4 Apps to Help Parents Set Limits on Children’s Cell Phones 31JUL18

IF I had kids I would definitely have one of these. I think schools should require parental controls on phones that shut the phone down with access permitted for emergencies only. Kids should not be able to make or receive calls, text or access anything on the internet during the hours they are supposed to be at school. This from Credo Mobile.....

4 Apps to Help Parents Set Limits on Children’s Cell Phones

Four parental control apps to help protect children on their phones

Kids and phones. It’s a quandary for parents. You want your kids to have a phone so you can stay in touch, but you don’t want your kids using their phone to access sites you find unacceptable or spend every waking hour playing Fortnite.

Here’s a solution: parental controls.

These are apps you install on your child’s phone and your phone (or computer) so you can monitor and manage their activity. They enable you to supervise web behavior, limit screen time and view your child’s activity.

Most of these apps work better on an Android phone than an iOS phone due to Apple’s restrictions on third-party apps. But Apple just announced that iOS 12 (due for release this fall) will include a free feature called Screen Time that will allow you to manage all of a child’s iOS devices. This is in addition to the app-blocking and web-filtering options already in the Restrictions section of the main settings of iOS phones. To learn more about the variety of parental controls for iOS devices – current and future – check out the Apple Familiespage.

With the right parental control app, you can filter web access and prevent kids from going to certain websites while overseeing the sites they do visit. You can block kids from using particular apps, such as social media or messaging apps. Some parental controls automatically block new apps a child tries to install unless you first approve.

Most parental controls enable you to restrict the time of day and/or the number of hours a child can spend on a device and limit hours of web usage. Most also include location-tracking features that let you see where kids are and where they’ve been. Parental control apps allow you to see who children communicate with and what they say by relaying call and text logs to you. A lot of parental controls let you manage social media activity as well.

Most parental control tools now also enable “geofencing,” which means you can define a safe geographic area for your child and get an alert if your child leaves that area.

Here are 4 of the best parental control tools out now.

Please note: App creators’ views and values are their own and are not endorsed by CREDO Mobile. Before downloading any app, please confirm that it meets your personal standards for corporate ethics and protection of privacy.

Boomerang

Boomerang is mobile-only, which means you can’t manage a child’s activity from a PC or Mac, but this is a solid, easy-to-use app for Android and iOS phones and tablets. It lets you set flexible weekday and weekend schedules to limit screen time. You can choose to shut down certain apps at a specific time of day – or pause a device entirely for all but emergency uses. You can filter web content, review browsing activity and search history, and approve or block new apps before they’re installed. Boomerang’s built-in safe browser automatically filters inappropriate sites. You get regular reports of who is texting your child and who is being texted, with alerts when inappropriate words are used. You can also capture and read all text messages. With call blocking, you can limit incoming and outgoing calls to saved contacts only and review call logs. Location tracking and location alerts are included as well.

$30.99 per device per year for up to 10 devices, $15.99 per year for individual devices. No free version.

Net Nanny

Net Nanny has been around since 1996 and is among the most popular and comprehensive parental control tools. It enables you to filter online content in 18 different categories. You can also control the number of hours kids spend on the internet each day. You can monitor social media activity and even censor profanity on sites while still allowing kids to visit them. You’ll receive alerts when children visit inappropriate websites as well as weekly usage reports. Net Nanny offers preset user profiles or you can customize settings for individuals. It works with Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices.

$39.99 per year for one device, $12 per year per device for up to 5 devices, $9 per year per device for up to 10 devices. No free version.

Norton Family Premier

Norton is the web security expert, and its Norton Family app has a wide range of features. You can monitor the sites kids visit and block the sites you choose. You can set screen-time limits by time of day or days of the week. You can see the search terms kids are using and what YouTube videos they’re watching. You’ll receive a detailed report of online activity via email or your Norton web dashboard as well as instant email alerts when kids visit blocked websites. Norton also includes social media monitoring, mobile app supervision and blocking, instant device locking, text supervision, and location tracking in real time with 30-day reports. The app works on Windows and Android, with limited iOS and no Mac support.

$49.99 for a 1-year subscription with no limit on the number of devices. No free version.

Qustodio Parental Control

PC Magazine’s top-rated tool, Qustodio, lets you keep track of a child’s phone activity from your own phone or PC in real time. It works on iOS, Android and Kindle devices. It includes web-filtering, screen-time limits and reporting features, as well as location tracking, call tracking and blocking, social media monitoring, game and app time limits and blocking, and text monitoring in which you can see who is being texted and read the messages. There is also a panic button for emergencies.

$49.45 per year for up to 5 devices, $87.25 per year for up to 10 devices or $124.15 per year for up to 15 devices. There is also a free edition that includes web filtering only.

A new phone is an exciting time for a kid. If you’re shopping for a new smartphone for a child now, we have a wide range of choices at the CREDO Mobile. And all phones and plans purchased through CREDO Mobile help support CREDO Action and CREDO Donations.

So when should children have their first phone? The average young American gets a smartphone at the age of 10 and spends over 4.5 hours a day on it, not including texting and talking. But there is a lot of evidence to indicate that all this screen time is not good for young brains.

But saying no to a young person who’s adamant for a smartphone is not easy. If you find yourself in that situation, look into the Wait Until 8th campaign, which advocates keeping kids off smartphones until they reach the eighth grade. It has a lot of helpful advice for parents on how to talk to children about smartphones.

And if you find that your child really does need a cell phone before eighth grade, we hope this parental control information is helpful to you.

TEXTING, PHONES, DRIVING AND ANOTHER DEATH OF SOMEONE I KNOW 10NOV12

 I sent the following e mail to my family, I am also sending it to all my friends because I do not want any of you to go through this. This is the second person I've known to be killed because of people driving and using their phones. My Aunt Lynn was killed two years ago by a person who was talking on their phone and driving. So please, DO NOT TALK ON YOUR PHONE OR TEXT WHILE DRIVING!

I am just heartsick and also angry. Friends of Jen, Ted and Katie, members of their church, lost their son, Levi, just 21 years old, in a car accident last night. Jen asked me to send this out asking that you please pray for his parents, Diane and Terry,  they are having a really hard time dealing with this. I am angry because he had just sent a text his Mom, while driving, telling her he was almost home when he lost control of his car and slammed into a tree. He and his friend (and I am sorry but I don't know the other boy's name) were both killed. Such a horrible waste, so tragic, and probably would have not happened had he not been texting and driving. Please keep these families in your prayers, and please remember this tragic lesson for yourselves and share it with others, because there isn't a phone call that has to be made or answered, or a text read or sent, that can't wait until you are not driving.
Craig

REGISTER YOUR PHONES FOR THE DO NOT CALL LIST

I called, it is a registry run by the FTC (Fed Trade Commission). You must call from the phone you want registered. Took less than a minute.

• REMEMBER: Cell Phone Numbers Go Public this month.
• REMINDER..... all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies.... YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS
  
• To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222.
  
• It is the National DO NOT CALL list It will only take a minute of your time.
• It blocks your number for five (5) years.
• You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked.

Stop Apple's iPhone Kill Switch 22JUN11

STEVE Jobs missed his calling, missed his place in history actually. He would have been a Wunderkind in hitler's reich, helping the nazis really control everyone and everything. But we know better, and don't have to tolerate his abuses of privacy and civil rights and liberties. Click the link to tell apple to drop their plans for the kill switch on their phones and i pads. 

ActNow: Stop Apple’s iPhone Kill Switch

Think you own your smartphone? Think again.
Apple wants to patent a kill switch technology that can detect when people are using their phone cameras and give corporations the power to shut them down.¹
Think that’s bad? Imagine what would happen if this tool fell into the hands of repressive regimes. Thousands of people across the Middle East have used cellphone cameras to document government abuses.
This kind of technology would give tyrants the power to stem the flow of videos and crack down on protesters with impunity.
Sign our letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs: Demand that Apple stop developing technology that harms democracy and free speech.
Apple says this new technology was designed to stop concertgoers from taking unofficial video at live events. But you can bet that governments and corporations will use it  in other, more dangerous ways – to silence the voices of protesters, political opponents or anyone else they dislike.
As Steve Jobs obviously knows, smartphones have become extensions of ourselves. They are incredibly powerful tools for communication, education, political expression, community organizing and just plain fun.
Tell Steve Jobs that WE control our phones: Neither Apple nor anybody else can dictate what we photograph and film with them.
Earlier this year, researchers discovered that iPhones recorded your every move for the past year in a hidden but unprotected file.² The public was outraged, and Apple soon announced that it was updating its software to better protect users.
We must stop Apple again. This new camera-blocking technology is a pre-emptive strike against free speech. If activated, it would be immensely harmful to our rights to connect and communicate.
Please take action now to urge Steve Jobs to pull the plug on this censorship technology.
Thanks,
Josh Levy
Online Campaign Manager
Free Press
www.freepress.net
1. “Is Apple Launching a Pre-emptive Strike Against Free Speech?” Huffington Post, June 22, 2011:  http://act2.freepress.net/go/4692?akid=2596.9767049.5AiSFn&t=7
2. “Got an iPhone or 3G iPad? Apple is recording your moves,” O’Reilly Radar, April 20, 2011: http://act2.freepress.net/go/4627?akid=2596.9767049.5AiSFn&t=9

What Happens to Your Phone When You Recycle It? from MOJO 15NOV10

GREAT information from Mother Jones on recycling your old phones.....

— Flickr user Nemo's Great Uncle / Creative Commons

I'm thrilled that my phone contract is up in February. I've been coveting the iPhone, which will be a welcome change after two years of toting around a clunky, barely web-enabled dinosaur. But when I upgrade to a smart phone, what will become of my dopey old dumb phone?
This very question is the subject of the The Story of Electronics, the latest installment of sustainability expert Annie Leonard's engaging Story of Stuff Project. The eight-minute film explains that today's consumer electronics are "designed for the dump": After about two years, most gadgets are either obsolete or broken, and they're usually cheaper to replace than to repair. Technology is advancing at so fast a pace that every two years, the number of transistors placed on a circuitboard doubles, increasing computer memory and processing speed. (This continuing trend was first noticed in the late 1960s and is called Moore's Law.) Until that rate slows, or manufacturers begin to make cell phones with standardized replaceable parts, you'll still have to get a new phone every two years just to keep pace with technology.
More than 130 million cell phones in the US alone are retired every year, the USGS estimates. Not great news for the planet, considering phones contain substances harmful to humans and the environment, like cadmium, lead, and beryllium (all carcinogins), as well as arsenic. So what's the best way to make sure your old phone's not leaking chemicals into the ground?

Most major wireless carriers participate in "take-back" programs, which allow you to send your dead phone back where it came from for free—or sometimes even a cash rebate. Once a cell phone arrives at a take-back facility, if it's still workable and a relatively recent model, it's likely going to get refurbished and resold, either on the consumer market or to a charity. (Verizon's HopeLine program, for example, donates phones loaded with 3,000 free minutes to domestic violence victims.) Other refurbished phones are sold in Latin America and Africa, to people who don't mind using a secondhand, behind-the-times phone.
If your phone is really kaput, it will either get broken down and sold for parts or passed on to a smelter, where the entire phone is melted down and the liquids are separated to be reconstituted. (This process is sometimes called "above-ground mining.") Smelters harvest the little bits of valuable metals (gold, copper, iron, silver, zinc, nickel, platinum, tin) used in the circuitboards and soldering. In one metric ton of old cell phones without batteries (about 8,800 individual phones), there's an estimated 308 pounds of copper, 7 pounds of silver, and half a pound of gold. The smelting process, also used to melt down recycled aluminum cans, does generate some greenhouse gases and slag (the discarded silica and metal oxides used to isolate liquid metal). But overall, the environmental and monetary costs of smelting down existing metals are lower than mining, transporting, and refining new ore. For example, one ton of gold ore only contains .18 ounces of pure gold, while there's about 40 times that amount in one ton of cell-phone circuitry.
Breaking cell phones up and separating the parts is the process that most people are leery of. Annie Leonard points out that workers in China and Africa often dismantle electronics' harmful insides without proper personal or environmental protection: For example, in the town of Guiyu, China, 1.5 million pounds of e-waste are dismantled every year—often by workers without gloves—and leftover junk is disposed of in open fires.
Unfortunately, there's no easy way to find out if your cell-phone carrier exports items abroad to be broken, because many of them work with third-party companies—three of which I tried unsuccessfully to contact by, um, telephone. (I did reach a T-Mobile rep who said his company works with a Dallas-based recycler called Touchstone that separates phone components in the US. He also said 70 percent of the phones T-Mobile receives go on to be refurbished.) Newer phones like smart phones may be heavier than old candy-bar-style phones, but they contain a lot more electronics in a smaller package.
The good news: Cell phones are getting more environmentally friendly. Today's phones are made with considerably less cadmium and lead than older models, and they're also getting lighter. The average phone weighs around 4 ounces, minus the battery—about half of what it weighed in 2000. Recycling rates are also improving: In 2003, fewer than 1 percent of owners recycled their phones, but now it's closer to 20 percent. Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas) recently introduced the Responsible Electronics Recycling Act (H.R. 6252). It would outlaw sending e-waste to developing nations, but it's still hanging out with the House Committee of Energy and Commerce.
You can help minimize waste by opting for a refurbished phone (available through all major carriers) instead of a new one. Once you're done with your phone, there are a number of recycling systems you can participate in. To reduce the carbon footprint from ground transportation and reclamation, I prefer programs that handle large volumes of cell phones. Best Buy has kiosks in nearly every store where you can drop off your used electronics. The program doesn't export any non-working phones or components to developing countries, and it requires third-party partners to submit documentation of environmental compliance. If you're looking to make a few bucks off your phone, check out GreenPhone.com, which gives you cash for your old unit; offers you a free, printable shipping label; and will plant a tree every time you recycle a phone. The folks over at Earth911 recommend this website to see if your local recycling outfit is certified as an "e-Steward"—which requires strict control over exporting overseas, "full accountability for the entire downstream recycling chain," and disclosure on any airborne toxins released during the smelting process. If none of these float your boat, you can see an extensive list of drop-off and mail-in recycling programs at the EPA's eCycle site.
Got a burning eco-quandary? Submit it to econundrums@motherjones.com. Get all your green questions answered by visiting Econundrums on Facebook here.

Jen Phillips is the editorial coordinator at Mother Jones. For more of her stories, click here or follow her on Twitter, @the_hip_hapa. Get Jen Phillips' RSS

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