10 days of Safer Internet Day: Day 4 - Blocking unsuitable TV, film and radio content

How can you avoid your child watching an episode of Breaking Bad while you’re out of the room? The main providers offer parental controls to block inappropriate programmes and films. Todays edition of Clare Mount's Safer Internet Day countdown will show you how to set the parental controls of BBC iPlayer and of popular streaming service Netflix.

BBC iPLAYER

The Parental Guidance Lock lets you control which BBC content your child can access. If a programme has been flagged with parental guidance (for violence, sex or strong language), it will feature a clear label and a G symbol. On a computer, mobile and tablet device you’ll see a red bar containing the G symbol on the programme page. When you press play on a G rated programme on your mobile, tablet or computer, you will have the option to set up parental guidance.

On a computer

1. To set your PIN, hit the Play button and if you’re over 16 select Confirm, then Continue.

2. When prompted, turn on Lock and enter a four digit PIN and press Play.

On a mobile or tablet

1. To set your PIN, hit the Play button and select the option Set Up Parental Guidance.

2. When prompted, confirm you are over 16, enter a four digit PIN, set a secret answer to aid password recovery and press Activate.

3. Each time you watch something that isn’t suitable for kids, you’ll be asked to enter your PIN again. If your family uses more than one device or web browser to watch BBC iPlayer, you’ll need to set a PIN for each.

For more information, go to the BBC website.

NETFLIX

There are four maturity levels in Netflix parental controls: Little Kids, Older Kids, Teens and Adults. In each case parents can set up a dedicated profile in which only TV series and films that are suitable for the specified age range will appear.

1. To activate parental controls, log in to your Netflix account on a computer, go to Your Account then select Manage Profiles.

2. Set up a separate profile for your child, click Edit, then change the parental control setting in the drop-down menu.

3. It can take up to eight hours for changes to parental controls to take effect – if you sign out of your account and back in again, this may speed up the process.

4. Be aware that you can’t lock these settings – your child can switch to another profile and use that.

For more information, go to the Netflix website.