Parental controls for online use, including those offered by most cable companies, typically provide combinations of the following features:

Multiple User Profiles

Members of your family can have their own dedicated profile allowing individuals to customize profiles with controls to suit the needs of family members, including children.

Filtering Options

You can filter websites and content so your children can see only what you want them to. Filtering options often include the use of “white lists” where your children only have access to material and sites you pre-approve, “black lists” where you can block specific objectionable sites, and advanced filtering options where a parent can manage web content based on the use of keywords or other parameters.

Time Limits

You can set limits on screen time appropriate for your children.

Supervised Chat

Allows parents to monitor the online conversations, such as instant messaging, of children.

Reporting capabilities

You can easily generate several types of reports about web activity for each user profile.

As illustrations of the types of parental controls cable companies provide to their customers, the following are links to several of the top companies:

For more information about what kinds of online parental controls are available through your cable system, contact your local cable provider directly.