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Dr. Garth Graham talks about device Parental Controls | Midday Break Room w/ Tiffany Bacon - 6.18.26
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A
Word radio on demand, 96.1 FM and 900am WURD streaming live@wordradio.com all right, y', all, so it is time for my next guest. To join us today we have the Director of Glo and director and global head of healthcare and public health partnerships at YouTube and Google Health. Dr. Garth Graham is joining us right now. Hello, Dr. Graham, how are you?
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B
Hello. Hello, how are you?
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A
I am breathing on schedule. Thank you so much for joining me today.
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B
Hello back.
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A
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Before we get into this, because we're going to have an awesome conversation about parents and parental controls on devices so the babies can be safe not just throughout the summer, but in general as they are using the devices. Just give us a little insight on what it is you do as the director and global head of Healthcare for Public Partnerships at ut.
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B
Yeah, so, you know, we know that people come to Google and YouTube to look up health information of any kind, whether it's a cough or a fever or, you know, what to do to keep your kids safe. So my team works to make sure that the health information on our platform is good, high quality information. And then we also work on the kinds of things that help to protect our younger viewers or younger, younger population as they engage with our platform.
- [01:39]
A
Okay, fantastic. Absolutely. Love it. So let's talk about these parental controls because the babies get a hold of the devices and sometimes things can go awry. So let's talk about what some of the new Android controls are being rolled out for the summer. Yeah.
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B
You know, and so you take a step back and I would just say, you know, it's summer. You know, a lot of our kids are at school, there's a lot more free time that they have. So, you know, a lot of this is about how do we create so there's less stress around in terms of setting those digital boundaries and allow our kids to engage in technology in a healthy way. So, you know, being able to talk to your kids about, you know, the kinds of things they're engaging in, kinds of content they're watching is also important. Building a family plan is important. But then one of the things we talk about is this idea of, you know, agreeing on the rules as a family or with your parent, with your children, and then using the tools. So how can we make the tools that parents or caregivers can use to protect their kids important? So that's what we're doing. Talking About Android, particularly Android 17, is we're allowing parents the ability to now set their daily screen time limits, create Downtime schedules to lock their devices at night for kids and to control which kinds of apps those kids would be utilizing and limiting the time you may want to, they may be spending on specific apps. So it's about again, being able to kind of create that healthier space for our kids online.
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A
Okay. Now, you know, our young people are way smarter than a lot of adults give them credit for. We know that. And because YouTube University is a real thing, what really stops the youngin from going to YouTube to figure out how to disengage whatever settings the parent engages on?
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B
Yeah. So you know, on this particular Android, parents are able to set a pin so you protect it. Easy to set pin that you know, is your pin. So it allows you to, you know, can build in that, you know, control for you as a parent. So that's kind of one way. But one thing I always say is, you know, we should talk to our kids. And no tool is really a substitute for open conversation. They're kind of, the tools are kind of there to support the discussion and to support the enforcement. But you know, it's always good to talk to them and you know, negotiate the boundaries and the kinds of things so that, you know, it helps to build a relationship as you're doing this as well.
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A
Okay, so let's talk about the various tiers because the amount of controls you need for a child that is preschool to say maybe fourth grade is different than what you need from fourth to eighth. And then, you know, then what do you do after eighth grade?
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B
You know, you mentioned almost exactly the ages of my four children. So I can walk you through that as a parent. Living it, living it every day. You know, you definitely a couple of ways I look at it. So one is we want to teach our kids how to navigate in the digital world, not from the digital world. So many of these digital tools allow our kids to be competitive than us, which is a good thing. You know, we want this next generation to continue to grow safely in general. So we talk about this idea of age appropriate experiences so that my 7 year old, little Rosie, my daughter, we have her when she's engaging, for instance on YouTube, it's through the YouTube Kids Experience. So she gets more the gymnastics and the kinds of things that you know is age appropriate. And we put a lot of those safety controls in for her, protect her for that day age. And then you know, my own, my older kid is 11, he's starting to venture out into the online world and the real world a little bit more. So I set up my Parental control. Just like how I would, allowing him to ride his bicycle a little bit further than, you know, my 7 year old would. And then my 13 year old, you know, he's morale into the world. So I monitor a lot of what he's doing. I set the controls for his time period. So you're exactly right. You want age appropriate digital experiences for your kids. Just how you'd want age appropriate real world experiences for the kid. The one thing I always, it's just the last thing I'd say on this point is you want your kids, you know, you want your kids to grow and evolve. So, you know, when my 14 year old, 13 year old now, you know, he's going to start driving in about three years. And so the skills he's learning now in navigating the world on his bicycle and getting out there more, you know, it's going to help him for navigating worse. But I don't want to throw him out there at 17 having none of those skills. So you want them to have graded experiences so that they can navigate the world in an age appropriate way.
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A
All right, love it, love it, love it. Now you, you went through the new features for Android. Now which would you say have the biggest positive impact on young people?
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B
Yeah, you know, the thing about all this is so kid specific because I could think, for instance, I would say for my 11 year old, this idea of controlling which apps I want him to engage in is particularly important. Now for my 13 year old, what's really going to be important is creating the downtime schedules at night because he and I are still going back and forth on media, social, sleep, just broadly, you know, and we're having those, let me just call it negotiations. And so I think for him particularly, you know, things that are encouraging, sleep time and bedtime are really important. And so, you know, you know, we don't have the, we want to be able to create the healthy habits that allow him to evolve appropriately. And so sleep is a very important part of that for teenagers.
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A
Yeah, very, very good. And what would you say, especially since you have children at various stages of growth and development, what would you say is your biggest concern as a parent, especially if they have access to other children's devices when you all are not around?
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B
You know, I think about my biggest concern both for online and offline experiences is that they encounter an experience that brings them harm. And you know, for my sons and my daughters, you know, when I, when I see them ride out in their bicycles into our community, you know, I, you know me, my wife, she would always kind of have a little twitch at first, like, oh, my goodness, where are they going? You know? But that's important for them to learn. So I think we always worry as we see our kids, you know, get a little bit further out of our sight in general. So I think for me, both online and offline, you know, it's about protecting them from any kind of experience that would bring them harm.
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A
All right, sounds great. Sounds like you have some wonderful options for those that have an Android phone. If people want to learn a little bit more and find out more about what you do, how can they follow you and what website can you share?
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B
Yeah, so we just, you know, published some of these tips for parents about navigating in the summer on our blog at blog. YouTube. So that's a good place to go and see some of more of the information that we're just talking about here today.
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A
Sounds amazing. Dr. Garth Graham, thank you so much for joining us today on the midday break room.
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B
Okay, thank you for having me.
- [09:48]
A
All right, you too. Have a good one. You've been listening to Word Radio on demand. Listen live at 96.1 FM 900am and online@wordradio.com.