‘Parental controls’ take on new meaning as frustrated daughter blocks mom and dad’s access to Fox News

There’s a sad situation many of you will already be familiar with. You leave two perfectly normal and well-adjusted parents at home when you fly the nest, confident they’ll be able to find their own way in the world without you.

Then you return sometime later to check on them. To your surprise, your formerly chilled-out dad now has some alarmingly aggressive views about Guatemalans, your mom just won’t shut up about the health benefits of Ivermectin, and they’re both very concerned that you’ll be a victim of “ethnic thugs” in the big city.

Oh no! They’ve been Fox-Newsed! This alarming condition, which boomers are particularly susceptible to, can arise even from incidental exposure to right-wing media. That ‘gateway drug’ soon escalates into Fox News becoming a fixture in their home, and from there it’s a one-way ticket to brain soup.

But one enterprising young woman has a solution that might keep your parents from being lured to the nearest Trump rally. Remember parental controls? Well, while they’re generally used to stop kids from being exposed to adult content, it turns out they can also be used to… control parents:

I blocked Fox News with parental controls at my parents' house and now my mom keeps calling, asking why they can't watch their news program, and I truly believe this is how we can make America great again.

— ً (@wynrosei) March 1, 2026

“I blocked Fox News with parental controls at my parents’ house and now my mom keeps calling, asking why they can’t watch their news program, and I truly believe this is how we can make America great again.”

It’s the only way to be sure

Now, you might quibble that this daughter has no right to decide which news content her parents consume. After all, her parents are adults, don’t they have the right to consume an endless sluice of nonsensical, hateful garbage?

But consider this: if you discovered your mom was secretly shooting up heroin in the bathroom, you’d take the syringe away from her. If you walked into the garage to find your dad chugging antifreeze, you’d take the bottle away, bop him on the nose, and firmly say “No!” Essentially, the same principles apply here.

Sadly, there is a downside. There’s every chance that blocking them from Fox News will simply cause them to flee to harder options like NewsMax or OANN. Unfortunately, if that happens, they may be too far gone already, and no amount of fiddling with parental control settings will help.

In that instance, it’s best to just contact a local residential home, explain that, sadly, your parents have shown they cannot live independently. They will be placed in a facility where they can be sedated to such a degree that they present no harm to themselves or anybody else. It’s for the best.