Supervision, the only 100% effective parental control for digital platforms aimed at children

According to the European Commission, children start surfing the net from the age of seven. And they quickly move on to doing it by themselves: a study published by Technology and Play reveals that, in England, one in four 0- to 2-year-olds and 36% of children aged 3 to 5 own their own tablet. As for Spain, the latest Survey on Equipment and Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Households carried out by the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) in collaboration with the Statistical Institute of Catalonia (Idescat) shows that mobile phones are the devices on which most children start out using the internet and, by the age of 15, almost all – 94% – have one of their own.

They are not, however, always prepared for what they find, and proof of this is that in the "Encuesta sobre hábitos de uso y seguridad de internet de menores y jóvenes en España" (Survey on internet use and security of minors and young people in Spain), carried out by the Ministry of the Interior, 15% of parents stated that their children had viewed content in the last year that had made them feel uncomfortable. When asked about the type of content that the children themselves admitted they should not have seen, the two most commonly mentioned were explicit sexual images and violent content.

As such, the arrival of audiovisual platforms specifically aimed at minors was seen as a very positive innovation by the majority of parents and educators. Filmin Kids, HBO Kids, Netflix Kids and YouTube Kids seemed to provide the solution to potential problems of digital product misuse, enabling children to surf them freely without risk. "Digital natives, who have grown up using tablets, are extremely proficient at surfing the internet, which is why these platforms have been developed as closed options within the ecosystem of the generalist platforms, limiting access to a range of child-friendly content", explains member of the UOC Learning, Media and Entertainment research group (GAME) and author of La otra pantalla (The Other Screen; Editorial UOC, 2015) Elena Neira.

However, as UOC Faculty of Information and Communication Sciences professor and fellow member of the GAME research group Judith Clares explains, it is important to differentiate between platforms such as YouTube, which offer a service "designed for sharing free video with a catalogue that is fed by the millions of videos uploaded to the platform by users without any vetting or editorial process having been implemented," and SVOD platforms such as Filmin, Netflix and HBO that produce and distribute content, and where the titles included in their catalogues are selected and subject to a careful editorial process. "While YouTube Kids is designed to offer 'a safer online experience for kids compared to YouTube', the truth is that the selection of content on this platform relies on automated content filtering and selection systems", Clares points out. "It is designed to exclude content that is inappropriate for children but there is no editorial process in place, or even a manual, personalized review of the selection, which is why they need to offer parental control systems and the chance for parents to program, decide and select which channels and/or content their children can access", she says.

The legal and the ideal

The need to protect minors against content that may be harmful to them is not an issue that has eluded the European institutions. A few days ago, the EU permanent representatives confirmed the agreement reached at the beginning of June with regard to modernizing the existing rules on the provision of audiovisual media services in Europe, with the objective of better protecting minors from violent or harmful content. This legislation holds the platforms themselves responsible if they violate the rules and makes it possible to take action against them. This directive is not any guarantee either, however, that children are viewing the most appropriate content. Clares points out that, despite the fact that there is a regulation that protects minors in place, "they have access to more and more content from a variety of different sources and channels, with content that may not be appropriate for their age, and we as parents need to invest our time, get involved and guide them".

Experts agree that the only fail-safe way to ensure children do not view inappropriate content is to supervise their use of these platforms. "Parental control systems can be helpful, but parents need to supervise their children; to get involved", stresses Clares.

It is an opinion shared by clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst and UOC professor José Ramón Ubieto. "Banning things does not usually amount to much by itself and even less so in a reality with a hidden face that is more accessible to them than to us", warns the co-author of Niñ@s Híper. Infancias hiperactivadas, hiperconectadas e hipersexualizadas (Hyper Children. Hyperactive, Hyperconnected and Hypersexualized Childhoods; Ned, 2018). "Perhaps the smarter course of action is to teach them to use these platforms, to talk to them, not on a technical level but more importantly about ethical use, about the consequences of our actions. That implies supervision because this type of technology readily facilitates user alienation, and to an even greater degree when talking about minors who are vulnerable. It is intentionally designed to keep us glued to the internet: colours, shapes, sounds, music, notifications, prizes... There is a reason that some of its creators, now repentant, have created a centre for its humanization", he adds.

Consequences of misuse

The guidance and supervision that the experts believe to be essential are the most effective tools in preventing minors from accessing inappropriate content, and there are consequences to seeing that content. "There is a risk associated with the negative side of what is known as 'adultizing'; doing something at an earlier age than is usual. One such example is porn, which has turned into a route of sexual initiation for teens and at an increasingly early age", says Ubieto, adding that, as these days it is impossible to go through childhood or adolescence free from the influence of digital culture, the best course of action is to teach children to draw on the positives of that culture. "Tablets and mobiles are the tools of the younger generations. They go online for answers to their questions and meet others to chat to and learn from. Youtubers are increasingly popular role models. The issue for adults is not about entering into a competition but directing their children and students in the right ways to use these technologies by putting themselves forward as valid interlocutors. The internet is modifying family dynamics but it won't destroy an invention – the family – that has stood the test of time in the face of every conceivable kind of crisis", he concludes.

Although supervision is essential at the moment, there is the potential for it to be less so in the future with the emergence of new actors that will alter the current scenario. "Limits needs to be established within child-friendly content because a 6-year-old child's level of maturity is not the same as that of a child of 8 or a child of 10. And I think it will be Disney that starts the move in that direction, offering content according to age bracket", predicts the author of La otra pantalla, adding that, despite the fact that to date Disney has exclusively sold its content to third parties, last summer, the company revealed its plans to launch its own streaming service. "They announced that it would be family-friendly and cheaper than competitors. In my opinion it will be Disney that sets the standard for what a family-friendly streaming service should be, also making provision for the young adult group that is not currently catered for", she concluded.