By Paul Grossinger
Remember 2005?
In the mid-2000s, internet parental controls were all the rage. Parents were, rightfully, concerned by what their children were viewing online and bought parental control software left and right. Internet parental control became a multi-billion dollar industry.
PC Security is now a mountain we’ve climbed. We reached the summit and, for most parents, systems from McAfee, Norton, and other companies keep their kids away from virus and porn sites.
Fast forward to 2013 and parental control is fundamentally changing: now, it’s all about mobile. Mobile is where children and teens now spend the majority of their time and mobile is where parents now need digital protection.
Mobile parental control isn’t a true buzzword yet in pop culture terms but it is on its way. 35% of children and teens own smartphones, according to Pew Research; similar numbers to PC penetration among teens in the early 2000s.Texting while driving, cyber-bullying, Snapchat, sexting…these problems are just beginning to enter the mainstream public discourse.
But, starting now, all of that is changing. Soon, “mobile” will be inseparable from parental control and parents will be focusing less on internet browsing and more on phone control. Is my child receiving bullying texts – or sending them? Is my child texting behind the wheel? Did my child send nude pictures? MMGuardian works to solve the problems posed by these questions. Specifically, MMGuardian’s Safe Driving feature blocks texting and driving, its Monitor feature blocks bullying text messages, its App Control feature blocks dangerous apps, and it gives parents remote lock and locating capabilities.
And it is those questions, now spoken mostly in the shadows, which speak to the problems that will come to dominate conversations about technology parenting.
Indeed, by 2016, when nearly 100% of teens own at least one smart device, how could they not?
