Microsoft Xbox Series X Parental Control

Parental Privacy Controls for Xbox Series X

Why They Are Important and How to Set them

Learn how to set time restrictions and control available content

Start

Index

Introduction

Why Parental Controls?

Navigate to different steps of the guide with the buttons to the right.

Parental Controls Tutorial

Discussing Parental Controls with Your Child

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Example Discussion

Introduction

The Microsoft Xbox Series X is one of the most popular home video game consoles played today, with an estimated 120 million active monthly players in 2023. Approximately 24% of those daily players are under the age of 18. The consoles are also the most frequently used device to play many online games that are popular with children including Fortnite and Call of Duty. Many Xbox consoles even come bundled with these games as a selling point. According to the Boston Children's Digital Wellness Lab, children of ages 5-8 play on average for 19 minutes per day, ages 9-12 play for 55 minutes per day, and ages 13-17 play for 69 minutes per day. These averages do not include mobile game time, and they also do not show the wide variety of playtime within individual age groups.

Why Have Parental Controls?

Explaining the need for parental controls with your child can be a difficult conversation. Reasons why parents won't set parental controls: They don't know how to do so. They feel that they are taking child independency away. They feel like parental controls won't be effective. They are afraid of retaliation from their child. However, parental controls have shown to be very effective in parenting, including but not limited to: Establishes boundaries Reinforces parental role Fosters agency in children Prevents overuse of screen media

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Why Have Parental Controls? Part 2

Presently, video game console developers have established highly customizable parental controls that range from basic playtime restrictions to digital purchase allowances and age-restricted content. In the next few slides, we are going to slowly walk you through the steps needed to set up parental controls on Xbox consoles.

Getting Started: Xbox Series X Parental Controls: Step 1 of 8

In order to set up parental controls, you will need to create your own Xbox Network account, which will act as the "family safety" account, and then you can either create "child" accounts or wait to create them after. You can either create this "family safety" account from your Xbox console or at family.microsoft.com.

From the main menu of your console, select Settings > Account > Family Settings.

The link below will take you to video tutorials of this presentation.

Video Tutorial on Parental Controls for Xbox Series X

Xbox Series X Parental Controls: Part 2 of 8

Next, select "Manage family members", and then "Add to family". You can then either select an already created account for your child, or create a brand new child account, to add to family. Note: This screen is not where you select an account to be a parent or family account. The account logged in when clicking on "settings" at the beginning of this tutorial is automatically already seen by the system as the "family" account.

Xbox Series X Parental Controls: Part 3 of 8

After adding your child's account to the family account, go back to the previous "Family settings" menu and select "Access restrictions". This next screen will be where you can select parental controls on your child's account.

Xbox Series X Parental Controls: Part 4 of 8

From the Access restrictions screen, select "Create a guest key" and create a 6 digit passcode that you will remember. Once you complete this step, you will be able to start selecting specific parental controls on your Xbox family account. These controls will apply across all child accounts under the family account. "Access to content" will allow you to restrict what content your child can access from their account by selecting an age range. The rest of the options are self-explanatory, but in order to set time restrictions, you must follow extra steps on the next page using an internet browser on your phone or computer.

Xbox Series X Parental Contols: Part 5 of 8

In order to set up time restrictions for your child's account, go to family.microsoft.com and login using the "family safety" account you used on your Xbox device.

From this screen, you should be able to see each child account you added to the family account in the previous steps. You now have access to multiple parental control options individually for each child account. Let's start with "Screen time".

Xbox Series X Parental Controls: Part 6 of 8

Selecting "Screen Time" will bring up the following screen. If your child has access to multiple Microsoft devices including a Windows computer, you can toggle "Use one schedule for all devices" to make your selected parental controls apply across all devices. From this screen, you can select the daily "Time limit" in 30 minute intervals, or you can designate certain hours of the day that your child is allowed to play.

Note: If you have the Xbox Family Settings app installed on your phone, your child can actually send you a message to your mobile device requesting for more screentime if they reach their alotted daily limit. More information about the Xbox Family Settings app can be found in this tutorial video:

Xbox Series X Parental Controls: Part 7 of 8

Selecting "App and game limits" allows you to set specific restrictions such as time restrictions on only certain apps and video games, as opposed to blanket time limits across all games.

Xbox Series X Parental Controls: Part 8 of 8

Selecting "More options" and then "Spending" will allow you to select either "Add money" or "Ask to buy". "Add money" will allow you to add funds from a credit or debit card to your child's account from which they can then spend on the Xbox Network marketplace or on the Windows app store. "Ask to buy" will toggle the option on, which will then prompt you anytime your child attempts to purchase content on a Microsoft device.

Discussing Parental Controls with your Child

It is important to discuss both the necessity and the parameters of parental controls with your child. Use it as an opportunity to teach your child about the concepts of debate and compromise as you determine limits and why those limits are important. The wide variety of options for parental control on Xbox consoles offer many learning opportunities for your child. Providing both game time limits and spending limits can help teach your child from a young age the importance of budgeting time and finances, respectively.

Discussing Parental Controls, Continued

Let's consider a hypothetical situation. John and Sarah have a ten year old son, Jeremy, who recently received an Xbox Series X for his birthday and wants to play Fortnite with his friends. John and Sarah are afraid Jeremy will spend too much time playing video games and not enough time with his family or playing outdoors. Sitting down with Jeremy, John and Sarah ask him how often he plans on playing. He tells them his friends play everyday right after school. They tell him that he can play for 60 minutes a day. He rebuttals that that is not enough time and that his friends can play up to two hours a day together. They decide to compromise at 90 minutes a day. Jeremy also tells his parents that he wants to buy cosmetic items from the Xbox Marketplace on Fortnite. They tell him that he can spend up to $15 a month on the marketplace, but he will not be able to spend more if he reaches this limit. After John and Sarah make a family safety account, they create an account for Jeremy and add it to the family account from the Xbox device. They set the restrictions for playtime and spending limits, and they also set view filters for age-inappropriate content so Jeremy does not come across something that is not appropriate for his age. John and Sarah let Jeremy know that these limits cannot be changed without a lengthy discussion between the three of them. While Jeremy wishes he had more playtime and a higher spending limit, he is happy to play regardless and looks forward to gaming with his friends.

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