Block Access on Other Devices

I know this isn’t the most exciting reading, but the good news is, once you’ve done the work of getting your castle locked down, the hard part is done. Remember that the following list is general on purpose. Also remember you need to protect your children, not just yourself!

Televisions and DVD Players

Nearly every TV and DVD/Blu-ray player today offers full Internet access. I bought one of those 4k Samsung TVs a while back, only to discover they offered nothing in the way of Parental Controls (so I don’t recommend Samsung products). You or your child could eat of the Tree of Wickedness anytime you wanted to, with no one but God the wiser.

The good news is that there’s an easy fix (for once!). For Wi-Fi access, just make sure your spouse/password partner changes the Wi-Fi access password. Since you (or your kids) don’t know the password, you can’t set up wireless Internet access on your TV or DVD player. The next step is to take a fork or screwdriver and then pry up some of the thin metal strips on the Ethernet port on your TV/DVD so that you render the Ethernet connection useless. (Otherwise you or your children could just plug an Ethernet cable and have instant access to the Internet via a wired connection.) I’m pretty sure there’s no electricity involved, but play it safe and unplug your device while you mess with the Ethernet port! And just in case this gave you an idea for access, go tell your spouse right now (and text your BOB/BOS group), and then get everything locked down.

Tablets

Tablets seem to be fading from use, but since they are essentially computers, all the previous rules apply. In the olden days, filters did not work well on tablets (this may have changed), so I recommend you just throw your tablet away and stick to a regular laptop or computer.

Game Consoles (Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo)

A major heads-up to parents here, since many of you are clueless about gaming consoles, and thus leave your children wide open to all manner of ill. I belong to the first generation of gamers and I still play quite a bit, although I’m picky about what games I play. I still play games with my adult children via the Internet (Destiny, anyone?). Thus, I have made it a point to see if video game consoles can be rendered safe for use. Long story short—the answer is definitely “No!” At least not for Xbox and PlayStation—Nintendo seems to be the most child-friendly gaming system, but I haven’t checked out their systems, so you’re on your own there. Both Xbox and PlayStation, at first glance, make it easy to block Internet use and even offer parental controls and ways to set up a child-level account, but don’t be fooled. For one thing, every time there was a major update on the system (which happens at least several times a year), it would reset all my settings and suddenly leave me with open Internet access. Also, Xbox in particular is terrible about controlling app access. With Xbox, you and your children can use apps (which are impossible to block) to access anything they want on the Internet (even with Internet access blocked!). I finally gave up in disgust and frustration.

For those who want to risk keeping your consoles, my method for keeping my Xbox One is to make my wife my administrator, so she gets an instant email if I buy anything or download an app. There’s no way I’m looking at anything evil knowing that my wife is watching my account—plus I literally use my Xbox only for games; I never use it for accessing the Internet—so this system works for me. In effect, this is filtering via accountability, but you have to know your limits and whether or not such a setup would work for you. As for parents, the only way I’d allow my kids access to video games would be to play the games with them. (Remember, in many games today you can also talk to complete strangers, so it isn’t just the Internet you should be worried about.) This way you can spend some fun time with the kids and still keep them safe!

Another option with video games consoles is to use the older systems that didn’t need online access (plus they are cheap!). Then you don’t need to worry about your kids having online access. If you do have the newer consoles in your home, make sure you password-protect them (so your kids can use them only when allowed), and make sure you change the settings so they can’t create their own new or guest accounts.

Cable TV/Television

It seems pretty obvious that television these days is an open sewer. Nearly every new cable show put out by the likes of Netflix and Amazon is rated “M” for Mature—as in lots of explicit sex and graphic, bloody violence, not to mention the celebration of every form of deviant behavior known to man. DirectTV and Comcast must be among the largest distributors of porn in America, since they offer explicit hardcore pornography as a staple part of their cable TV packages. How many Christians past and present, myself included, have directly supported these companies with our monthly “tithe,” thereby directly funding the pornography industry?! If this isn’t sleeping with the enemy, I don’t know what is! So much for gouging out the right eye!

Obviously, I recommend never subscribing to Cable TV. Instead, I recommend buying and owning your own movie/TV show collection. This way you can directly control what you and your family are watching, since there are plenty of amazing shows out there. If you absolutely must support the American pornography industry via Cable TV, then make sure you block all access to adult channels and the ability to purchase any movies—again, set it up so you (or your kids) don’t know the password. You can also limit access to, say, any R-rated movies or “Unrated” shows, plus you can block specific channels. You can even block the pornographic titles and descriptions of the porn movies on cable. (That way you can at least pretend you aren’t a porn supporter!) At least with DirectTV, you have to set up these blocks on each individual cable box. Since just flipping channels these days guarantees you’ll be assaulted with myriad erotic images, I also strongly suggest you DVR any TV shows you can’t miss—that way you can at least fast-forward through the commercial sections.

Iron-clad Rules for Parents and/or Obsessive/Hunting Types (You know who you are!)

Block search engines. Search engines provide a virtually limitless list of ways to get around a filter, and thus they will render any filter useless for any adult or child with an ounce of ingenuity.

Block Social Media. Same reason as search engines. Any social media app that allows users to post pictures, videos, and/or links to websites immediately provides you and/or children access to every kind of porn known to man. Even worse, in my experience, is that your filter/accountability software does not track what you see when you’re in the social media app (unless you use a keylogger like Accountable2You).

Apps. This rule applies to any device that uses apps, so it’s a very important rule. You must block all access to installing new apps (basically Google Play and the iTunes store). Otherwise it’s a very simple task to install a new browser, a new social media app, or a million other apps that provide you with potentially unfiltered access.

Scheduler. Use a filter app with a scheduler to lock down access. Do you or your child really need access to the Internet at 3 a.m.? If, for example, your child has to go online for a class paper, then you schedule “homework” time every evening—say, in the living room where everyone can see the websites your child is visiting. Remember, you cannot rely solely on a filter for the safety and sanity of your children!

Have your filter/accountability partner (usually a spouse or a roommate) read this post so they understand the basics of cleaning up your castle. For singles and students, have your parent, roommate, or best friend keep the password to your filter and/or your accountability software, but make sure they don’t know the password to log on to your computer. That way they can’t look at porn on your computer in case they share the same struggle! For married couples, your spouse should keep all the passwords to whatever filters/software you use to lock down your system. Nowadays, your password/filter partner can be anywhere in the world and still be your administrator, since your filter settings are now all online. If you have children, then everything in this chapter applies to you and then some!

Your Brother in the Battle,

Timothy

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Excerpt taken from Pureheart Ministry’s Basic Training! Stage 2: Bootcamp

Copyright ©2023 Timothy Davis