Squid Game is neither a game nor for kids. And if your child has access to a Netflix account without restrictions or Youtube with parental controls activated, there’s a good chance they’ve already seen Squid Game, or at least potentially disturbing scenes from it. We have noticed many students ‘playing’ Squid Game like games and replicating shooting and death as a consequence for losing in a game. We are regularly having conversations with students about the inappropriateness of the games and the themes in the show in general.

What Is Squid Game?

Netflix describes the South Korean drama as a series in which “hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children’s games.” The scenes are graphic, and feature sex, threats of sexual violence, murder, and torture. It’s currently the top-rated Netflix show. 

It’s difficult to monitor everything your child sees, especially when it comes to social media. But there are some moves you can make to deter your kids from watching Squid Game or mitigating its negative effects on their well-being. Here’s some advice from experts on what parents should do if their child is watching or has been exposed to clips from Squid Game.

Monitor what your child watches on TV and streaming platforms. 

Aside from social media, it’s possible for children to see the show on TV. The good news is, most streaming services have PIN and password-based parental controls. Research shows that kids whose parents actively manage their media consume less and make quality choices on their own.

Preview shows and movies you’re questioning, like Squid Game, before you let your child watch them.

The very first thing to do is see the show for yourself. Parents need to know that the level of violence in Squid Game is intense, according to Common Sense Media’s parent guide of the show. If you do decide to let your children watch the show, make sure to talk to them about what they’re seeing, and that it’s not okay to engage in certain behaviours they see in shows and movies.

“Squid Game may currently be the most sensational piece of media on Netflix right now, but it’s definitely not the only show or movie with this level of violence available on Netflix or elsewhere,” Conway explains. “If your kids have watched, talk to them about it. If they haven’t, it’s really easy to find age-appropriate media that’s free of violence that your kids will enjoy.”

How to set parental controls on Netflix and YouTube. A step-by-step guide.

NETFLIX

Netflix has easy-to-use parental controls, which will allow you to block specific movie or show titles, change the ratings of the titles your children are offered while watching Netflix, and you can even remove the title from the menu options altogether.

Setting up parental controls and blocking specific movie/show titles will take some of the work out of trying to keep on top of what your children are viewing and supervising their content.

To do this:

Go to Netflix.com on your device & sign in to your account.

Click the 'manage profiles' button and click on which profile you want to edit/restrict.

Click on the edit button under 'Maturity Settings.'

Enter your Netflix password.

Set the maturity rating for the programmes and films you want to allow in that profile. (G up to R18+)

Under 'Title Restrictions,' type in the movie's name or show you wish to restrict or block and select the title from the drop-down menu.

The title will now be listed in red and will be blocked. You can unblock by going back through steps 1-6 and clicking on the X to remove it from the blocked list.

Click 'save,' and the movie/show title will now be removed from their profile.

YOUTUBE

YouTube also has some restrictions that you can enable to help manage what your child can view and what content is recommended to them. You can also see what videos your children are searching and viewing while using YouTube and delete the history to stop irrelevant YouTube recommendations.

To do this, you will need to sign in to your Google account on YouTube. If you don't have an account, you should create one as you won't be able to manage their viewing selections without it.

NOTE: YouTube is owned and managed by Google, so you will need a google account or use one you already have. You will use this account to log in.

To do this:

Go to Youtube.com on your device and sign in to your account.

Click on the icon on the far right of the YouTube toolbar (top of the screen/open window), which should have your account user name or photo (if you've uploaded one), and a drop-down menu will appear.

Click on 'Restricted Mode' at the bottom of the menu. (This helps hide potential mature videos but is not 100% accurate but will certainly help)

Click on the 'Activate Restricted Mode' toggle button, so it's switched on.

Restricted mode will now be activated on that browser only. You will need to go and sign in on any other devices (including your home TV) to turn restricted mode on all the devices in your home.

Click back on the icon at the top right-hand corner of the YouTube toolbar, so the drop-down menu appears again, and then click on 'Your data in YouTube.' A Dashboard with multiple options will appear.

You can see the content that you have posted on YouTube,

your YouTube watch history and everything you have watched using this account,

your YouTube search history, which shows everything that has been searched for while logged into this account and;

further options around how and what data YouTube/Google collect and use.

We highly recommend looking through these settings and familiarising yourself with them to enable greater control over your data, as many of the settings can be restricted or switched off.

You can also alter and restrict what recommended videos are shown to your children by deleting the history, as the YouTube algorithm uses search & watched history to present and recommend further videos whenever they go onto the app.

To check and delete the YouTube watch history, do this:

While in the 'Your data on YouTube' section, click on 'Manage your YouTube Watch History' (follow the same for steps to 'manage YouTube search history')

A pop-up will ask you if you want to enable extra verification. Enable if you have tech-savvy children and you want to stop them from going back in and changing or deleting search histories they don't want you to see. If you enable it, it will mean that anyone attempting to enter this part of the menu will need to put in a password to go further.

Once you are in the 'Manage your YouTube Watch History' window, all of the YouTube videos watched on this account will appear by date order from most recent to oldest.

There is a search/filter function available if you want to filter the selection, and also, you can set an auto-delete function so that all watch history is deleted after a specific date or automatically, depending on what you would like to set up.

To delete a video from the list, click on the X on the right-hand side.

Any videos deleted will alter YouTube's algorithm and should stop those types of videos from being recommended to your account in the future unless someone searches them again.

You can also use auto-delete options matching specific parameters by using the 'Delete activity by' option or turn off the 'saving activity' option altogether. Turning off the 'saving activity' option will make it harder for YouTube to recommend videos and potentially suggest random and maybe inappropriate videos, so consider your child's age, maturity, etc., and what outcome works best for you.

We always recommend YouTube for children under the age of 13yrs.

For more help with keeping your Children Safe on Social media, visit www.safeonsocialtoolkit.com.