‘Kids can bypass anything if they’re clever enough!’ How tech experts keep their children safe online

From hacking screen time settings to bypassing website restrictions, young people make responsible parenting in the age of tech feel like a game of whack-a-mole. Here’s how to do it successfully

I know I’m not alone as a parent when I admit I have often felt like an exasperated failure in trying to restrict what my children see online. There were the times they hacked their devices’ screen time settings, or managed to stumble into inappropriate content in spite of the controls, not to mention the ever inventive workarounds to access restricted sites. Worst of all is the ill will the rigmarole creates between us all. So when in the first minute of my conversation with digital parenting coach Elizabeth Milovidov, she says, “I think parents need to just kind of give themselves a hug, breathe and start over,” I feel so heard and comforted I could cry.

“Parents are incredibly busy. They’re overwhelmed,” says Milovidov. “And then this whole idea of trying to lock things down is not easy. I remember trying to learn how to programme a VCR, and it was just like: oh my God.” And yet she herself, a parent of teens, seems so chill. She admits having watched far too much TV in the 70s, and she has turned out OK; she has a PhD and is an international consultant on tech and parenting.

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‘Kids can bypass anything if they’re clever enough!’ How tech experts keep their children safe online

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