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

pcmag.com:

When it comes to keeping kids safe online, parents have a multitude of worries, though most are taking advantage of parental control software, which they find to be largely effective, according to the latest PCMag Tech Parenting survey.

The biggest question facing most parents is, when should their kids get access to internet-connected devices? Age 10 appears to be the median age—the momentous year when 17% of parents and guardians are handing out a device.

Ages 8 and 12 are also popular milestone ages; 11 and 9 are not—someone make something fun for 9-year-olds! From age 12 on, the numbers decline, but that’s likely because by that point kids have already cajoled most parents into handing over a permanent screen they can control.

Control is the big issue. Giving a kid access to a device means opening them up to a vast world of information, entertainment, and community—along with a host of other concerns. When asked about their top fears of what could impact their online kids, parents’ lists are long and varied. Chief among them are online predators, exposure to inappropriate content, and tech addiction.

The good thing is, a lot of those issues can be (somewhat) mitigated with parental control software, if used judiciously. Thankfully, a majority of parents in our survey currently use or have used the built-in parental controls on their children’s tech devices.

The most used control is the ability to view what kids browse and what they’re doing. Does it work? Check the chart at the top—it turns out most survey takers find parental control features and apps to be somewhat to very effective.

Built-in parental control features are far from the strongest tools out there. We review plenty of third-party parental control