AT THE CONTROLS: Cathy Robinson with her children Gemma, 10, Josh, 13, and Ben, 11. PIC: Mike Keating Source: Supplied
PARENTS will soon be able to limit the time their children spend on the internet and on calls from their mobile phones - and impose time-of-day restrictions.
A new online tool will allow parents, from their own computers, to impose bans on what their children are doing on their mobile phones, with or without their knowledge.
Parents will be able to set time-of-day limits on calls and mobile web use, block unwanted callers, choose the mobile web content that can be accessed and restrict outgoing calls to "safe" call lists.
The tool can also block silent numbers and allow parents to choose numbers and websites that a child can access, but it cannot yet block or restrict text or multimedia messaging. However, that is planned.
Telstra's director of corporate security, Darren Kane, said the new tool, called Smart Controls, would help combat cyber bullies.
"For some time now parents have been concerned about appropriate imaging for age-sensitive children," Mr Kane said.
"This will help parents manage children's access to online risk.
"We think a smartphone is an essential tool for a child who is mature enough to have one and we think all of the advantages to connectivity shouldn't be limited because parents have concerns about what the children might be doing on a smartphone."
Telstra plans to charge a monthly fee for the Smart Controls tool, which would work on any type of phone.
Cyber Safety Solutions director Susan McLean, a former police officer who talks in schools nationwide, said the onus was on parents when it came to the way their child used their mobile phone.
She said parents needed to question why their children needed a smartphone in the first place.
"A lot of the problems are caused by the fact kids are given these devices without any supervision," she said.
"The fault of a lot of this falls fairly and squarely back on parents who are the first to sook and whinge when something goes wrong. I go into schools and I find kids in Grade 2 with an iPhone. There is no need in the world for a seven or eight-year-old to have a smartphone."
Ms McLea said cyber bullying was a growing problem and about 40 per cent of kids she had spoken to admitted they had been cyber bullied.
"We've had such a massive increase in the development of smartphones and their usage and Australia leads the world in their usage of smartphones per capita," she said.
"Technology is here to stay and parents need to get their heads out of the sand and start to parent in the digital space and educate their children and themselves."
Mother-of-three Cathy Robinson has started using the new online tool and said as a parent cyber bullying was a major concern.
"It's not about trusting your child it's about protecting them," she said.
"I want to make sure cyber bullying doesn't come up and at the moment my children are young enough to tell me if they're being bullied."
Mrs Robinson said her 13-year-old son Josh has a smartphone and she said the tool would help protect him from potential bullying.
Optus joined forces with Kids Helpline last year to provide Australian schools with anti-cyber bullying lessons and has distributed material to more than 10,000 students across Australia.
Vodafone launched an Android app in March to set boundaries on kids using their mobile phones.
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