The expert told about useful applications for children's smartphones

When a child gets a smartphone, it is important not only to provide him or her with interesting content, but also to make sure that technology brings benefits. Valeria Glebova, Megafon's senior manager for parental control products, told Izvestia on February 24 which apps will help parents be calm for their children.

"First of all, it will be useful to install parental control applications. Moms and dads can use them to limit screen time, track the child's location and control access to games and applications. In some applications, an additional function of sending an SOS signal to the parent from the child is available," the expert noted.

In addition, she said, such apps teach the child to use gadgets wisely through tracking the time spent in the digital environment. In addition, there is a feature that allows parents to add extra time to use apps for good behavior or completing tasks.

"It is advisable to set your child up with social media and messengers to communicate with family and friends, where you can include them in family chat with grandparents. Correspondence in messengers can be a good opportunity to develop writing skills," Glebova added.

She specified that social networks are also part of children's communication, so it is important to monitor their activity on these platforms. To be calm for the child's safety on social networks, you can also install an application to manage the child's activity on the Internet: they will help analyze the child's behavior on social networks and notify parents about unsafe publications.

"Educational apps help children learn the world independently and make learning interesting. In them, the child practices logic and thinking skills through interactive tasks of varying levels of complexity, learns useful skills through play, and learns languages," the expert pointed out.

Glebova explained that the presence of parental control applications does not mean that the child's smartphone is protected from external threats, including phishing and viruses. In her opinion, parents should pay special attention to children's games, especially free games - where a module redirecting to malicious resources from full-screen banners, pop-up ads can be installed.

"Attacking through children is a fraud trend that, unfortunately, is gaining momentum. That's why installing antiviruses is also essential. They can automatically scan devices once a day," she emphasized.

The expert advised setting up family access in Apple ID or Google account to manage purchases and subscriptions. You can disable a child's ability to make purchases without a password or set up a child account with limited access to content. She also recommended regularly discussing smartphone rules, how to protect personal data, and explaining why it's important to remain vigilant and cautious online and when using apps.

Earlier, on October 13, 2024, psychologist and profiler Lidia Kutuzova told Izvestia that the consequences of excessive use of gadgets - smartphones, laptops, tablets - can be serious for children and teenagers. Among them, the specialist named delayed speech development, concentration problems, decreased social skills, dependence on gadgets, sleep problems, anxiety and decreased creativity. Kutuzova advised to set clear time limits for working with electronic devices.