Our children and their smartphones: how to protect them?

Our children and their smartphones: how to protect them?

It’s been a long time since the mobile phone has definitely entered our daily lives. That’s a fact. Now, nearly 3/4 of the phones sold in France are smartphones, and more than one Frenchman in two has one. But these connected phones are invading the universe of our children.

More and more equipped… and connected 24/7

In the past, parents who offered a telephone to their children usually did so when they entered college. This was a way to be reassured, to be able to contact them or be called in case of an emergency. In short, it started with a good feeling. Already in 2009, 73% of 12-17-year-olds were equipped with a mobile[1]. This trend is accelerating today, as more and more young people are owning a mobile phone, which is mostly a smartphone.
For a teenager, having a smartphone means being able to maintain a permanent connection to their community. Unfortunately, this often leads to massive mobile usage. But 73% of the phones sold today in France are smartphones1, that is to say, that they make it possible to surf the Web. Connected 24/7, our children lie down and get up with their phones. This one has even taken the place they used to have: under the pillow.

And parents often lack vigilance. We have forgotten that a smartphone is a today the extension of a computer. Thanks to this small, apparently harmless, pocket camera, we can access the same content as with the salon machine... and thus make the same mistakes: bad encounters, data theft (photos, identifiers), etc. As we think about locking our computers with passwords, limited access and parental control, we forget to do so for our toddlers' phones.

The solutions

There are many ways to protect our children from the misuse of their mobile devices:

1/ Activation of parental control via the telecom operator

Each operator offers this service (usually free of charge), either on request or at the opening of the line. It prevents access to:
Internet;
content with an age limit;
inappropriate services, dating sites, etc.
But this device only works for the 3G/4G phone network and is ineffective with a Wifi connection.

2/ Installing a control application.

Some are free, but most are paid for because they offer more functions than simple parental control. Among them are Kids place, Parents in the area, Mobicip (iOS) and Mobile by Gulli. Thanks to them, it is possible to:
Manage downloaded applications
Screen by age; and
conduct an hourly check;
have an activity report;
View incoming and outgoing calls and text messages.
Unfortunately, they are not really effective because it is relatively easy to get around them. As with any protection, it is only a matter of means and motivation.

3/ Restrictions activated directly on the phone

They can be configured on the phone using secret codes. This is a radical solution, but it can also be bypassed simply by resetting the device.
Raising awareness rather than prohibiting
In summary, all available control and blocking options can be bypassed. This is done by typing a request on Google, and dozens of solutions appear. Our children were born with these digital objects and tools. So they are quite capable of getting the information they need. Often much better than us. Moreover, these solutions are intrusive and sometimes invasive. What then about the indispensable relationship of trust between a parent and his child?
Contrary to a totally detached and permissive attitude, which could have serious consequences at the age when children are being built, simpler solutions are within everyone’s reach:

1/ Monitor

Check and inquire about the sites visited by the child, simply by asking. Take a look at the content he publishes on social networks, for example by being there as a friend.

2/ Raise awareness

Remind the child of the importance of thinking before sending a text or email. Messages can be misinterpreted and transmitted to others. Also, tell them to give their phone number only to people they know and not to disclose other numbers without permission. Encourage them to ignore messages received from people they do not know.

Make him aware of the images he publishes on social networks: be careful that they are not visible to everyone, that they are not subjective, and that we cannot geo-locate the place where they were taken. Finally, suggest that he protect his phone with a password.

What about parent education?

Often our children are more aware of the technologies than we are. All these tips are therefore very abstract for those who are not themselves already aware of the problems of smartphone security. So there is an educational effort to be made in order to explain to parents the dangers incurred by their children and the means to protect them. A simple first step, for example, would be to train telecom vendors in the prevention messages to be transmitted to parents when they purchase a phone from their child since the latter does not acquire it alone. It is a priori simple to explain to parents that, if they do not take precautions, it is as if they bought their child a first bike, and let him jump on the roads without wheels, without a helmet and without explaining to him the basics of the code of the road.