In today’s world, it is hard to turn the television on without being confronted with violent or sexual content. As a parent, the concerns increase. You want to allow your kiddos to watch certain shows, but also make sure they can’t access channels or programs with more controversial content. So how can you give yourself piece of mind and set your T.V. to be kid-friendly?
PARENTAL CONTROLS: THE BASICS
Basic parental controls have existed for years, but there are newer design features far different from what you might remember. Since 2000, almost all new T.V.’s are designed with a V-Chip which allows you to block out programs or channels you don’t want your children to see. Not only can you restrict certain channels from being watched without a password, with some cable or satellite systems you can actually hide or remove them so no one is the wiser.
PICK A GOOD PASSWORD
Most parental control set-ups are controlled with a pin or password. But a password is only good if it is not obvious to the person trying to hack it; in this case, your children. Do not stick with the factory settings or pick your dog’s name as the password, as these are not secure. By picking a strong password you are ensuring that you, and only you, can control the content.
DECIDE WHAT YOU CAN LIVE WITH
Think hard about what options you want available and what you don’t. If you are concerned that anything above a TV Y rating might be too advanced for your preschooler, you can restrict your system to require the password for anything above the Y designation. Amazingly, you can also set a time-limit on how long the T.V. can be on, or keep it from turning on outside of your preferred viewing hours. While you may not be able to force your insomniac to catch those Z’s they desperately need, you can keep them from zoning out in front of the television all night.
PICK THE RIGHT SYSTEM
Most television services provide customization tools so that you can control what your family watches, but not all services are the same. Look into what your service provides, and if you aren’t satisfied, switch to another that fulfills all of your demands. DirectTV, for example (http://www.slackware.org), has all the bells and whistles, and very intuitive parental control settings to make sure you get what you want.