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Online & E-Safety Guidance

Your child’s screen time: Know the risks and what you can do to keep your child safe

Spending time online and on devices can be a positive thing. But, high levels of screen time can put your child more at risk of:

  • Being bullied online
  • Abuse and grooming (when someone builds a relationship with a child to exploit or abuse them)
  • Seeing inappropriate content
  • Not getting enough sleep and exercise

Steps you can take to protect your child:

Set parental controls on devices: Use parental controls to restrict access to in-app purchases and explicit or age-rated content, and, on some devices, how long they can spend on the device. You’ll likely need to set a password. Make sure it’s different from the password used to access the device, and that your child doesn’t know it. Parental controls are usually located under ‘Settings’. See below for more detailed instructions for different devices.

Agree rules on screen time: There are mixed views on ‘safe’ screen time, but you could agree to some limits to stop screen time interfering with your child’s sleep or family activities:

  • Make a plan together, and stick to it. You could set media-free times and zones, like during meals or in bedrooms
  • Try to avoid screens an hour before bedtime
  • Model the behaviour you want to see – which may mean no screen time for you at the times agreed with your child. Children are more likely to learn from example
  • Try to minimise snacking during screen time
  • Turn not using screens into a game, using apps like Forest, where not using devices is rewarded

Talk to your child about staying safe online:

  • To be aware that anyone can pretend to be a child online
  • If they talk to people they don’t know, not to give away personal information – like what street they live on or where they go to school, or to share their location with them. To say no to any requests they get for images or videos, and stop talking to the other person if they are asked for these things
  • To set their profiles to private, to limit what others can see
  • To be ‘share aware’ – think carefully about what they share and with whom. Once it’s out there, they’ve got no control over what the other person does with it. Remember, it’s illegal to take, share or view sexual images of under-18s, full stop
  • If they see something that upsets them, or someone bullies them, tell an adult they trust

Encourage off-screen activities:  Help your child get active for the recommended 60 minutes a day:

How to set parental controls on your devices:  When following the instructions below, the exact steps you need to take may be a little different depending on the device and software version you’re using.
 

Microsoft Devices (Windows & Xbox) 

Microsoft devices (Windows computers and Xbox)

You’ll need to have a family account set up, with ‘child’ profiles for your children. Learn more here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12413

You can’t change existing adult accounts to child accounts.

If your child has an Xbox, you can also use the Xbox family settings app on your phone to set these controls: https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/community/for-everyone/responsible-gaming

Set screen time limits:

  • Go to family.microsoft.com and sign in to your Microsoft account, or use the Microsoft Family Safety app
  • Find your child’s name and select ‘Screen time’
  • Switch ‘Use one schedule for all devices’ to ‘On’ to use the same schedule for all devices. Or scroll down and switch on screen time for different devices individually if you want to have separate schedules
  • You can set time ranges for using devices, and how many hours per day, for each day.

Set age limits for apps, games and media:

  • Sign in to your Microsoft account, as above, and find your child’s name
  • Select ‘Content filters’
  • Go to ‘Apps and games’
  • Under ‘Allow apps and games rated for’, set the age limit for content they’ll need permission to access

Block inappropriate websites:

  • Sign in to your account, and find your child’s name
  • Click ‘More options’ > ‘Content filters’
  • Turn on the ‘Filter inappropriate websites’ toggle
  • To block specific sites, add the links to them under ‘Blocked sites’

Manage purchases in the Microsoft Store:

  • Sign in to an adult account, as above, and find your child’s name
  • Click ‘More options’ > ‘Spending’
  • Turn on the ‘Needs organiser approval to buy things’ toggle

Read more here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/what-is-a-microsoft-family-group-b6280c9d-38d7-82ff-0e4f-a6cb7e659344

iPads and iPhones

iPads and iPhones:  Set a screen time passcode

  • Go to ‘Settings’ (a grey icon with a circular pattern on the home screen) and tap ‘Screen Time’
  • Tap ‘Continue’, then choose whether it’s your device or your child’s
  • If it’s your device, and you want to stop your child changing your settings, tap ‘Use Screen Time Passcode’ to create a passcode. Re-enter the passcode to confirm
  • If it’s your child’s device, follow the prompts on the device until you get to ‘Parent Passcode’ and enter a passcode, then re-enter it to confirm

Block in-app purchases:

  • Go into Settings > Screen Time > Content and Privacy Restrictions. Enter your passcode if asked
  • Tap ‘iTunes & App Store Purchases’
  • Choose a setting (for example, in-app purchases) and set to ‘Don’t allow’

Block explicit content and set controls on apps:

  • Go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Content Restrictions
  • Choose the settings you want for each feature or setting under ‘Allowed Store Content’

Filter website content: 

  • Go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions
  • Enter your screen time passcode
  • Tap ‘Content Restrictions’, then ‘Web Content’
  • Choose ‘Unrestricted Access’ (access to any website), ‘Limit Adult Websites’ (to block access to adult content in Safari and apps) or ‘Allowed Websites Only’ (to set specific websites as ‘approved websites’ and limit access to only these websites)

    Read more here: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201304

Android phones

Android phones: Set up parental controls and set age ratings

  • Open the Play Store app, tap the 3-line button on the top left > Settings > Family > Parental controls
  • Toggle Parental controls to on
  • Create a PIN. Make sure to choose a PIN your child doesn’t already know
  • You can then choose the highest age rating you want to allow for apps and games, films, TV, books and music. Go into each option and choose the age rating you want.
  • You can set these controls on the Family Link app too. Family Link is an app that lets parents set “digital ground rules” for their children. See this page for more information: https://support.google.com/families/answer/7101025?hl=en

Restrict purchases:

  • Open the Play Store and tap the icon in the top right (it should show either your initials or your profile photo)
  • Select Settings > Authentication > Require authentication for purchases > For all purchases through Google Play on this device

Manage screen time:

  • You’ll need to set up Family Link to do this.
  • In the Family Link app, select your child, then:
  • To set a daily limit on a device, on the ‘Daily limit’ card, tap ‘Set up’ or ‘Edit limits’, then follow the instructions on the screen.
  • To set time limits for specific apps (only for devices running Android N (7.0) and up), on the ‘App activity’ card:
  • Tap ‘Set limits’
  • Next to app you want to limit, tap the sand timer icon
  • Set limit (an icon with the top half of the sand time filled in)To set a bedtime, on the ‘Bedtime’ card, tap ‘Edit schedule’, then follow the instructions on the screen.
  • Set a daily time limit for the app
  • Tap ‘Set’

Playstation

PlayStation:

You’ll need to set up accounts for family members, with adult and child accounts, and make sure you and other adults have family manager or parent/guardian status. Read more about how to do this here: https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/get-help/help-library/my-account/parental-controls/family-management/

Set a login passcode and system restriction passcode:

A login passcode means that only you can log in to the ‘family manager’ user on the system.

To do this on PS4:

  • Go to Settings (this should be shown by a toolbox icon) > Login Settings > Login Passcode Management
  • Set a 4-digit passcode using the controller

To do this on PS5:

  • Go to Settings > Users and Accounts > Login Settings > Set a PS5 Login Passcode
  • Set a 4-digit passcode

Using a system restriction passcode will prevent your child from changing parental control settings.

On PS4:

  • Go to Settings > Parental Controls/Family Management > PS4 System Restrictions
  • Enter the existing system restriction passcode (if you haven’t set one before, the default is 0000)
  • Select ‘Change System Restriction Passcode’
  • Enter a new 4-digit passcode using the controller, then re-enter it to confirm

On PS5:

  • Sign in as the family manager and go to Settings > Family and Parental Controls > PS5 Console Restrictions
  • Enter the existing system restriction passcode (if you haven’t set one before, the default is 0000)
  • Select ‘Change Your System Restriction Passcode’
  • Enter a new 4-digit passcode using the controller, then re-enter it to confirm

Set spending limits:

On PS4:

  • Go to Settings > Parental Controls/Family Management > Family Management
  • Select the user you want to set a spending limit for
  • Select ‘Applications/Devices/Network Features’ under the ‘Parental Controls’ section
  • Select ‘Monthly Spending Limit’ and press X

On PS5:

  • Go to Settings > Family and Parental Controls > Family Management
  • Select the user you want to set a spending limit for
  • Select ‘Parental Controls’
  • Scroll down to ‘Monthly Spending Limit’ and press X
  • Choose a monthly spending limit and press X
  • Select ‘Confirm’ to save the settings

Restrict access to network features

On PS4:

  • Go to Settings > Parental Controls/Family Management > Family Management (you may need to enter your account password)
  • Select the user you want to set restrictions for
  • Select ‘Applications/Devices/Network Features’ under the ‘Parental Controls’ section
  • Under ‘Network Features’, you can choose whether to allow a child user to communicate with other players on the PlayStation Network, or view content created by other players

On PS5, go to parental controls and go to the ‘Communication and User-Generated Content’ settings, then choose ‘Restrict’.

Nintendo Switch 

Nintendo Switch

The Nintendo Switch Parental Controls smart device app is a free app which you can link with Nintendo Switch to easily monitor what and how your children are playing.

  • Launch the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls app on your iOS or Android device
  • Select ‘Console Settings’ in the upper-right corner
  • If you have more than one Nintendo Switch console linked to the app, tap the + icon in the upper-right corner to choose the correct system
  • Select ‘PIN’
  • In the ‘Change PIN’ section, tap the ‘New PIN’ field
  • Enter the new 4 to 8 digit PIN that you want to set, then tap the orange check mark on the screen to confirm

Set playtime limits

  • Go to ‘Console Settings’, as above
  • Select each setting you want to adjust, from playtime limit (a daily limit on the amount of time the console can be used), bedtime alarm (set gameplay to stop at a certain time each day), and suspend software (to stop the software on the console when the time limit is reached)
  • Once you’ve got the settings the way you want them, tap the orange check mark to confirm

Set restriction levels

In ‘Console Settings’ (see above for how to get there), you can choose from preset restrictions by age, or select ‘Custom Settings’ to manually adjust the settings.

Tap the orange check mark to confirm the settings once you’ve got them the way you want them.

Manage purchase restrictions from Nintendo’s eShop

You’ll need to have a family group set up to do this, and have your child’s account associated with yours. See more on how to do this here: https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Support/Nintendo-Switch/How-to-Add-Members-to-a-Family-Group-1406409.html

10 Tips to Stay Safe Online

Not sure what advice to give your child? Our pointers have got you covered.

  1. Be careful about talking to people you don’t know and trust in real life – anyone can pretend to be a child online. If you do talk to people you don’t know, don’t give away personal information – such as what street you live on or where you go to school, or share your location with them. Say no to any requests they send you for images or videos of yourself, and stop talking to them
  2. Set your profile to private, to limit what others can see
  3. Think carefully about what you share and with whom. Once you’ve shared an image, you’ve no control over what the other person does with it. Remember, it's illegal to take, share or view sexual images of under-18s, full stop
  4. Be mindful of your digital footprint. What you post online now could come back to bite you later, like when applying for jobs, college or university
  5. If you see something upsetting, or someone bullies you, tell an adult you trust. Report it too
  6. When reading news online, ask yourself what the source is, when it was published, and whether it could be a hoax or made up. Read beyond the headline too
  7. Remember, people try to make their lives look more exciting and interesting online. There’s a lot of people can do with photo editing to make their photos look better. So don’t assume everything you see is a true-to-life representation
  8. Watch out for hoaxes and scams, like messages you’re meant to forward or that ask you for payment details or your password
  9. Take any content that seems to glamourise gang lifestyles with a very large pinch of salt – it’s not as glamorous as it looks. Be wary of schemes promising easy cash for receiving and transferring money too. They’re almost definitely criminal activity
  10. Watch out for loot boxes or other parts of games where you pay money to take a chance on getting a reward – you can get sucked into spending lots of money on them. 
 

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