MarketingSomeone who uses the internet daily

When my child uses a phone or a computer, I want to know how they are being targeted, so I do not leave a child to systems designed to hold adults.

Khi con tôi dùng điện thoại hoặc máy tính, tôi muốn biết chúng đang bị nhắm tới thế nào, để không phó mặc một đứa trẻ cho những hệ thống được thiết kế để giữ chân người lớn.

Job context

Who
A parent whose child uses connected devices
When
Daily
Trigger
A child asking for something just seen online
Situation
Content and advertising are mixed together
Constraints
A total ban separates the child from their friends

5 Pains

  • Children cannot tell advertising from content

    High

    The person they trust is paid to recommend.

    Root cause: Advertising is designed to look like content

  • No idea what the child is watching

    High

    The content is chosen by an algorithm rather than by anyone.

    Root cause: What appears differs per person and cannot be reviewed

  • Apps are designed to make stopping hard

    High

    And a child finds it harder still.

    Root cause: Revenue is proportional to time spent

  • A ban separates the child from friends

    Medium

    Their social life lives there.

    Root cause: The whole friendship group lives on the same platform

  • Parental controls are too blunt

    Medium

    They block or allow, nothing between.

    Root cause: The tools are built around blocking rather than around understanding

5 Desired Outcomes

  • Have the child tell advertising from content

    Functional

  • Know what the child is watching

    Functional

  • Have the child stop without the device being taken

    Functional

  • Keep the child among their friends

    Social

  • Worry less each time the child picks it up

    Emotional

5 Existing Solutions

A solution is not the same thing as a product, a customer can hire a behaviour or a workaround too.

  • Turn on parental controls

    Product

    Available everywhere, and it blocks without explaining.

  • Watch alongside the child

    Behaviour

    The most effective method, costing exactly what parents lack.

  • Teach the child to spot advertising

    Behaviour

    The only thing that works when you are not there, needing years of repetition.

  • Limit screen time

    Product

    Controls quantity and says nothing about content.

  • Agree with other parents

    Behaviour

    The only way to avoid isolating the child, requiring the whole group to hold.

2 Opportunity Gaps

  • The tools are sold to parents so they do what a parent can do, which is block, while what the child needs is to understand how they are being targeted, and nobody sells that to a child.

    Why existing solutions fail: Platforms have no incentive to teach users to recognise advertising and parents have no material with which to teach, so the one skill that works when the parent is absent is the skill nobody owns teaching.

    Potential opportunity: Teaching advertising literacy as a skill, at school and at home, instead of relying on blocking tools.

  • Platform revenue is proportional to time spent, so every design detail pushes toward making stopping hard, and a child feels that force more than an adult.

    Why existing solutions fail: A natural stopping point reduces the very number platforms are measured on, so it is removed from every product, and the duty to stop is transferred entirely to a child and whoever is beside them.

    Potential opportunity: Real stopping points inside products for children, treated as a requirement of that product class.