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Parental Controls:Parental Controls:Parental Controls:Parental Controls: Out of ControlOut of ControlOut of ControlOut of Control

It takes a lot of effort to protect our kids. Innovations in technology and entertainment have introduced new

challenges for parents, which extend far beyond “child-proofing” the medicine cabinet. For example,

gaming is now interactive via the Internet, calling into question, not only the game, but also the other

gamers. Movies, music, and videos are also accessible on televisions, computers, and even phones.

Questionable content is a click away.

The responsibility of protecting your children can seem

overwhelming. Therefore, when an adult actively attempts to use

parental controls, the process should be simple and success

should be guaranteed. However, a great deal of preparation is

actually needed to properly activate these controls. We are

sharing these results with you so that you can easily pinpoint

crucial areas where you must be especially cautious. Parental

controls are only valuable if you know how to make them work.

The studyThe studyThe studyThe study

Our research with 20 pairs of children and their parents (40

people total) explored such issues as:

• Determining awareness of existing parental control

technology

• Assessing confidence in setting parental controls for

each device

• Restricting children from inappropriately rated content

• Preventing strangers from contacting your child without

permission

• Pinpointing the usability of setting parental controls

The study included these devices and systems:

• The V-chip (a small chip embedded into television sets

since 2001 that blocks programming based on parental

guidance ratings encoded in broadcast signals)

• TiVo (a digital video recording service that allows

users to schedule and watch shows they have recorded)

• Xbox 360 gaming system (the Xbox 360 has two sets of

parental controls: Console controls to block games and

movies, and Xbox Live controls to restrict online

gaming and communication with others)

• Firefly (a mobile phone aimed at grade-schoolers;

parental controls on the Firefly can be set up to restrict

outgoing and incoming calls)

Our user research specialists spent 75 minutes with each parent

and child, walking them through a series of tasks for each

device. These tasks were specially designed to determine the

ease of use of the devices.

In this article, we will take a look at some of our findings and let

you know what you need to do to make sure that you can set the

parental controls on these devices with the assurance that they

are working effectively.

Don’t be one of the many who are Don’t be one of the many who are Don’t be one of the many who are Don’t be one of the many who are unawareunawareunawareunaware Awareness of technology in today's world is half the battle to succeeding with it–the more one knows about something, the better able one is to use it. The same applies to parental controls, including the various ratings systems used by television and gaming systems. For instance, the parental guidance rating system used by the V-chip and shown on all of the major networks is composed of seven individual ratings. In this study, 80% of parents and 70% of children were aware of this TV ratings system. However, this awareness seems to be limited to a very basic understanding – actual knowledge of the descriptions of each rating is much more limited, hovering around 40% at best. Only by understanding these descriptors will parents be able to determine the levels of violence, language or sexuality that children are exposed to. Yet, most of the people in our study had no practical understanding of their meaning. If parents and guardians are to be successful in setting proper controls for those in their supervision, it is not enough to be aware of either of these ratings systems. Parents must actively learn the descriptors for each system because only then will they have a chance of ensuring protection from harmful content.

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Overall Device Failure Rates

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V-Chip TiVo Xbox 360 Firefly

Device

Percent Failure

Parent

Child

How easy is it to set up parental controls?How easy is it to set up parental controls?How easy is it to set up parental controls?How easy is it to set up parental controls?

First and foremost, our research indicates that parents need to spend the time to learn how to set up parental

controls. Participants in this study struggled not only with the various screens when setting up these

controls, but also with the model for the ratings systems in place (see sidebar).

The graph below shows the average failure rates for parents and for children on each device. These

numbers make it clear that most are not able to achieve these tasks easily on their own. Adults who are

serious about protecting young people in their care need to dedicate the time to learning more by reading

the manuals that come with each device, or researching the device and its controls online. When you set up

parental controls, it is also important to carefully read the on-screen directions. Sometimes, these might be

clearer than what you will find in a manual or online.

Additionally, once you have learned about how to set these controls, it is also a necessity to confirm that

they are properly activated. Many participants in our study believed that they had successfully set up

controls when in fact they had not; the children in their care would have been left inadvertently vulnerable

to questionable content.

How much difference is there between you and your kids?How much difference is there between you and your kids?How much difference is there between you and your kids?How much difference is there between you and your kids?

One of society’s widely-held beliefs is that children are much more technology savvy than parents. After

all, between work and managing the family’s day-to-day affairs, what parent has the time to experiment

with the latest gizmo from Best Buy or Toys ‘R’ Us? Results from our study challenge this myth and show

that for the most part, there is no difference in how parents and children set up parental controls.

No device drives this point home more clearly than the Xbox 360, Microsoft’s gaming console, which in

addition to games also plays movies and allows for online gaming and communication between gamers

across the world. As you can see in the graph above, the failure rates for both groups were almost equal,

with 45% of parents and 49% of children failing to set up its various parental controls.

The same point is true

for the Firefly mobile

phone, which has

parental controls that

allow you to restrict a

child’s contact with

other individuals who

are not approved by the

parent or guardian. Both

groups performed

equally poorly with this

device: 34% of parents

and 39% of children

failed to successfully set

up its controls.

So, while common

wisdom would seem to

say that kids who can

program a VCR long

before any adult should

be able to master these

controls with ease, this

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simply is not the case. Still, guardians need to become experts in the technology to be certain that they are

prepared for any scenario.

Confidence can be misplacedConfidence can be misplacedConfidence can be misplacedConfidence can be misplaced

Usually, technology lets us know when we mess up. Have you ever tried to close a program on a computer

that was not finished saving your most recent changes to disk? Typically, an on-screen message pops up to

warn us that there will be serious consequences if we do not let the program “finish its business” first.

Unfortunately, there are no alert mechanisms in place with the majority of parental controls, which means

parents might think they have set up the controls correctly, when in actuality, they have not.

A clear illustration of this point once again comes from the Xbox 360. For the console controls, a large

portion of parents (70%) and children (65%) felt confident that they had successfully put them in place.

However, 42% of parents and 57% of children failed! How could our participants be confident that they set

up the console controls when so many failed? Simple: Nobody knew they had failed to set up the parental

controls!

Xbox 360 Console Controls: Failure Rates vs.

Confidence Rates

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Parent Child

Participant Group

Percentage of Participants

Failure

Confidence

The same thing happened, however, when we asked participants how confident they were that they

successfully programmed the Xbox Live parental controls. Setting up these controls is a lengthy process

with many places for potential error and very little confirmation of correct action. Once again, the majority

of parents (65%) and children (75%) were confident that they successfully set up the Xbox Live controls.

However, 67% of parents and 40% of children failed to set up the Xbox Live parental controls.

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Xbox Live Parental Controls: Failure Rates vs.

Confidence Rates

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Parent Child

Participant Group

Percentage of Participants

Failure

Confidence

If the Xbox 360 gave better clues as to whether the parental controls were set up correctly, people might

have had a different view of their abilities and not been so confident in the successes of their actions. Over-

confidence can lead to complacency; this finding further stresses the need for parents to educate themselves

in order to avoid potential pitfalls in the setup process.

ConclusionConclusionConclusionConclusion

What do such results say about the devices and the people who use them? While these devices and their

parental control features are useful, they are not usable. There are wonderful tools at our disposal, but many

of us cannot adjust them “out of the box” so that they are also safe for kids to use. What’s more, there are

no parental controls that can’t be circumvented or revealed by some clever searching on the Internet.

Parental controls have to act as an effective supplement – not a replacement – for parental supervision.

Our comparison of high confidence ratings with actual success rates presents another worrisome fact:

People are often unaware when they have failed to properly set up these controls. Ultimately, society

should take these results as a warning: We are not doing as good of a job at protecting our children as we

might think.

However, technology should not be discarded simply because it can be dangerous. Adults who educate

themselves in advance on how to use these parental controls are much more likely to succeed. These

controls are designed to act as safeguards – and they can – as long as we understand that there is a learning

curve involved in ensuring that they do.

It is our hope that the controls for each of the devices and systems described in this article will become

more user friendly with each new release. But as parents and guardians of today’s youth, we simply cannot

afford to wait until this happens. We need to be sure we take the extra time necessary to learn about such

things as the ratings systems and potential pitfalls in the process; it is only through this additional effort that

we can be sure that those in our care are not inadvertently exposed to inappropriate content.

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TV RatingsTV RatingsTV RatingsTV Ratings ESRB RatingsESRB RatingsESRB RatingsESRB Ratings

All Children: All Children: All Children: All Children: This programming is appropriate for children of any age, yet is geared specifically toward children between the ages of 2 to 7 years old.

Early Childhood: Early Childhood: Early Childhood: Early Childhood: Videogames with this rating contain no inappropriate content and are playable by children ages 3 and above.

Directed to Directed to Directed to Directed to Older Children: Older Children: Older Children: Older Children: Programming bearing this rating is appropriate for children ages 7 and above.

Everyone: Everyone: Everyone: Everyone: These videogames are appropriate for children ages 6 and older.

Directed to Older Children Directed to Older Children Directed to Older Children Directed to Older Children----Fantasy Fantasy Fantasy Fantasy Violence: Violence: Violence: Violence: Appropriate for children ages 7 and above, this programming contains mild violence that would not be possible in the real world.

Everyone 10+: Everyone 10+: Everyone 10+: Everyone 10+: Videogames rated as E10+ are suitable for children 10 years of age and older.

General Audience: General Audience: General Audience: General Audience: Programming with this rating is appropriate for a wide audience.

Teen: Teen: Teen: Teen: Teen-rated videogames are appropriate for children age 13 years and older.

Parental Guidance Suggested: Parental Guidance Suggested: Parental Guidance Suggested: Parental Guidance Suggested: Parents should definitely consider watching this programming with their children as they might find some content objectionable.

Mature: Mature: Mature: Mature: These videogames are appropriate for ages 17 and above. Its content could contain intense violence and strong language....

Parents Strongly Cautioned: Parents Strongly Cautioned: Parents Strongly Cautioned: Parents Strongly Cautioned: Content in programming bearing this rating is inappropriate for children 14 years old or younger.

Adults Only:Adults Only:Adults Only:Adults Only: Definitely inappropriate for children of any age.

Mature Audience Only: Mature Audience Only: Mature Audience Only: Mature Audience Only: This programming is definitely unsuitable for children younger than 17 years old.

Rating Pending: Rating Pending: Rating Pending: Rating Pending: Games with this rating are awaiting a final decision from the ESRB on which rating it will receive.

Further information can be found at: http://www.tvguidelines.org/ratings.asp

Further information on ESRB ratings can be found at: http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp