Filtering Your Child’s Media Content
Written by Joe Awuah, Director of Technology at Foothill Christian School
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6 ESV)
Advertisements today, whether on Live TV or streaming media platforms, provide a wide range of content with little regard to the age of the viewer. There have been many times that age-inappropriate advertisements have popped up during the children’s shows that my sons were watching. This concerned me. My wife and I are diligent in protecting our children in every physical way possible so it was obvious to us that we needed to also protect them mentally from the messages being aimed at them. Thus began my hunt for a content filtering software that I could use to manage these messages. It is our goal and prayer to train up our children with values that take hold in their hearts and carry them into adulthood, when our parental shields and attempts of protecting them are dismantled. However this kind of intentionality takes effort. It requires time, energy, and consistency.
If you’re a parent, you need to know what content filtering is. “Content filtering” involves the use of a program to screen and exclude access or availability to web content that is deemed objectionable. These filtering tools are great assets to parents who would like to protect their children’s computer or mobile devices.
Our children today are gulping up larger amounts of data than every before, and with every “byte,” leaving only mere crumbs of information for me and you to keep up with. Consequently, there comes a responsibility to monitor our kids, while providing the appropriate exposure and balance of technology use.
Here are the products that I researched and would like to share with you, some of which I use within our own home.
*NOTE: I am not paid by any of these companies to recommend their products.
- Meet Circle – $99
Circle pairs wirelessly with your home’s WiFi and allows you to manage every device on your network. Using the Circle app, families can create unique profiles for each family member. From here, kids will have a connected experience that is designed just for them. Parents can set time limits, bedtimes, filters, rewards, pause the internet, off-time hours, and review usage metrics.
- Eero – $199 – $499 (depending on number of required devices)
Eero is a complete mesh WiFi network that blankets your home with stable WiFi, and also incorporates user profiles and an easy app interface to manage all your devices.
- Lumahome – $149 – $280
Another solid Mesh WiFi router, similar to Eero, Lumahome has slightly different implementation and technology claims, but also works well. Also offers Parental Controls for internal devices.
I hope these tools can help you as a parent manage the technology within your home, giving you more insight to the types of content your children are being exposed to and using these tools to filter that content with confidence and ease. Stay vigilant.
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