With schools across Northern Ireland closing as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, children will be increasing their screen time on smartphones, tablets and other devices for homework as well as recreation.
Steve Winyard, creator of age restriction tool AgeBlock, says it’s vital to protect children from accessing inappropriate materials through their devices, pointing out that they may be left for longer periods unsupervised online.
Steve is an expert in digital age controls and protecting children from online harm.
He said one of the most unfortunate aspects of the ongoing pandemic is the huge disruption to children’s learning that these unavoidable school closures and quarantine measures will cause.
“Teachers are now being advised to make learning materials available for their students to access remotely via smartphones and other internet-enabled devices, as society prepares for an extended period of time where children will be out of the classroom and stuck indoors at home.
“Inevitably, we’re going to see a huge spike in children using their devices during this time, both for remote learning and recreational purposes.
“This increased usage could well end up being largely unsupervised by parents, who are grappling with their work-life balance. With children increasingly left to their own devices over the coming weeks and months, we need to encourage much greater awareness of the potential risks of exposure to inappropriate materials online,” he said.
Mr Winyard said teachers need confidence that children are accessing learning materials rather than browsing social media, but parents also need reassurance that increased screen time will not lead to increased risk of their child accessing inappropriate, pornographic or other harmful content through their screens.
AgeBlock is an easy-to-use app which gives parents the power to remotely block social media or other age-restricted apps on their smartphones and other devices.
This allows for greater control over what their children can see and do when accessing the internet, but importantly does not allow remote monitoring or spying on children’s activity.
A free one-month trial period is available so that parents can try AgeBlock and decide for themselves whether it’s a good enough tool to protect their children from unwanted and potentially harmful content online and on their phones.