frequently one of the more overlooked ones: your own home network.

If you haven’t changed the “default password” on your router you may have unknowingly created an opportunity for someone in your home to change DNS settings and access a parental control app where they can make changes and monitor the ones you make as well.

Make certain any and all passwords and PIN combinations are unique and difficult for a child to guess or know.

Besides the more obvious precautions you can take to make it difficult for your kids to hack parental controls, like making sure they never learn your passwords, it’s also important how you talk to them about the situation.

Letting them know that you know parental control hacks exist and are available to them, is a good way to make them rethink their choices, according to experts. Then you have to state that there will be consequences if you find out they hacked these controls.

Kids are smarter and more reasonable than we think, so if we explain to them why it’s important to our well-being to limit screen time and content, they might just respect the boundaries set for them.

Limiting screen time is hard for everyone this days, so make sure your kids know it is difficult for you as well and share the tips that help you limit your own screen time, like putting your phone or tablet in another room.