# Parental controls and a family media plan

**Should we use parental controls and a family media plan?**

Whether you use control software and a written plan, light controls with conversation, or rely on trust and talking.

In short: Parents choose between 3 main approaches: Heavy technical lockdown, written plan; Light controls plus conversation; Trust and talk, decide as it comes. Evidence: your call. No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide. Best settled: school age.

- Area: Screens, phones and digital life
- Evidence: Your call
- Best settled: School age
- First published: 2026-10-03
- Last updated: 2026-10-05
- Page: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/topics/screens-phones-and-digital-life--parental-controls-and-a-family-media-plan

## Parental controls and a family media plan: what are the options?

1. **Heavy technical lockdown, written plan**: You use filters, time limits and app blocks, and write down the family's rules.
2. **Light controls plus conversation**: You use a few controls and rely mainly on talking.
3. **Trust and talk, decide as it comes**: You use no controls and deal with issues as they arise.

## Parental controls and a family media plan: what does the evidence say?

**Your call.** No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide.

No study found tests control software itself, but meta-analyses of how parents mediate media use point one way: restrictive rules were better at cutting screen time, while active mediation (talking with the child about content) and co-use were better at reducing media-related harms such as cyberbullying, aggression and risky sexual or substance behavior. The AAP publishes a Family Media Plan tool for families to fill in together; most of this research is correlational

Sources:

- [Chen & Shi, 2019, via ResearchGate](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358914915_Is_parental_mediation_negatively_associated_with_problematic_media_use_among_children_and_adolescents_A_systematic_review_and_meta-analysis)
- [Collier et al., meta-analysis](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26914217/)
- [AAP News](https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/35315/Apple-to-adapt-AAP-s-Family-Media-Plan-to-guide)

## What else is worth knowing?

Parental controls are settings that limit time, apps or content. A family media plan is a written set of rules; the American Academy of Pediatrics offers a template. Controls help most with younger children and are no substitute for conversation.

## Questions to ask each other

- How much do we trust software versus conversation?
- Would we write a plan together with our child?
- How will we update the rules as our child grows?

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General information, not medical advice. Two parents can each answer this and compare: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/explore?cat=screens-phones-and-digital-life&topic=screens-phones-and-digital-life--parental-controls-and-a-family-media-plan