Why your child's smartphone might be the biggest travel risk you never considered
The Case for Tracking Your Child's Digital Footprint While Traveling Abroad
Finding Balance in a Digital World
While it's easy to say "just wait" before giving children digital devices, the reality of international travel and relocations is more complex. Phones, tablets, and laptops provide crucial emotional anchors, allowing kids to maintain connections with friends and familiar faces back home during potentially unsettling transitions. FaceTime and Zoom calls with best friends or grandparents can provide much-needed stability when everything else feels foreign.
The post-pandemic era has pushed digital devices into classrooms for younger and younger children, with even kindergarteners now regularly using tablets for daily learning. At home, academic expectations increasingly involve online assignments and digital literacy skills, making some level of device use practically unavoidable for most families.
Digital access permeates today's world. Even preschoolers encounter devices with YouTube in waiting rooms, planes, and homes you visit. Without proper guardrails, this casual exposure can quickly go awry - a seemingly innocent cartoon search can lead to disturbing content in just a few algorithmic jumps. Rather than unrealistic digital abstinence, implementing thoughtful monitoring provides the necessary balance between connection and protection.
Different Countries, Different Digital Landscapes
When your family travels or moves internationally, you're not just crossing geographical borders - you're entering different digital territories with unique rules, restrictions, and potential risks. Here's why maintaining digital supervision of your children, tweens, and teenagers while traveling makes practical sense.
International travel introduces your family to varying:
Legal frameworks governing online content and behavior
Content availability (streaming services, websites, apps, games)
Cultural norms around appropriate content
Internet safety protocols
A monitoring solution like Qustodio provides consistency in what your child can access regardless of location, eliminating the need to research each country's digital ecosystem before traveling.
Practical Benefits of Digital Monitoring While Traveling
Consistent Boundaries
Apply the same content restrictions automatically across countries
Maintain your family's values regardless of location
Bridge language barriers in content filtering
Safety Enhancements
Track location through dedicated apps like Find My
Monitor communication and chat patterns with unfamiliar contacts
Receive alerts about potentially concerning searches or content
Ensure children aren't accessing inappropriate local content they couldn't at home
Technical Advantages
Block VPN services that could bypass geographical restrictions
Prevent unauthorized app installations that might circumvent protections
Receive daily activity reports to review while you're busy with travel and moving logistics
Manage screen time to encourage exploration of the real world around them
Real Experience with Qustodio
We use and are very happy with Qustodio. It's easy to use for parents - one click and the settings apply across all of their devices, including screen time limits, blocked/allowed sites and apps, and customized routines. It also sends notifications when apps are downloaded or used for the first time. It's an excellent "guardrail" system in this crazy online world because even when you trust your child, the internet is not designed to protect them. The internet is not their friend.
As with all these services, you get more features and flexibility with the paid versions, including the ability to set up profiles for different age kids - but it's been worth the cost and effort to set up.
In our experience, Apple Screentime and Google Family Link worked only so well. We also tried Bark and it was fine - Qustodio won us over with its features and ease of use. Surely, some layers of protection are better than nothing at all - and finding out the hard way that your young person was exposed to or involved in non-age appropriate online activities.
Implementation Recommendations
Core Tools:
Qustodio (or alternative digital monitoring tool): Cross-platform monitoring with multilingual support
Find My (iOS and the Android equivalent): Location tracking for both device and child
AirTags: Physical tracking for luggage, backpacks, and other essentials
Technical Setup:
Enable daily backups to protect against loss/theft
Consider a second monitoring device mirroring the same cloud profile
Adjust notification settings to balance awareness with privacy
Test all monitoring tools before departure
Verify functionality in your destination country
While You’re On The Device Consider Installing (as appropriate):
Google Translate for language barriers
Navigation apps (Google Maps, Waze)
Communication tools (WhatsApp)
Travel-specific apps (airline, public transit, rideshare, accommodations)
Emergency payment methods (digital wallets, Apple Pay, Greenlight)
Offline entertainment for flights and downtime
Digital supervision while moving around isn't about distrust - it's about providing consistent boundaries in unfamiliar environments and keeping your child safe as they explore new cultures and places.
Disclosure Note: I would always disclose if this article contained affiliate links. There are no affiliate links in this article, and all recommendations are based solely on personal experience and intended to provide helpful information for parents and caregivers traveling with children and adolescents.
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Excellent advice! Thank you for making me feel better about my son sitting next to me on his digital device while I pour over your content in my new home in Valencia ❤️