Working from home in the face of a global pandemic posed many challenges for just about everyone, but the transition was especially tough for parents juggling childcare in this strange, new status quo. Although many students are now expected to return to socially distanced in-person learning this upcoming school year, nothing will ever be quite the same.
Preparing your child for this new back-to-school scenario means more than making sure they have the right tech. It also means giving them the best learning environment at home, one that’s free from distractions. Unfortunately, as much as we love them, video games present one of the biggest potential distractions.
Thankfully, modern video game devices offer many parental control features. Whether it’s to comply with regional gaming laws, limit how long kids look at a screen, or protect wallets from exploitative mobile free-to-play tactics, these features have become a legitimate selling point. You can activate the virtual babysitter inside your phone, PC, or game console of choice. This includes the new, next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X consoles available from Sony and Microsoft, respectively.
Our guide will make sure your children stay focused on their studies, not their high scores, while learning online this fall. Just make sure not to lose your parental PIN number, the ultimate cheat code.
How to Enable PC and Mobile’s Parental Controls
Simply banning your children from using a video game console, while harsh, is possible. However, phones are downright vital tech, and students need a computer to take classes from home in the first place. Because these products perform so many functions, they require their own kind of comprehensive parental control software. We already have full roundups on the best parental control software and the best parental control apps for your phone.
With so many apps to choose from, there’s no single set of steps to follow for using parental controls on PC and mobile. Fortunately, those apps make it easy and intuitive to limit the games your child’s user profile can play, when they can play them, and how long they can play them. Sometimes, you don’t even need an outside program to create these kinds of rules. On an iOS device, adjust Screen Time settings to set content restrictions, control multiplayer access, and schedule time limits for play sessions. Android’s built-in parental control tools aren’t as powerful, but the operating system’s looser approach to permissions means that its third-party parental control apps, such as Kaspersky Safe Kids and Qustodio, tend to be much more effective than their iOS counterparts.
On PC, along with installing an overall parental control app, consider educating yourself about the built-in features of the most popular gaming-related programs. When you buy a PC game, chances are you buy it from Steam. Valve’s digital marketplace doesn’t discriminate when it comes to allowing mature material in its library. However, by setting up Family View, you can at least limit which users can play which games, even if you can’t enforce time limits.
Discord gained popularity as a way for gamers to chat with each other. It now positions itself as a broader communication tool after seeing the variety of uses folks found for the app. Ironically, one of those uses includes classmates virtually studying and going over homework with each other. Still, if Discord proves to be too much of a distraction, take advantage of its parental control features, such as blocking inappropriate content and limiting messaging options.
When they aren’t playing games, young people love to watch other people play games online through a video game live streaming service, usually Twitch. Although parents can adjust privacy and messaging options, and Twitch theoretically tries to foster the most positive community possible, parents ultimately can’t block streams on their child’s behalf or limit the time they spend watching streams. Banning the Twitch website or app outright may be the better solution.
How to Enable Nintendo Switch’s Parental Controls
Out of the big three video game console makers, Nintendo remains the most staunchly committed to making sure players of all ages enjoy Mario, Pokemon, and the rest of the company’s beloved mascot games. Sometimes, the company is committed to a fault. Friends must trade lengthy codes with each other to play together online. Instead of implementing built-in voice chat on the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo demands players use a cumbersome mobile app. Sure, the internet is a scary place, but this app doesn’t offer any real protection, just inconvenience.
Fortunately, Nintendo’s parental control app offers real protections, along with convenient features. Available on Android and iOS, this app lets you set time limits and restrict content for child profiles on the Nintendo Switch. Create detailed schedules or give players a chunk of time they can ration out how they see fit. Block games based on age ratings or do your own whitelisting and blacklisting. There’s nothing technically inappropriate about a game like Cadence of Hyrule, but those thumping remixes of Zelda tunes may be too much to handle before bedtime on a school night. Like any proper parental control tool, the app lets you review data as it comes through, including fun tidbits such as which games your kids play the most. By default, the Switch can post pictures and videos to social media, but you can limit those features, too.
Follow the steps below to set up protections on your Nintendo Switch.
How to Enable Parental Controls for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5
The PlayStation 4, like the majority of its predecessors, reigned supreme as the most popular console on the market. The red-hot PlayStation 5 is well on its way toward continuing that legacy. With such a large audience to service (more than 100 million players), offering strong parental controls is the responsible thing to do. And we don’t mean making more games where you play as sad dads murdering folks to protect their children.
Parental controls for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 let you create all the restrictions you would want for your child’s profile. Limit spending, and create screen-time curfews. Activate presets to block mature-rated games and R-rated, Blu-ray movies. Filter the built-in web browser with Trend Micro. Monitor communication by blocking messages, friend requests, and the ability to download user-created content. You can even limit the use of the PlayStation VR headset. Not only do VR games pose a risk to developing young eyeballs, but it’s pretty hard to pay attention in class if you’re busy immersing yourself in an entire virtual reality.
Follow the steps below to set up protections on your PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5.
- Set up a user Family by adding child users under your existing PlayStation Network account in Account Management.
- Give permissions to yourself and any other adult account you feel comfortable with monitoring your child’s activity.
- On your PlayStation 4/5, go to Settings > Parental Controls > Family Management to enable security features, such as time and spending limits, content restrictions, and web filtering.
How to Enable Parental Controls for Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X
The Xbox entered the console market with a hardcore edge, and Xbox Live is infamous for online voice harassment, but kudos to Microsoft for recent steps to make its platform more accessible and family-friendly.
By creating a family group, either online or directly on your console, you can set different limits for different users, and monitor data using the Xbox Family Settings app (now available for Android and iOS). The limits include time, rating, and spending. You can set screen-time notifications for games and apps, as well as approve allowances and limit microtransaction spending. You can even ban exploitative loot boxes, something our own government won’t do. So, not only will your kid stay focused on class, they won’t accidentally spend all their scholarship money. These features extend to all devices that Microsoft wants you to play its games on, so not just Xbox consoles, such as Xbox One and next-gen Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X, but Windows 10 PCs, too. Currently, only adult accounts can access Microsoft’s xCloud streaming service included with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Follow the steps below to set up protections on your Xbox/Windows 10 PC.
- On your Xbox One or Xbox Series S/X, go to System > Settings > Account > Family to manage permissions for child family members. On your Windows PC, manage family members under your Microsoft account.
- No matter how you choose to access family settings, you can set time limits, restrict communication, filter web browsing, and block mature content.
- To approve purchases on your Xbox, select your child’s account under Family and go to Privacy & Online Safety > Xbox Live privacy > View details & customize > Buy & download. On PC, you can enable this through your Microsoft account.
Work Hard, Play Hard
Virtual or not, school is a place for work, but that doesn’t mean there shouldn’t also be a place for play. Parents, there are many healthy ways to let your children enjoy video games. Check out our guide on everything parents need to know about video games. Looking for some recommendations? Here are our picks for the best games for kids and the best Nintendo Switch games for kids.
