Ultimate Guide To Xbox Parental Controls
Today, kids and families love to play video games in their spare time outside of work, school, and sports. According to Pew Research, about 90% of teens ages 13–17 play video games on their computer, smartphone, and gaming console. Xbox happens to be one of the most notable gaming brands offering both video games and gaming consoles. Their current gaming systems are the Xbox Series X and Xbox One consoles. They also offer Xbox Live, which gives users access to compete against other players online, play free games, and get exclusive deals.
However, playing video games isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Video game addiction can lead to sleep deprivation, wrist and neck pain, reduced socialization, anxiety, and more. For parents, this is definitely worrisome. To make sure kids and other gamers don’t succumb to the negative effects of gaming addiction, there are a number of Xbox parental controls one can use to reduce screen time.
Web Filtering
On Xbox consoles, users are able to access content online and browse the internet. Just like when your kids use their phone or computer to visit websites, you want to filter out sites that contain explicit, violent, and inappropriate content. Through Xbox, you can use the web filter feature to do this. All you have to do is go to the Family Settings and adjust the Web Filtering feature as desired.
Purchase Approval
If kids had their way, they would purchase all of the games they want in the Microsoft store. However, this can obviously be a major problem, especially when using their parent’s money. To make sure kids don’t purchase all the games they want and/or games they shouldn’t be playing, you can use the “Ask a parent” feature. This feature will require you to approve any purchases they would like to make from their child account. To access it, navigate to Family Settings → Privacy & online safety → Xbox Live privacy → View details & customize → Buy and download.
Content Restriction
Many parents are concerned about their kids playing video games and watching content that are not age-appropriate or too violent. With the Xbox content restriction feature, parents can select the desired age-level restriction. You can set this by going to Family Settings → Manage Family Members → Access To Content.
Gameplay Time Limit
Any gaming device connected to a Microsoft account (Ex: Xbox One, Windows 10 PC) allows parents to set limits on the amount of time kids can use certain devices. Parents can set a certain time limit per day for certain apps and devices. To do this, you need to visit account.microsoft.com/family, select Screen Time on your child’s profile, and set screen time limits. You can specifically select your Xbox console to restrict its use.
Chat Filter
If gameplay chat isn’t restricted, kids could talk to strangers, sexual predators, and catfishers on their Xbox. To protect them from these dangers and any abusive or unwanted messages, you can use the chat filter tool. On the Xbox console, you will need to enable the “Friendly” chat filter on their account.
Just like with all technology, parents need to use parental controls on their family’s Xbox. Unlike what many parents think, video games and gaming consoles can expose kids to many online dangers. Using these parental controls will help provide family-friendly gaming every day.
Originally Published On Digital Addicts On April 28, 2020.
