Who Needs Parental Controls (Adam Thierer Pff)

Who Needs Parental Controls? A Look at How Many Homes

Really Need Them

February 2009

Adam [email protected]

Senior Fellow Progress & Freedom Foundation

www.PFF.org

PFF paper

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“Who Needs Parental Controls:

Assessing the Relevant Market for

Parental Control Technologies”

by Adam Thierer, Progress &

Freedom Foundation, Progress on

Point , No. 16.5, February 2009.

PFF book

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Parental Controls & Online

Child Protection: A Survey of

Tools and Methods

by Adam Thierer

www.pff.org/parentalcontrols

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The Nature of the Problem

Many media and Internet critics say that government intervention (even censorship) may be necessary because parental control technologies are not widely utilized.

Q. But how many homes really need parental control technologies?

A: Fewer than you think!

The relevant universe of potential parental control users is actually quite limited.

Adam Thierer – Who Needs Parental Controls?

Consider an analogy:

Baby locks for cabinets

Would we measure the effectiveness of

child cabinet locks by asking whether all

U.S. households used such safety measures

on kitchen and bathroom cabinets?

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Does every

household really

need these things?

Most homes don’t need baby locks1) have no children present in the home,

2) their children are of an age where such locks are not needed, or

3) they take other steps to protect their children from harmful products that might be in the home.

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Thus, any survey or study that evaluated

the success of child safety cabinet locks

by using all households as the relevant

universe of analysis would produce

highly skewed, inaccurate results.

This is exactly what happens in the

debate over parental controls today!

Critics are lumping all households together and assuming that because

some homes don’t use parental control tools, it means there is some sort of

market failure that requires regulation.

But not all homes need parental control tools!

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So, how do we determine how many

homes might need parental controls?

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Census Bureau (Statistical Abstract) data

Formula for Calculating the Percentage of

Household without Children

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Nonfamily Households

+

Family Households without own Children

÷

Total Households

=

% of Households without Children

Adam Thierer – Who Needs Parental Controls?

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Making the Calculation

+

÷

Calculation for 2007

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37,587 (Nonfamily Households)

+

41,668 (Family Households without own Children)

÷

116,011 (Total Households)

=

68.3% of Households without Children

Adam Thierer – Who Needs Parental Controls?

Adam Thierer – Who Needs Parental Controls?13

Historical Data on Homes With &

Without Kids

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Households WITHOUT Kids in Them

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Households WITH Kids in Them

Bottom line:

The percentage of homes that might need parental control technologies is certainly no greater than the 32% of U.S. households with children in them.

but…

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The Actual Universe of Relevant

Homes is Even Smaller…

1. Not all age groups require parental controls

Little need for controls under or over certain ages

2. Some parents rely on other methods to control media & communications access

Household media rules

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Taxonomy of Household Media Rules

1) “Where” Rules

= assigning a place for media consumption

2) “When and How Much” Rules

= creating a media allowance

3) “Under What Condition” Rules

= carrot-and-stick incentives

4) “What” Rules

= specifying what kids can and cannot consume

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0 - 7 years of age

Less Need for Parental Controls

16 - 18 years of age

Less Need for Parental Controls

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

7 - 16 years of age

Parental Controls

Potentially Needed

When are Parental Controls Needed?Ages 7 to 16 are Likely Years When

Parental Controls are Employed in Most Homes

Adam Thierer – Who Needs Parental Controls?

Other reasons families might not use

parental control tools they have an aversion to parental control technologies,

perhaps fearing it creates distrust between them and their kids;

they don’t think parental control technologies work;

they believe their own household media rules and restrictions constitute a more sensible approach;

they feel comfortable making their own judgments after consulting ratings, program guides, and other information provided by media providers or third party media watchdog or rating organizations;

they just don’t allow many media or communications devices in the home;

or perhaps some of them are just lazy!

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All U.S. Households

Households with Children

Households That Actually Utilize

Parental Controls

Who Needs Parental Controls?Far Less than 32% of U.S. Households Likely Need to Parental Controls

(32%)(?%)

Adam Thierer – Who Needs Parental Controls?

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Summary & Policy Implications

Summary Parental controls are now:

ubiquitously available,

increasingly easy to use,

increasingly free-of-charge.

There has never been a time in our nation’s history

when parents have had more tools and methods at their

disposal to help them decide what constitutes

acceptable media content in their homes and in the

lives of their children. Read my book for proof!

BUT… merely because parents have been empowered,

it does not mean they are all taking advantage of those

tools. It is impossible to determine definitively why that

may be the case.

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Policy Implications

(1) Not all homes have children or need

tools.

Regulation cannot be premised upon a lack of

parental control uptake among all U.S.

households.

Policymakers and the courts should be

skeptical of calls for regulation premised upon

faulty statistical analysis and an over-

estimation of the relevant universe of parental

control users.

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Policy Implications (cont.)

(2) Education and ease of use is important.

For those households in which children

are present but which are not using parental

control technologies, parents may need to

be better informed about the existence of

these tools and how to use them.

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Policy Implications (cont.)

(3) Engaged parenting is the main

solution for many parents.

Many parents (including me!) believe that

education and parenting represent the first

and best approach to dealing with concerns

about objectionable content or troubling

communications.

Parental controls can be helpful in a “training

wheels” and “speed bumps” sense, but they

are no substitute for parental oversight and

mentoring.

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About PFF

www.PFF.org

Market-oriented think tank and educational non-profit with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status

We study the digital revolution and its implications for public policy

Founded in 1993

Based in Washington, D.C.

Adam Thierer – Who Needs Parental Controls?

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Further Reading

Parental Controls and Online Child Protection: A Survey of Tools and Methods, by Adam Thierer, Fall 2008.

FCC v. Fox and the Future of the First Amendment in the Information Age, by Adam Thierer, 1/20/09.

Don't Scapegoat Media, by Adam Thierer, 12/9/08.

The Perils of Mandatory Parental Controls and Restrictive Defaults, by Adam Thierer, 4/11/08.

Congress, Content Regulation, and Child Protection: The Expanding Legislative Agenda, by Adam Thierer, 2/6/08.

Parental Control Perfection? The Impact of the DVR and VOD Boom on the Debate over TV Content Regulation, by Adam Thierer, PFF Progress on Point 14.20, October 2007.

Why Regulate Broadcasting: Toward a Consistent First Amendment Standard for the Information Age, by Adam Thierer, 7/10/07.

Images Kids See on the Screen, Testimony by Adam Thierer, 6/22/07.

Adam Thierer – Who Needs Parental Controls?