Different types of parent’s rules and restrictions across the media

Parents are very conscious about their children’s media activities and that is why they offer certain types of rules and restrictions for media use. In most of the households, children have rules for television, internet, mobile phones usage and gaming. Older children of age group 12-15 have fewer rules when compared to the younger children. Another interesting finding suggests that families with multi-channel television service have controls PIN or password. When compared to 2010, these types of access controls have increased from 36% to 44%. In comparison to television, parents are less bothered about game players and therefore they are less likely to offer controls over them. Internet controls or filtering software are introduced by households with children 5-15.

59% of parents those surveyed admitted that they had some type of technical parental controls installed to restrict their children’s media usage. 83% of parents have asked their children to stay away from harmful online activities while 82% said that they believed that their children know about staying safe online. Parents have installed certain controls to monitor and restrict their children’s media usage. 64% parents of boys and 52% parents of girls have adopted these rules.

Rules across television viewing
Parents of children 5-7s (91%) and 8-11s (89%) have adopted effective rules and restrictions over their children’s television usage more than parents of children 12-15 (67%). Most of the children of 5-7 have rules like no TV after a certain time (56%), no TV programmes with bad language (54%), no programmes with violence (51%) and
no programmes with sexual content (51%). Children of 12-15 are less likely to have the rule no TV viewing after certain time. In order to restrict their children’s television viewing, parents now use various types of technical controls. PIN number or password is one of the common technical controls adopted by the parents. Parents with children 5-7 used controls to prevent access of specific television channels during specific time. Households with DVR uses PIN to restrict viewing of a TV broadcast that was recorded after 9pm.

Households with cable or satellite television service have these access controls the most. The use of access controls have increased in households with Freeview service and satellite services, since 2010. However, some parents admitted that they were unaware how to use and set these access controls. Over 17% parents of children aged 5-15 didn’t know how to set the controls.

Rules about radio listening
27% of Children aged 5-7s, 24% of children 8-11s and 13% of children 12-15s have rules relating to radio listening. Older children have fewer rules when compared to the younger children. They are restricted from listening radio during certain time of the day. Parents also make sure to check the type of radio shows they are listening. No music with bad languages and swearing is another rule introduced by the parents.


Rules for mobile phones
To ensure safe mobile phone use among children, parents have put in place certain types of rules and restrictions. Parents of 8-11s are likely to set rules when compared to the parents of children 12-15 with mobile phones. The two most common rules by their parents are calls/ texts only to an agreed list of contacts (26%) and no texts to premium rate number (23%). Parents of children 12-15 agreed that their children are responsible for paying their phone bills. The rules are almost the same for parents of children with smart phones.

31% of those surveyed believed that their children’s mobile phone is limited to exclude certain websites. Most of the surveyed parents admitted that their children’s mobile phones didn’t have any filters. Some parents didn’t know if such facilities were available.

Ruled about playing games
Rules and restrictions are also offered on games. 87% parents of children aged 5-7, 83% parents of children aged 8-11 and 58% parents of children 12-15 admitted that they used certain types of controls. Parents of younger children did not allow their children to play games with an appropriate age rating. Parents were also bothered about the gaming contents their child plays. 48% of parents have rules no games with swearing/ bad language, 47% for no games with violence and 45% for no games with nudity/ sexual content and no games with drugs use. Boys aged 12-15 have more rules when compared to girls of the same age group.

Parental controls were installed in game consoles and handheld gaming devices to restrict their child’s game use. Some parents have parental controls installed in their gaming devices and fixed game consoles.

Rules about the internet
89% of Children 5-7, 88% of children 8-11 and 72% of children 12-15 have rules over their internet activities. Half of the parents of children aged 8-11 admits they check their children’s online activities regularly. Parents of 8-11 year old children are more concern about this than the parents of older children. Some parents do not permit their children to access the internet without their supervision. These rules are less likely to be applicable for elder children.

Internet controls/ filtering software are installed to restrict children’s online activities at home. 39% of parents of children aged 5-15 admitted that they used certain type of internet control. Parents of 8-11 have these controls set more than parents of 12-15. Half of the parents have introduced safe search engine settings to ensure safe online experience. Parents with children who visit YouTube websites are protected by safety mode set. Most of the parents of children 5-15 have this safety feature activated.

These ruled, restrictions and parental controls over the various media are very useful. Since 2010, parents are using more such safety features to restrict their child’s media usage.