How Bark Home Protects Every Device on Your Home Network

Raising kids in the digital age can present many challenges for parents. One of the biggest? The age-old screen time battle — not to mention protecting kids from inappropriate content they may encounter online. Fortunately, Bark, the leader in parental controls and family-friendly tech, has an online safety solution that can help. With the Bark Home, parents can manage the internet on all of the Wi-Fi-connected devices their kids use, from phones and tablets to gaming consoles and computers. 

The dangers of unfiltered screen time for kids

Why is the Bark Home so revolutionary? It puts parents in control of the things their children can access while on the internet. Being online presents so many dangers to kids, and the first line of defense is blocking at home, starting with your home Wi-Fi. Here are just a few of the concerning issues families face today:

Porn 

The primary danger most parents are concerned about when it comes to unfettered screen time is pornography, and with good reason. According to a study by Common Sense Media, 54% of kids reported viewing porn for the first time by the age of 13. That means that for some children, it’s even earlier, which is a scary thought! Access to porn can warp a child’s sense of self as well as their real-life relationships, so it’s important that parents stay vigilant about what their child is exposed to.

Related: The Truth About Porn’s Impact on Childhood Mental Health

Addictive online gaming and potential predators

Fortnite, Roblox, and Call of Duty are all examples of games that can keep kids glued online for hours at a time. Not only are these games oftentimes violent, they also have text and voice chat options, which can expose kids to: 

• profanity, 
• inappropriate content, and even 
• strange adults. 

Many times, parents have no idea what their children are encountering in these games, or what the voices in their kids’ headphones are saying. We’ve seen multiple incidents over the years where predators prey on kids in gaming chats, game-related Discord servers, and other hard-to-find online locations.

Related: 4 Ways Roblox Endangers Your Kid: A Cop's Safety Guide for Parents

Social media and its many dangers

Just like kids can access porn via the countless devices in your house, they can also access social media. And not just apps on tablets and phones—did you know you can log in to Snapchat on any web browser on any device?

Social media, whether your family allows it or not, can be extremely harmful to a child. On the less dangerous side, you have things like:

• FOMO (fear of missing out) 
• Unhealthy comparisons to others
• Age-inappropriate content

On the darker side:

• Cyberbullying
• Exposure to extremist/hate content
• Millions of strangers who may try to take advantage of kids online by pretending to be someone they’re not

Blocking access to dangerous apps like Snapchat can help prevent these issues from the start.

Related: 

• Experts Say to Delay Social Media: Why 16 is Better Than 13
• Breaking the Social Media Trap: Experts Share How to Improve Mental Health

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How Bark Home works

The Bark Home is a small device that plugs into your own home’s Wi-Fi router. So you don’t need to purchase a new router–just use the one you already have (compatible with most routers). Once paired with your account, it lets you:

• Block apps and sites on any device connected to your home Wi-Fi, including smart TVs, tablets, phones, computers, laptops, Kindle Fires, and gaming consoles. 
• Set custom screen time schedules by time of day, which can look like “no online gaming after 7 p.m. on weeknights” and “only allow YouTube on the weekends.”
• Maintain high speeds with a 1 Gbps Ethernet port.
• See which devices are connected to your home Wi-Fi, which means you can find out if your child is using a burner device you don’t know about.
• Set filtering rules that automatically apply to every new device that enters your home, like the phones and portable gaming devices of your child’s friends. You can also choose to “ignore” some phones so the rules don’t apply to adults.

And never fear—if your child unplugs the Bark Home, you’ll receive an alert right away.

Cost of Bark Home

You can lease the Bark Home for just $6/month or purchase it outright for $79. It comes with all the software you need to manage everything, with no extra subscriptions required. And the best part? You can add unlimited kids and devices, so you never have to worry about upgrading or paying more. 

Why families need Bark Home

Many parents may not account for the many ways kids could be exposed to inappropriate content through WiFi connected devices. They may believe that most dangers are just on phones or computers. 

But most families have more connected devices than they realize. For example, kids can watch YouTube via an Xbox or stream music or videos from an old iPad from 2017 you forgot you had. We’ve even heard of a child using a smart refrigerator to log in to Twitter!

The Bark Home lets you manage internet access and block content on every single device that connects to the internet in your home, helping to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks. Gen Alpha may be digital natives, but that doesn’t mean they’re ready for a completely unfiltered internet experience. With the Bark Home, parents can stay one step ahead of their kids and help protect them online and in real life. 

‍General note: Devices that have cellular service, like phones and tablets, will still be able to access inappropriate content even with Bark Home if a child chooses to turn off Wi-Fi connectivity. That’s why we recommend the Bark Phone, as screen time rules and blocking aren’t differentiated by Wi-Fi and LTE, and this helps parents keep their kids protected 24/7.