How do I prevent my son from bypassing Screen Time restrictions on Mac?

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AKG-2025 Author

Level 1

5 points

How do I prevent my son from bypassing Screen Time restrictions on Mac?

I have been using Apple screen time and recently discovered that even after blocking youtube.com and youtube apps, my child who is 10 is able to watch youtube videos. When I dug into it, I realized that he launches Google classroom and using one of the widgets in Google classroom, he is able to find youtube videos and watch them. I also noticed that he has discovered a glitch where sometimes upon restarting his phone, he is able to bypass all screen time restrictions.

I contacted Apple and haven't heard back from them. Has anyone else expreinced this? If I can't rely on Apple screen time, i'd like to buy another product. Does anyone have recommendations?

[Re-Titled By Moderator]

Mac mini, macOS 15.3

Posted on Apr 20, 2025 6:19 PM

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Answer 1

steve626

Level 6

13,797 points

Apr 21, 2025 12:24 PM in response to AKG-2025

Most routers have features to restrict internet access from specific devices. I have a Linksys router, for instance:

https://support.linksys.com/kb/article/289-en/

Relying on electronic means to do the job of the parent (as Kurt Lang pointed out) has many shortcomings because the child or teen-ager is probably as clever (or more so) than you and will figure out ways around the restrictions. You can use internet logs and the like to record what was accessed and when and discourage behaviors that you don't want by showing that there are consequences for violating your restrictions.

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