Parental Controls/Data in Mac OS
The amount of time our kids will justifiably sit in front of technology has recently gone thru the roof. I find it extremely useful to see data about what my kids are doing while consuming this much screen time.
The following information is meant to provoke general thoughts from the audience and act as a source of information for all trying to stay ahead of our children with technology. I welcome questions via comments below and will do my best to respond quickly.
Most of my professional experience rest in Microsoft Software but I find myself more and more drawn to Apple Platforms (iPhone, MacBooks, iPads) in my family life. Below are some screen shots showing how I monitor to understand my kids digital life. The information below assumes you have a password to your child’s account and that you’re logged in on this account.
All screenshots are captured from my MacBook Air running macOS Catalina version 10.15.4. This is important as different versions of macOS may not have these features and the screen shots may look a bit different. You can verify this as seen below.
Goto: Apple Button>About this Mac
Now, if we are on the same page with versions great! If not, I beg you to take the time and make sure all your kids devices are completely up-to-date. Software vendors constantly fix things, add features and ensure that the software is as safe as it can be before users add variation.
What are my kids doing with their digital day?
The answer is in “Screen Time” and hopefully you have it enabled. If not, have a look at this support article from Apple. When you enable this it will require you to set a Screen Time passcode; remember this code and DO NOT let your child have it. You will have to change it eventually because they watch everything you do and will figure out within a few weeks.🤪
Let’s have a look at what I find so useful.
Goto: System Preferences>Screen Time> App Usage
The “App Usage” tab gives you a snapshot of what they have been doing. You can can look at it by App or Categories. The graph from the image above is a grouping by category and I find it very informative for a quick idea of whats going on. I love to dig into the “Apps” data as it shows how much time they spent in each application. As of this moment it is my opinion that the time just means the application was running and not that they were actively engaged in the app. For example; I keep Twitter running in the background while I work during the day but I may not look at it for more than a few minutes an hour. When I look at my “Social Networking” Category it shows over 8 hours. Keep these things in mind when digging thru this data.
Goto: System Preferences>Screen Time>App Limits
The “App Limits” tab does just what it says, it gives you the ability to set a limit on the amount of time a certain app can run without override by a user with the Screen Time passcode that was set. The new phrase that will resonate thru the halls of your home will be “Can I have more time”. Sorry in advance, but this is a great reminder of how much time they are spending online and a chance to ask what they need more time for. No, you cannot watch more YouTube is my mantra!
In my example I have a blanket limit on everything plus a specific limit on YouTube. So on the weekends Piper (A.K.A Pink) is allowed 2 hours on any application except YouTube and Monday thru Friday she is allowed 5 hours on any application except YouTube. I limit YouTube to 30 minutes on any day otherwise she will get lost all day. One point of note, Piper is not an admin on the account and therefore cannot install an application without having me do it. I highly recommend restricting administrative access to computers for this and many other reason that I hope to document in another post.
Above and beyond restricting how long an application can be used, “Downtime” gives us the ability to set a schedule that defines when the “App Limits” time may be consumed.
Goto: System Preferences>Screen Time>Down Time
This screen shot is the only one I captured from my Account as I have administrative rights and can manage all users in my “Family”. See this article to understand how Apple defines a “Family” and how to set it up. So Piper’s Downtime settings prevent her from using any of her Apple devices between the hours of 9PM thru 7AM the next morning. You can grant exceptions for things as you see fit. I have set an exception for Piper’s iPhone to allow the Phone App to be used at any time as I would never want her to not be able to use the phone as a phone. This opinion may change as she grows up.😳
All and all Apple has done a great job with implementation and modification to their Parental Control interface called “Screen Time” and I highly suggest you start using it to understand what your kids are doing online. This blog just scratches the surface on the subject so if you have questions or comments we would love to discuss them in the comments below.