It’s a bit different growing up nowadays… My son is 10 years old. He and almost all of his friends
have smartphones. They watch Minecraft videos, play games, send Whatsapp messages and much more!
But many children (and quite a few parents) struggle with smartphone addiction. Studies show that
smartphone use before bedtime is harmful to the quality of your child’s sleep. Data-driven social
and instant messaging apps are often the source of the addiction.
At school, teachers discourage or even prohibit smartphone use during class. Outside of school,
parents may attempt to control a child’s smartphone usage. Control means perhaps with an expensive
app or by confiscation. The latter sometimes means tears and tantrums... and that’s both children
and the adults!
We made Data Nanny because we felt there must be a better way to manage our children’s smartphone
use. Data Nanny is an app that parents install on their child’s Android smartphone.
It allows parents to set boundaries during which Wifi and mobile data (on Android 4.x only) will not
work. This can be during the school day or after bedtime or both. It is possible to limit it as much
or as little as you think is needed. You can even turn data off for the entire day.
Many kids have pay as you go SIM cards with no mobile data or limited mobile data. But as all
smartphones have wifi, you can’t really limit your child’s data use by reducing the top-up.
Your child can still make and receive phone calls and send text messages, while data is restricted.
This topic arouses a great deal of passion both among parents and children.
The app is available for free and in English, Finnish and Swedish.