DEV Community

Jean-philippe Ulpiano
Jean-philippe Ulpiano

Posted on

đŸ“± Your Child Is Still Awake: Raising Kids in a World of Screens and AI

#opensource #parenting #firefox #showdev

đŸ•°ïž Behind Closed Doors - The Night Parents Don’t See

Giving children unrestricted access to the internet isn’t freedom—it’s exposure.

Phones offer parental controls, limits, and visibility. Desktop computers don’t.

  • No curfews.
  • No clear insight into when “homework” turns into hours of algorithm-driven content.

By the time we notice the impact, habits are already formed:

  • Fractured attention.
  • Shifting motivation.
  • Conflicts that strain trust at home.

Technology is necessary for learning—but necessity doesn’t mean surrender.

If technology is shaping our children, then that’s exactly where the solution needs to start.

⚠ The New Frontier: Risks of Unrestricted Access

Beyond the familiar distractions of social media, we are now facing new and documented dangers in the digital landscape:

  • The Impact of Constant Connectivity: Research continues to highlight the grim effects of unrestricted smartphone and internet access on children, impacting mental health, sleep, and cognitive development.
  • The YouTube “Attention Trap”: Rapid, short-form video content is increasingly linked to reduced attention spans and hijacked reward systems, making it harder for children to focus on slower, effort-based tasks like studying.
  • The LLM “Empathy Gap”: Large Language Models such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude introduce unique psychological risks. Experts warn of an “empathy gap”, where children over-trust AI responses or mistake simulated understanding for human intent.
  • Academic Erosion: Recent MIT and Stanford research suggests that over-reliance on LLMs for schoolwork can lead to “cognitive laziness,” trading long-term brain development for short-term convenience.

These risks aren’t hypothetical. They’re already here.

🩊 Introducing Firefox Manager

Firefox Manager is an open-source application designed to bring structure and boundaries back to desktop browsing.

It allows parents to manage Firefox by creating a highly regulated environment, where access is intentional, visible, and time-bound—without turning the computer into a constant source of conflict.

📾 Application Preview

Here’s a glimpse of the interface and how straightforward it is to define rules and limits:

Follow this link for a live demo: 👉 Timegate Demo Env

🚀 Quick Start: Setting Up Your Secure Environment

Ready to take back control of your household’s digital wellness? Here’s how to get started.

1. Prepare the OS

For the best balance between performance and security, I recommend installing XUbuntu on your child’s computer. It’s lightweight, stable, and makes setup significantly easier than most other Linux distributions for this application. See below some blogs to support you.
👉 Put Xubuntu on USB Flash Drive | Windows or Linux
👉 Create a bootable USB stick
👉 Create Bootable USB Media in Ubuntu Using BalenaEtcher

2. Get the Application

Clone the repository to your local machine or server:

GitHub logo 2BlackCoffees / firefox-manager

A professional-grade parent control system for Ubuntu/Xubuntu that uses Firefox Enterprise Policies and systemd services to create a "Safe-by-Default" internet environment.

Firefox Managed Session Controller (2025)

Disclaimer: This tool is a technical aid. No software can replace active parental involvement and open communication regarding internet safety.

This project provides a robust system-wide lockdown and timer service for Firefox on Ubuntu/Xubuntu. It is specifically designed to create a "Safe-by-Default" environment for children by maintaining a strict whitelist of educational sites while providing controlled, timed access to the broader internet via a command-line interface.

đŸ›Ąïž Child Safety & Protection Features

This tool implements a "Whitelist-Only" architecture, recommended by global child safety experts as the most effective technical defense for younger users in 2025.

1. Guarding Against "Algorithm Rabbit Holes" (YouTube)

YouTube's recommendation engine can lead children from educational content to inappropriate "Shorts" or misleading videos.

  • The Solution: Use the ff start command to limit YouTube time, preventing endless watching videos.

2. Preventing AI "Jailbreaking" (ChatGPT & Generative AI)

AI tools can generate restricted


View on GitHub

3. Configure Whitelists & Limits

Open Firefox Manager and define your rules:

  • đŸ›Ąïž The Safe Zone: Add educational websites to a Whitelist. These sites remain accessible at all times and do not count against daily usage limits.
  • ⏳ The Restricted Zone: Add high-distraction platforms or AI tools such as YouTube, ChatGPT, or Claude.
  • 🌍 Remote “On-Demand” Access: Need to grant 15 extra minutes while you’re at work? You can authorize time from anywhere in the world via the web app, and the change applies in seconds.

4. Define a “Digital Bedtime”

Set Time Windows to protect sleep and routines. For example, block all browser activity before 8:00 AM and after 8:30 PM to ensure the computer doesn’t quietly take over the night.

Note: Because Firefox Manager is open source, you have full visibility into how your child’s data is handled. No hidden tracking. No cloud surveillance. Just local, transparent control.

🔑 Key Features

  • Granular Whitelisting: Define exactly which educational pages are always allowed.

  • Timed Access: Grant specific daily limits, for example:

    • 30 minutes of YouTube
    • 15 minutes of ChatGPT / Claude

  • Automatic Enforcement: When time runs out, access is blocked—no arguments, no negotiations.

  • Time Windows: Define the earliest start time and latest end time to prevent late-night browsing.

Pro Tip: You can even pre-authorize time for the next day. Access remains blocked until the next allowed window begins.

đŸ“± Cross-Platform Management

Firefox Manager isn’t limited to the desktop. You can install it as a Progressive Web App (PWA) on:

  • Android
  • iPhone
  • Any modern browser

This allows you to adjust limits, grant time, or check usage remotely—no matter where you are.

🏁 Conclusion

We can’t remove technology from our children’s lives—and we shouldn’t. But we can remove chaos, invisibility, and unchecked influence.

By using open-source tools like Firefox Manager, we can give children access to the digital world they need for learning—while protecting them from the darker side of unrestricted AI, video platforms, and algorithm-driven content.

This isn’t about control.
It’s about guidance.
And it’s about showing up before the damage is done.

đŸ€ Community Discussion: Let’s Share Ideas

Managing digital wellness is an evolving challenge. I’ve shared my approach—fighting tech with tech—through Firefox Manager, but I’d love to hear from this community of builders and parents:

  • What’s your approach? Network-level blocking (Pi-hole, NextDNS), custom scripts, or behavioral rules?
  • Feature Ideas: What’s missing from desktop screen-time management today?
  • Reducing Screen Time: Beyond blocking, what strategies have actually worked in your home?

How are you protecting your family’s digital space? Share your projects, scripts, or ideas in the comments below.

Top comments (0)