So I came home the other to find my nine year old looking at inappropriate YouTube videos for her age. Before I knee jerk and buy Net Nanny...is there any other good solution for blocking internet sites?

I would prefer a system that also sets time limits on certain apps and time of day access.

Any recommendations?

You can use opendns and close off youtube and social media completely.

Sometimes your home router has this built in if its new enough.

Last there is a K9 Web Protection, I think it was free when I was playing and testing it out. Seemed to work really well.

We aren't there yet, but I remember reading good things about "Circle".

https://meetcircle.com/

We use Circle and it is pretty awesome. If I had to do it again, I would purchase the Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 router because it has Circle built in and is a better router than the ones provided by AT&T, XFinity, etc.

Define inappropriate for 9yo

OasisMan said:

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Define inappropriate for 9yo

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Anything the parent decides it is.

Let me just say that YouTube is a HUGE problem. There is so much nasty crap on there. Just had to ban my 14 year old and 11 year old daughters from that site for the time being. They are cool with it and acknowledge it was bad stuff. We just had to have a serious heart to heart with them after searching their YouTube history (particularly the 14 year old).

I was sorta oblivious because I was under the impression youtube censored and deleted most inappropriate stuff. Nope! I think there is a ton of "search you tube for xyz" keywords going around schools. The kids know where the dirty stuff is.

Point being, even the mainstream sites have so much crap you shouldn't want your kids seeing.

As someone else mentioned, OpenDNS is a no-brainer and easy to setup (for just the individual computers or on your router, assuming your router supports configuring the DNS server, to be applicable to all computers on your network).

OpenDNS can also help to block lots of other bad stuff, so it's not just applicable for your kids' internet usage.

And, OpenDNS is free.

Reply back if you need help getting it going.

If it was on a smart phone or tablet, I suggest Mobile Fence. Also allows location monitoring and shows you what apps they use.

taxpreparer said:

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OasisMan said:

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Define inappropriate for 9yo

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Anything the parent decides it is.

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Then how is software going to know what that is?

Sure -- no unsupervised internet access. Password protect devices (or use the router to turn off wifi to certain devices) to support this.

You have to understand that if she really wants to look at something bad enough, she will find a way (even if it means going to a friend's house whose parents don't supervise their media consumption). I 10000000% guarantee she'll find a way if you try to find a technical solution to block what she can view.

dlance said:

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zip04 said:

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We use Circle and it is pretty awesome. If I had to do it again, I would purchase the Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 router because it has Circle built in and is a better router than the ones provided by AT&T, XFinity, etc.

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Circle is awesome. Something I'd like to point out though is if you use Circle built in to a router, you have to pay monthly. If you buy the Circle device, there is no monthly fee unless you decide to use the CircleGo service for devices on cell data.

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In that case, I'm glad I bought the Circle device.

Do any of these solutions have any affect on cellular access, or just when using Wi-Fi?

cjsag94 said:

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Do any of these solutions have any affect on cellular access, or just when using Wi-Fi?

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Circle can work on cellular if you pay a monthly fee. I think it is around $5/month.

Saw this about YouTube adding restrictions
https://m.slashdot.org/story/340203

Banning isn't a substitute for a "right and wrong" conversation. Not saying anyone here would think it is just pointing out that conversation and active parenting is the best filter. Like someone else said for every technical solution you put in place there a work around your kids will find and they are smarter than you are and if they aren't they know someone who is. Talk to them about the media they consume and help them see it for what it is no matter if it's good or bad. Good luck.

I've recently had this type of experience with my 10 year old daughter. I'll say this...we had the "conversation". You have to, but it sucks when you digest some of the things these young kids stumble on.

There's a huge difference between a kid seeking out ways to circumvent technical fences vs someone who stumbles onto it. These solutions work to prevent the latter, and that's the best first defense.

It's an entirely different issue when you have a kid who is working to find a way to do something they know they shouldn't. I'm looking at solutions to keep an otherwise innocent 10 year old from accidentally drifting off the road, as I'm sure the OP is as well.

just Wondering, are the kids mostly being curious about X-Rated stuff ?

cjsag94 said:

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I've recently had this type of experience with my 10 year old daughter. I'll say this...we had the "conversation". You have to, but it sucks when you digest some of the things these young kids stumble on.

There's a huge difference between a kid seeking out ways to circumvent technical fences vs someone who stumbles onto it. These solutions work to prevent the latter, and that's the best first defense.

It's an entirely different issue when you have a kid who is working to find a way to do something they know they shouldn't. I'm looking at solutions to keep an otherwise innocent 10 year old from accidentally drifting off the road, as I'm sure the OP is as well.

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Agree. Good luck. Bring a parent today is certainly a challenge.

jaggiemaggie said:

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just Wondering, are the kids mostly being curious about X-Rated stuff ?

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I think they are curious about many things. The problem with YouTube is things that seem innocent enough often cross the line eventually. I think it was the YouTuber Jake Paul that a lot of kids followed. He was trendy and just for some silly stuff. There was a backlash early this year as he went into a Japanese "suicide garden" and comes and made light of someone committing suicide.

Then there is stuff of a sexual nature, such as learning to twerk or pole dance. And, watch one of those videos once, and YouTube starts progressively suggesting more videos like that.

Then, yes, there's the X rated stuff. That's certainly the obvious situation where having to talk about what they are seeing, and making sure they don't view that as normal, or something they should try.

I think most people with young kids/tweens/teens have to be prepared to deal with all of this stuff. I don't know if something like circle is the answer though...maybe it is just talking...and restricting unsupervised use of devices. But I've always heard, you can't tell a kid what not to do, you have to tell them what to do.

Not looking forward to this soon. Buddy's 9 year old was googling "hot naked chicks" when using laptop for homework.

jaggiemaggie said:

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just Wondering, are the kids mostly being curious about X-Rated stuff ?

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Caught my 10 year old girl looking up kissing videos on YouTube. I think most of it's just what they hear at school and curiosity gets the best of them. I added a Netgear router and restricted some of the sites.

I know others have suggested using OpenDNS servers, but I would add to specifically used their FamilyShield DNS server addresses. I believe you would just change the DNS addresses on your child's computer and they have most of the sites that are inappropriate already listed. As others have said, it is free.

OpenDNS Family Shield

Youtube is a bit of a cesspool if you don't have any sort of guidance or experience (i.e. you aren't a kid) with searching things on the internet.

It's not as simple as telling your kids not to watch x-rated stuff. They could be legitimately looking for superhero or disney videos and stumble on some messed up videos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsagate

Also, as mentioned before some of the most popular youtubers (e.g. Jake Paul) have content that is questionable at best.

Look into Mobicip - it was way better at filtering than K9. We used K9 for several years and made the switch. The mobile browsers also work better.

ORAggieFan said:

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Not looking forward to this soon. Buddy's 9 year old was googling "hot naked chicks" when using laptop for homework.

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Remember when we were kids and getting a look at just a picture of a boob required serious work?

Now its as easy as a google search. No idea how to plan for this as kids start to get older besides just being actively involved in their lives and making sure they know right from wrong and good from bad.

But what others posted about the incidental stuff is certainly concerning.

blindey said:

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ORAggieFan said:

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Not looking forward to this soon. Buddy's 9 year old was googling "hot naked chicks" when using laptop for homework.

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Remember when we were kids and getting a look at just a picture of a boob required serious work?

Now its as easy as a google search. No idea how to plan for this as kids start to get older besides just being actively involved in their lives and making sure they know right from wrong and good from bad.

But what others posted about the incidental stuff is certainly concerning.

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Not to derail, the subject, but I remember I couldn't wait for the new sears catalog to come in the mail.

Waiting for a picture to load off a 3.5 disk was torture. That's about as bad as it got for me as a middle schooler.

I'm glad I'm not going through this era as a kid; you could mess yourself up pretty quickly.

Well, it took 4 days for the thread to turn south! Pretty amazing around here!

Another issue with YouTube is that there are people making what appears to be a kids video, but turns out to be the opposite. For example, my daughters were watching My Little Pony videos on YouTube. They eventually clicked on one that had voice over where a guy was acting it out as though it was a porn.

We have tried "YouTube for Kids" as well. However, if you do not allow YouTube for a child via Circle, it blocks YouTube for Kids as well.

Sometimes you could catch the outline of a nipple.