Parental controls are features which may be included in digital television services, computer and video games, mobile phones and software. Parental controls fall into roughly four categories, content filters, which limit access to age appropriate content, usage controls, which constrain the usage of these devices such as placing time-limits on usage or forbidding certain types of usage, computer usage management tools, which allow parents to enforce learning time into child computing time, and monitoring, which can track location and activity when using the devices.
Content filters were the first popular type of parental controls to limit access to Internet content. Also television stations began introducing V-Chip technology to limit access to television content. Controls are now being applied to content ranging from explicit songs to objectionable movies available for purchase online. Usage controls are increasing in sophistication; examples include turning devices off during specific times of day, limiting the volume of the music playing in the car, and with GPS technology becoming affordable, it is now possible to know where a child is at curfew.
Read more about Parental Controls: Overview, Parental Controls On Mobile Phones, Parental Controls On The IPod Touch, Commonly Used Methods To Bypass Parental Controls, Video Game Systems That Have Used Parental Controls, Operating Systems With Parental Controls, Tools For Parents For Social Networking Sites
Famous quotes containing the words parental and/or controls:
“Indeed, there are no easy correlations between parental ideology, class or race and “successful” child development. Many children the world over have revealed a kind of toughness and plasticity that make the determined efforts of some parents to spare their children the slightest pain seem ironic.”
—Robert Coles (20th century)
“The confusion of emotions with behavior causes no end of unnecessary trouble to both adults and children. Behavior can be commanded; emotions can’t. An adult can put controls on a child’s behavior—at least part of the time—but how do you put controls on what a child feels? An adult can impose controls on his own behavior—if he’s grown up—but how does he order what he feels?”
—Leontine Young (20th century)