As a parent, I try to keep my children safe in all aspects of life.
I hold their hands when we cross the road, make sure they have a seatbelt on when in the car, and get them to wear a helmet when cycling.
These are dangers we can see.
But what about the online world?
My daughter Amber, 16, and son, Jacob, 9, are very tech-savvy and whizz about online on their devices, with this amazing world at their fingertips.
Parents like me, are still quite new to this digital world, so keeping them safe online can sometimes feel like you don’t know where to start.
There are so many great things you can do online. Keeping in touch with family and friends, learning new things, or just having fun.
I love the world of online, but as we can’t see the dangers, it's really important to put safety settings on any phones or tablets our children have, so they can explore their digital curiosity safely.
Jacob enjoying time on his phone. Mum, Adele, feels much better as EE Set Up Safe controls are in place
EE is helping parents do just that with Set Up Safe.
Committed to supporting parents, EE’s free service helps parents to quickly and easily set up the right controls and settings on their children’s devices. EE wants children to be safe on their network in and outside the home.
It is easy to use and provides clear guidelines, which is great for parents who aren’t as tech savvy as their kids. All you have to do is text ‘Set Up Safe’ to 150 to get started, so you don’t have to have a degree in computing to be able to use it!
You can either set up your child’s device manually or choose the recommended age setting - under 9 years old, 10 to 12 years old and over 13s. The options available are strict, moderate or full access, so you can pick the options that are right for your child and your family needs. Being able to block adult content, set spending caps and stop kids adding extra charges to our bills is music to our ears!
Hands up, if your child has ever run up an unwanted bill? My hand is high in the air! My daughter once shocked me with a bill for £250. She was using mobile data, in-app purchases and spent money on games!
Setting the EE Set Up Safe controls only takes around 5-10 minutes
I’m very pleased to see that you can set spend amounts on EE Set Up Safe. By putting a spend cap of £0 on your child’s device, it means they can’t accidentally spend outside of their monthly allowance (or by no more than £5, if parents choose to set this limit instead). Calls and texts to premium numbers are also blocked so there are no surprises on the bill at the end of the month.
Paying for additional services through a phone bill (charges to bill) are blocked for all age groups to prevent in-app purchases on things like gaming apps such as ‘Roblox’. Additional data purchases are also blocked. Hooray!
Keeping track of what content our children consume when out of the home with friends is no easy task, so with EE’s content lock you can block adult websites, chat rooms, dating sites and unmoderated social networks when connected to the EE network. As a parent this puts my mind at rest.
I want my children to enjoy the online world to the fullest, as it is a great place to explore, learn and grow. With our ‘new normal’, Set Up Safe will help with our family life.
41% of parents worry more about their child’s safety online when their child is not at home.
I can understand this, because when you’re at home, you can keep an eye on what they get up to online, but when they’re out and about, you can’t monitor them. Which is why these settings give parents the confidence to know children will be protected.
80% of parents claim their child has used their phone more in lockdown.
Yes, hands up, that is our family, including me! My son has been chatting with his school friends on online video calling, playing online games and has been watching funny videos, along with schoolwork to pass the time during lockdown.
31% of parents did not add safety settings to their child’s phone because they didn’t know how.
If you don’t have your smartphone in your hand most of the time, like I usually do, then I can see it would be quite daunting and people might think it is complicated to set all these parental controls. But EE have made it really easy and it only took me 5-10 minutes to install the settings on my child’s device. EE are there to help you keep your children safe.
Using EE Set Up Safe will allow parents and children to have a better online experience and enjoy the online world safely.
For more information go to www.ee.co.uk/setupsafe
This blog is a paid partnership with EE.
