An examination of how many U.S. households actually need parental control technologies by Adam Thierer, a senior fellow at The Progress & Freedom Foundation in Washington, D.C. (www.PFF.org)

1. Who Needs Parental Controls?
A Look at How Many Homes
Really Need Them
February 2009
Adam Thierer
athierer@pff.org
Senior Fellow
Progress & Freedom Foundation
www.PFF.org

2. PFF paper
“Who Needs Parental Controls:
Assessing the Relevant Market for
Parental Control Technologies”
by Adam Thierer, Progress &
Freedom Foundation, Progress on
Point , No. 16.5, February 2009.
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3. PFF book
Parental Controls & Online
Child Protection: A Survey of
Tools and Methods
by Adam Thierer
www.pff.org/parentalcontrols
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4. The Nature of the Problem
 Many media and Internet critics say that
government intervention (even censorship)
may be necessary because parental control
technologies are not widely utilized.
 Q. But how many homes really need
parental control technologies?
 A: Fewer than you think!
 The relevant universe of potential parental
control users is actually quite limited.
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5. Consider an analogy:
Baby locks for cabinets
Would we measure
the effectiveness of Does every
child cabinet locks by household really
asking whether all need these things?
U.S. households used
such safety measures
on kitchen and
bathroom cabinets?
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6. Most homes don’t need baby locks
1) have no children present in the home,
2) their children are of an age where such
locks are not needed, or
3) they take other steps to protect their
children from harmful products that might
be in the home.
Thus, any survey or study that evaluated
the success of child safety cabinet locks
by using all households as the relevant
universe of analysis would produce
highly skewed, inaccurate results.
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7. This is exactly what happens in the
debate over parental controls today!
Critics are lumping all households
together and assuming that because
some homes don’t use parental control
tools, it means there is some sort of
market failure that requires regulation.
But not all homes need parental
control tools!
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8. So, how do we determine how many
homes might need parental controls?
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9. Census Bureau (Statistical Abstract) data
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10. Formula for Calculating the Percentage of
Household without Children
Nonfamily Households
+
Family Households without own Children
÷
Total Households
=
% of Households without Children
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11. Making the Calculation
÷
+
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12. Calculation for 2007
37,587 (Nonfamily Households)
+
41,668 (Family Households without own Children)
÷
116,011 (Total Households)
=
68.3% of Households without Children
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13. Historical Data on Homes With &
Without Kids
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14. Households WITHOUT Kids in Them
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15. Households WITH Kids in Them
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16. Bottom line:
The percentage of homes that might
need parental control technologies is
certainly no greater than the 32% of
U.S. households with children in them.
but…
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17. The Actual Universe of Relevant
Homes is Even Smaller…
1. Not all age groups require parental
controls
 Little need for controls under or over certain
ages
2. Some parents rely on other methods to
control media & communications access
 Household media rules
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18. Taxonomy of Household Media Rules
1) “Where” Rules
= assigning a place for media consumption
2) “When and How Much” Rules
= creating a media allowance
3) “Under What Condition” Rules
= carrot-and-stick incentives
4) “What” Rules
= specifying what kids can and cannot consume

19. When are Parental Controls Needed?
Ages 7 to 16 are Likely Years When
Parental Controls are Employed in Most Homes
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
7 - 16 years of
0 - 7 years of age 16 - 18 years
age of age
Parental
Less Need for Controls Less Need for
Parental Potentially Parental
Controls Needed Controls
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20. Other reasons families might not use
parental control tools
 they have an aversion to parental control technologies,
perhaps fearing it creates distrust between them and
their kids;
 they don’t think parental control technologies work;
 they believe their own household media rules and
restrictions constitute a more sensible approach;
 they feel comfortable making their own judgments
after consulting ratings, program guides, and other
information provided by media providers or third party
media watchdog or rating organizations;
 they just don’t allow many media or communications
devices in the home;
 or perhaps some of them are just lazy!
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21. Who Needs Parental Controls?
Far Less than 32% of U.S. Households Likely Need to Parental Controls
Households with
Children
All U.S. (32%)
Households (?%)
Households That
Actually Utilize
Parental Controls
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22. Summary & Policy Implications
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23. Summary
 Parental controls are now:
 ubiquitously available,
 increasingly easy to use,
 increasingly free-of-charge.
 There has never been a time in our nation’s history
when parents have had more tools and methods at their
disposal to help them decide what constitutes
acceptable media content in their homes and in the
lives of their children. Read my book for proof!
 BUT… merely because parents have been empowered,
it does not mean they are all taking advantage of those
tools. It is impossible to determine definitively why that
may be the case.
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24. Policy Implications
(1) Not all homes have children or need
tools.
 Regulation cannot be premised upon a lack of
parental control uptake among all U.S.
households.
 Policymakers and the courts should be
skeptical of calls for regulation premised upon
faulty statistical analysis and an over-
estimation of the relevant universe of parental
control users.
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25. Policy Implications (cont.)
(2) Education and ease of use is important.
For those households in which children
are present but which are not using parental
control technologies, parents may need to
be better informed about the existence of
these tools and how to use them.
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26. Policy Implications (cont.)
(3) Engaged parenting is the main
solution for many parents.
 Many parents (including me!) believe that
education and parenting represent the first
and best approach to dealing with concerns
about objectionable content or troubling
communications.
 Parental controls can be helpful in a “training
wheels” and “speed bumps” sense, but they
are no substitute for parental oversight and
mentoring.
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27. About PFF
 www.PFF.org
 Market-oriented think tank and
educational non-profit with 501(c)(3)
tax-exempt status
 We study the digital revolution and its
implications for public policy
 Founded in 1993
 Based in Washington, D.C.
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28. Further Reading
 Parental Controls and Online Child Protection: A Survey of Tools
and Methods, by Adam Thierer, Fall 2008.
 FCC v. Fox and the Future of the First Amendment in the
Information Age, by Adam Thierer, 1/20/09.
 Don't Scapegoat Media, by Adam Thierer, 12/9/08.
 The Perils of Mandatory Parental Controls and Restrictive Defaults,
by Adam Thierer, 4/11/08.
 Congress, Content Regulation, and Child Protection: The
Expanding Legislative Agenda, by Adam Thierer, 2/6/08.
 Parental Control Perfection? The Impact of the DVR and VOD
Boom on the Debate over TV Content Regulation, by Adam
Thierer, PFF Progress on Point 14.20, October 2007.
 Why Regulate Broadcasting: Toward a Consistent First
Amendment Standard for the Information Age, by Adam Thierer,
7/10/07.
 Images Kids See on the Screen, Testimony by Adam Thierer,
6/22/07.
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