美国国家公共电台 NPR A Guide To Parental Controls For Kids' Tech Use

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

The battle over screen time for families - that's what we're exploring this week in All Tech Considered.

(SOUNDBITE OF ULRICH SCHNAUSS' "NOTHING HAPPENS IN JUNE")

KELLY: Apple recently became the latest company to announce they are arming parents with stronger weapons. But if you surf over to YouTube, you'll find kids trading tricks and tips for getting around these parental¹ controls. Anya Kamenetz of the Ed team reports on a contest of wills in cyberspace².

ANYA KAMENETZ, BYLINE³: Apple CEO Tim Cook talked to NPR earlier this month about how to get kids using its products less with the company's new screen time controls.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

TIM COOK: We've been doing things for parental control since the creation of the App Store, but this gives parents another huge tool to use.

KAMENETZ: Apple's not alone. Google has Family Link. Disney has a product called Circle. And Amazon has the slightly Orwellian-sounding FreeTime. All these products promise to help busy parents enforce time limits and steer⁴ kids to pre-approved apps, games and videos. There's just one problem - the kids are fighting back.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Today I'm going to show you how to hack⁵ parental controls.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: I'm going to show you how to take your parental controls off of a Kindle⁶ Fire 10 - I have a 10.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BEN ZIMMERMAN: I found this glitch⁷ out on Family Link. If you...

PHILIP ZIMMERMAN: You bypass the parent code.

BEN: Yep.

KAMENETZ: Those are all videos posted on YouTube about how to get around parental controls. And there are questions and further help in the comments and on other sites like Reddit. It's like tech support for beating your parents. Ben Zimmerman is 9 years old and lives in a suburb of Chicago. You can hear him on that last video sharing a bypass for Google's Family Link.

BEN: All the YouTube videos that I watched about trying to get in Family Link never worked.

KAMENETZ: When he couldn't find one, he figured out his own. Did you punish him?

ZIMMERMAN: Absolutely not, absolutely not. I was actually very impressed.

KAMENETZ: That's Ben's dad, Philip. Ben actually came to him with the workaround that he found for Family Link, and they posted a video together. Why?

BEN: Well, I kind of want them to fix it so I can try to find another glitch for them to fix.

KAMENETZ: Google says that the glitch has now been fixed⁸, and it works with device manufacturers to address these hacks⁹ whenever they're found. Some experts say it can be a good learning experience for young people to start getting under the hood¹⁰ of technology in this way.

But depending on the kid, breaking the rules and sneaking¹¹ around to binge on screens can also be a sign of a real problem. And not every family has the time or the tech knowledge to oversee¹² their kids' use so closely.

So how much are these tools really designed to help families versus¹³ provide good PR for the companies? I asked Apple, Amazon, Google and Disney Circle, but none would say how many parents actually use the controls.

KURT BEIDLER: Parents are involved, and 9 out of 10 parents actually want to be even more involved than they are today. So what that means to individual parents, I think, varies.

KAMENETZ: Kurt Beidler is the Director of Kids and Family for Amazon devices.

BEIDLER: I think software is useful as a tool to enforce the contract that you've already entered into with your child.

KAMENETZ: He says no matter how good the software is, they'll never be able to replace parents. Anya Kamenetz, NPR News.

1 parental   

adj.父母的；父的；母的

参考例句：

• He encourages parental involvement in the running of school.他鼓励学生家长参与学校的管理。
• Children always revolt against parental disciplines.孩子们总是反抗父母的管束。

2 cyberspace   

n.虚拟信息空间，网络空间，计算机化世界

参考例句：

• She travels in cyberspace by sending messages to friends around the world.她利用电子空间给世界各地的朋友们发送信件。
• The teens spend more time in cyberspace than in the real world of friends and family.青少年花费在电脑上的时间比他们和真正的朋友及家人在一起的时间要多。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

5 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

6 kindle   

v.点燃，着火

参考例句：

• This wood is too wet to kindle.这木柴太湿点不着。
• A small spark was enough to kindle Lily's imagination.一星光花足以点燃莉丽的全部想象力。

7 glitch   

n.干扰；误操作，小故障

参考例句：

• There is a glitch in the computer program somewhere.这个计算机程序中的某个部分有点小问题。
• It could just be a random glitch that can be solved by restarting the machine.可能只是一个小故障，重新启动主机就能解决了。

8 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

9 hacks   

黑客

参考例句：

• But there are hacks who take advantage of people like Teddy. 但有些无赖会占类似泰迪的人的便宜。 来自电影对白
• I want those two hacks back here, right now. 我要那两个雇工回到这儿，现在就回。 来自互联网

10 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

11 sneaking   

a.秘密的，不公开的

参考例句：

• She had always had a sneaking affection for him. 以前她一直暗暗倾心于他。
• She ducked the interviewers by sneaking out the back door. 她从后门偷偷溜走，躲开采访者。

12 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

13 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。