Kotaku
Global Consulting firm User Centric recently conducted a study on effectiveness of parental controls in electronic devices. 20 parents and 20 children were gathered, with the parents asked to set up parental controls and children asked to bypass them. The results will shock you. Well not really, I just wanted to feel like the nighttime news hook story commercial voice over guy. The results are pretty much what you'd expect. Confusion about ratings and how indeed to setup the controls themselves led to a 47% failure rate on video game consoles, with lesser degrees of failure for V-chips, mobile phones, and DVRs. I take two things from these results. First, parents need to better understand the ratings systems before they start trying to restrict access to them, and User Centric needs to perform another study on parents who aren't stupid. Hit the jump for User Centric's press release, discovered via GamePolitics.
Study Finds Usability Problems with Parental Controls OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL, SEPTEMBER 25, 2007 - Ratings-based parental controls are often used to protect children from exposure to inappropriate media. To compare the usability of common parental controls, Chicago-based usability consultancy User Centric, tested four devices with 20 parents and 20 children ages 9-12.During individual usability test sessions, all participants were asked to set up parental controls using a television with a V-Chip, a digital video recorder, a game console, and a mobile phone marketed specifically for children under ten. Participants were also asked to rate each device based on ease of use during set up and their confidence in their own success.
Findings:
* Failure rates were high: 31% (DVR), 36% (mobile phone), 42% (V-Chip), and 47% (game console). Across all four devices, parents and children had similar failure rates when setting up parental controls. Participants who reported prior experience fared no better than those who had no experience.
* The relationship between ratings systems and their impact on parental controls was unclear to many participants. When using the V-chip, participants were often uncertain if selecting one rating would be sufficient for blocking the more severe ratings. When using the game console, participants were confused whether their selection represented the highest rating allowed or the lowest rating blocked (despite explanations displayed onscreen).
* One third of participants failed to set up parental controls across all the devices. This contrasted sharply with the high confidence ratings given by participant; many participants believed they had successfully activated parental controls when they actually had not.
* Several participants failed to set up parental controls because they were unaware that they had to perform an extra step to save and then activate their selection. Parental control interfaces failed to provide sufficient visual cues on whether a specific rating was successfully selected or automatically saved as the current setting.
Overall, User Centric found that participants' lack of understanding about ratings compromised their ability to successfully set up parental controls and that parents may be more confident than they should be that the controls are properly set.
Comments
Parental controls need an "Easy" button, I guess. Did they at least manage to block the pornographicals from the phone?
The little-if-ever-discussed element of this story: is it really a 'failure' rate, or are there a number of parents out there who are OK with their children experiencing T or M (or R) rated entertainment?
I think this is a lot like parents who give their kids wine with dinner: more of them do it than you think, but they're very unlikely to volunteer this information because they don't want to look like bad parents.
What's the gap between 'clueless parent unable to program parental controls' and 'parent who doesn't believe that GTA really has an effect on their 13 year old'. I think the answer would surprise a lot of people, but hard data isn't easy to find.
"despite explanations displayed onscreen" apparently they tested illiterate people.
If you can't figure out the ratings system...
... then videogames are the least of your problems.
In such an event, please don't breed.
@DrFresh: I think this was less of a test of the ratings systems and parents' adherence to them as it was a test of the user interface for devices. The 'failure rate' suggests that of the parents who WANT to enforce rating limits on their devices, almost half failed at doing even that, meaning their little kiddies could still watch Dennis Franz's ass on TV without their knowing.
I agree that the parents you're talking about are out there, but the results of this study indicate something more concrete and less damning -- namely, that these devices aren't fool-proof. Fools are ingenious.
"and User Centric needs to perform another study on parents who aren't stupid."
Ahh but that's the problem, Mike. Parental Controls need to be dumbed down to the point at which a drunken monkey can operate them.
We have two kids and we've never implemented parental controls on any of the many electronic entertainment devices in the house. We judge things on a case by case basis and therefore we make the decisions and what they are ready for as opposed to the ESRB or MPAA or TV folks or whoever. Revolutionary, huh?
@kingclip: You may be onto something.
If I remember correctly, you're describing the process by which literally billions of other children were raised. I think they call it parenting.
Mybe we can get this concept to catch on! Share with your friends!!
@kingclip:
*gasp* How dare you? Do you know how much time and money those people spend trying to decide what letter to put on a box?
from my own playing around in the menus, if I wasn't a gamer the 360 would be pretty complicated to setup for parental lockout that kids can't get around.
Don't like the content/don't think the content is appropriate for you child? Don't buy it for them. Simple as that. Technology fails far more frequently than an attentive parent does.
I was at an EB once as a child was begging his mother to buy him San Andreas. The clerk was explaining to her how the rating system worked and why she shouldnt buy the game for her son. I was on my way out and I dont know how it turned out, but the look on her face was that of someone who was about to cave into this little rugrat's ploy...
Weak parenting will one day be at fault for the emmergence of Government censorshit and regulation of games. Meaning tighter leash on video game content and more tax payer dollars wasted on government jobs that shouldnt exist.
Yes: censorshit.
While I agree with DrFresh and Mistersleep that parents may actively be choosing to not utilize controls on these devices, the article appears to be a simple test as to whether or not parents are ABLE to enable these controls.
If someone said "Hi, could you take this 4 and this 3 and add them." and you hand them back a 43, you're not actively deciding not to add, you're doing it wrong.
Personally, I think ratings are irrelevant. Kids are smarter than people give them credit for, and scientific studies still haven't found the substitute for parenting and quality time with your children.
@NumberONE: And the dumb people will thank them and the apathetic people won't care. Go skool!
How about they conduct a study with more than 40 subjects?
@NumberONE: I agree. I was denied many things growing up and I turned out fine. My kid sister on the the other hand... Parents today seem to be afraid of their kids.
"Oh no, if I don't get this for my child they'll hate me forever!"
Haha, I think that the parental control features on game systems are used more often to frustrate siblings or roommates who monopolize your systems. At least, that's what I've seen it used for.
Hmmm.... anyone else notice that most of the percentages listed are not possible with a 20 instance sample size? How many parents suceeded when 47% of 20 did it correctly? How can you have 9.4 parents?
On top of everything, a sample size of 20 isn't going to yield very statistically significant results.
Bah most parental devices suck. For last gen all you needed to do usually was pop the battery out or unplug the device. This gen is pop the HDD out or format the memory. Besides as stated above, and I'm paraphrasing, if you can't follow on screen instructions, parental controls is the least of your problems.
Wow, a sample group of 20. That's definitive.
Gotta love the anti-violence gaming movement. With this report in mind, it sounds like they're saying,
"I'm too busy to monitor what my children play, and too stupid to figure out how to set up my parental controls, so please government, do it for me..."
I was a little unclear, sorry. I only meant that if you you add A(# of parents who mean to block content but can't figure out how) to B(# of parents who are not aware of parental blocking tools) to C(# of parents who might use blocking tools but can't be bothered) to D(# of parents who don't want to use parental blocking at all), you come up with an overwhelming majority.
So the real question, to me, is whether the industry is really doing a bad job at designing parental blocking tools or whether most parents just aren't interested enough in learning how they work.
I wonder how many households really use NetNanny or the like -- seems like it's probably a tiny, tiny fraction.
I think the title would be more accurate with a colon instead of a comma.
"Study Finds Fault in Parental Controls: Parents"
Or was that already what you meant?
Some parents have a hard time sending a text message, let alone adjusting parental settings on a gaming platform.
Even if an 'easy' -able to adjust in a daze easy- system was available, the majority of parents would not use it, cause they just don't care that much.
@TheDollHouse: I think it's more along the lines of "The schools say that I can get put in a BETTER home if I tell them you touched me." Basically, parents are afraid of their kids, since they know the kids could easily run to a school official or something, and cry abuse, etc. after throwing a tantrum.
I've heard the threat quite a few times from my experience in retail. "TEACHER said you have to treat me right or you'll get taken away." It's disgusting, and quite disturbing when you think about it.
Can't use parental controls? Do what my parents used to do; hide the freakin power cord until it's time to play.
Heh, parents that aren't stupid. They'd have one helluva time finding enough of those to run an effective study.
I think one of the main problems is that the rate of technological change is so high that parents often have difficulty keeping up. As the oldest son I'm always the one who has to setup the computer, router, wireless settings, ect. The thing is that, children have a much better understanding of what's going on because they grew up with things like cellphones and their parents didn't. I set up the parental settings on my console to my own liking and password simply to lock the folks out of screwing with my system. It's completely the opposite of what's supposed to happen.
I believe it was best said in Se7en. That the right thing to do is usually the hardest. And of course, parents are going to take the easy way out and not censor what their children play.
Notice that the study does not say "human parents" but rather just "parents". I suspect they may have used chimpanzees to test these products.
I think the problem is that kids know how to program a VCR better than their parents do. And the kids don't even know what a VCR is!
@Eville1: Haha, my parents tried the "hiding the power cord" tactic when I was a kid, I amassed a collection of 5 power cords per device, turning their tactic into a game of whack-a-mole.
@Generico:
Then the results would have been much higher. Chimpanzees are able to perform tasks better once trained then creationists.
Finally somebody made a study to show that stupid parents are to blame for societie's ills ... in a roundabout way at least.
@brent_w: You're giving the masses to much credit if you believe they are going to make that connection.
Remember we are talking about the same masses that believe people everywhere in the U.S. are defaulting on their house mortgage because a study said that 5% of new home owners aren't capable of paying mortgage.
A bat with "parental control" written on it may be more effective than the current setup.
It is crystal clear in the game console setup what all the ratings do. If you can't follow it, you gotta have problems.
Now for TVs, that's a different story. Most menus on any given TV are in fact, crap. Crap. It took me forever to train my parents to turn on closed captioning on our TV, and that was a simple menu.
But my parents aren't stupid. They understand TV & movie ratings. I figure that they understand game ratings, but I've never asked (out of self preservation ;p ).
@tcolberg: My mom once tried blocking the flow of the ethernet cord by bending it like a water hose. It was not a proud moment for her.
@dv8godd: It's not that they're not smart, it's that their capacity to learn new subjects is decreased significantly. The brain of the average adult (around 45'ish, dunno exact numbers) just isn't flexible enough to find the on-screen instructions compatible. Then again, some parents might just not give a shit about what essentially a toy, so the effort put into it might not be up to the task.
@rdj: "It's not that they're not smart, it's that their capacity to learn new subjects is decreased significantly."
Oh.... Bullocks.
The people that keep inventing all the new technologies/processes/ideas are just as old as the people who are only need comprehend them on a rudimentary level. No one is asking them to change their belief system entirely, just spend 10 minutes figuring out instructions and pushing a couple buttons.
Humans don't lose the capacity to learn anywhere near what myths about learning suggest... but I see plenty (not all) of lazy parents that are just too damn involved in their own little worlds to pay attention to or care what they're children are into and participate in the child's life as anything more than a provider of food, shelter, and bad examples on how to live.
Speaking specifically to the idea that humans stop being able to learn: this is mostly a myth. Neuroscientists have been debunking that for years. One reality is that ALL humans have built-in brain processes that more easily accept what they believe to be true and reject what they believe to be false. When we're younger, we tend to trust more and accept that what we're being told is true... hence the absorption of new information because we see it as truth (children don't expect adults to be lying to them at all times... they see all this information from all sources being sources of truth). As we get older, our brains fill with more and more information and it tends to push aside new input that contradicts what it already understands to be true/fits the existing status quo. In other words... we don't lack a capacity to "learn"... we lack a capacity to "unlearn" or to assimilate "contradiction".
Adults learn new things all the time... we meet new people, we read the paper, watch television, listen to music, pursue hobbies, work, etc... all of these activities add new information to the brain.
Short of contracting Alzheimer's or similar debilitating mental conditions, humans are more than capable of following something as simple as on-screen instructions for parental controls...
... unless their brains have convinced them that the myth that they are unable to learn new things is true... and that such activity fits into the category of "something new", of course. :)
@DrFresh:
The wording sounds like this test was specifically done to determine _if_ the parents could successfully set it up, not whether they would care to do so.
Anyways, the results actually do shock me somewhat. I thought the failure rate would be much higher. I mean, think of how many people can't even figure out how to set up their VCR properly.
This is scary and unsurprising all at the same time. I can understand V-Chip because TV menus aren't exactly the friendliest, but DVRs and game consoles are so beyond user friendly it's not even funny. How can they not figure them out? :x
@poduski: Your mom rocks, rofl
I didn't know you could do that to video game consoles. Our family vets games very hard before anything comes into the house. we rent online from www.gamefly.com and they have parental controls (the kids haven't figured out a way around it yet) and reviews from other users too, so we can get a better understanding of what we're renting.
I don't know if they parents in the study were stupid or not. what's stupid is really on a device to tell you whats right or wrong.
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