What's a Good Age to Stop Monitoring Kids' Online Activity? Parents Weigh In (2024)

FAQs

What's a Good Age to Stop Monitoring Kids' Online Activity? Parents Weigh In? ›

Experts suggest monitoring children's social media accounts until at least the age of 15. Whether you have regular phone checks, use parental control settings, or use a child safety app like BrightCanary, what matters is that you're taking an active role in keeping your child safe on social media.

As we showed in our previous survey coverage, parents tend to agree that they have to monitor kids up to about age 10. After that, the numbers start to climb as to when to turn off parental controls. The majority, 31%, say age 18 for sure. But there's also 17% who say they'll stop at age 16.

Between 18 and 24 months screen time should be limited to watching educational programming with a caregiver. For children 2-5, limit non-educational screen time to about 1 hour per weekday and 3 hours on the weekend days. For ages 6 and older, encourage healthy habits and limit activities that include screens.

As you build trust together, you can also start talking about how you'll start removing these restrictions as kids get closer to 18, because ultimately, they'll need to learn how to navigate tech on their own. “I like to let go of control as they're turning to 16 or 17,” Werle-Kimmel says.

Adulthood is legally recognized as 18 years of age in most countries. However, some parents don't seem to consider that fact, continuing their controlling ways even after their children have reached that age threshold.

The phone plan is probably in your name and you probably bought the electronic devices. But even if not, you have every right and responsibility to check them if you've been given cause to do so because you have the right and obligation to keep your home safe, your child safe, and your other children safe.

Secretly checking their phone is not OK, according to Dr. Moreno, who recommends “looking at the device together, as it's an opportunity to build trust and communication.” She adds, “Snooping bypasses both trust and communication and often does more harm to the parent-child relationship than good.

Further detail about the four Cs outlines the significance of how parents can support children with a foundation of care, consistency, choices, and consequences and how they can be practiced in the counseling office.

Don't turn technology into a pacifier

Almost every parent is guilty of using a device to calm down or quiet a noisy child, but you mustn't turn to technology as an emotional pacifier. Likewise, you must teach your older children not to run to their devices when they're frustrated or upset.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends avoiding screens for children younger than 18 to 24 months, except when video chatting with family. The AAP also recommends limiting screen use for preschool children, ages 2 to 5, to just one hour a day of high-quality programming (think Sesame Street or PBS).

Do my parents have control over me at 17? ›

PARENT'S RESPONSIBILITY

A parent has both the legal right and the duty to control their 16- or 17-year old children, unless they are emancipated.

Your children's developmental milestones will determine if it's time to stop using a baby monitor. Dr. Edmond Sarraf, a renowned and seasoned pediatrician with the Southern California Integrative Wellness Center in Los Angeles, says the average age for parents to stop using a baby monitor is between 2 and 4 years old.

After about 12 months of the child's phone ownership (give or take), checking phones needs to fade, and ongoing open communication needs to become the mainstay. At this older stage, parents should have frequent, open discussions with their children about online safety, respect and responsibility.

The risk of routinely checking a teen's phone is that it may end up fostering mistrust between parent and child. Regular conversations about phone and online safety, and discussing news articles on the topic are two ways of keeping safety front and centre. This helps promote good communication and trust.

Your parents cannot legally force you to stay in the house, prevent you from working, or control your personal interactions. Regarding personal belongings like your computer and phone, if these items were purchased by you or given to you as a gift, they are your property.

Before age 13 or so, children show increased brain activity when they hear their mothers' voices, implying that they pay more attention to them than they do to unfamiliar voices. But after that age, the opposite happens. “As a teen, you don't know you're doing this,” Abrams said.