Every move you make, I'll be watching you...

[BVS]

So what does everyone think about this? Good parenting tool? Over protective parents? The next step on Big Brother knowing our every move?

Parents who want to know with absolute certainty where their child is will soon be able tap into the Global Positioning System (GPS) and locate the child via a cell phone enabled with the technology. If a child doesn't call home, or answer the phone, or tell the truth about where he or she is, no worries. Parents can still find the kid, as long as the phone hasn't been ditched or turned off.

http://www.mobile-tech-today.com/ne...ing-Parents/story.xhtml?story_id=0330014ERCG9

 

[Justin24]

Invasion of privacy, buuuut the good thing is it will not be implanted in the kid. The only good thing I see from this is if the child is Kidnapped.

 

[silja]

This control-compulsion has gone too far. Let kids be kids and make the mistakes that they need to make. Yes, the world is a dangerous place but learning to survive the world is bloody important too.

 

[JMScoopy]

glad im not a kid anymore

 

[BVS]

The only good thing I see from this is if the child is Kidnapped.

The only thing the kidnapper needs to do is throw it out the window or turn it off.

 

[U2democrat]

This control-compulsion has gone too far. Let kids be kids and make the mistakes that they need to make. Yes, the world is a dangerous place but learning to survive the world is bloody important too.

Amen to that. Besides it's only encouraging the kid to be even MORE rebellious.

 

[adrball]

at least you'll KNOW your kids are up to no good when they leaves their phones at home!

 

[nbcrusader]

This is much ado about nothing. The GPS capability of a cellphone is only a tool. Before this technology, parents would rely on things like neighbors and friends to keep track of their children.

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

Meh. I don't see it as a big deal.

 

[BVS]

This is much ado about nothing. The GPS capability of a cellphone is only a tool. Before this technology, parents would rely on things like neighbors and friends to keep track of their children.

Knowing where your kids are isn't a crime, of course I think a parent that needs to use this has some issues.

But the technology scares me. It's the possibilities that scare me. I don't want this in my phone.

 

[sue4u2]

Knowing where your kids are isn't a crime, of course I think a parent that needs to use this has some issues.

But the technology scares me. It's the possibilities that scare me. I don't want this in my phone.

Never fear, most kid's over the age of 10 have already found or will find ways around this and will be able to out smart their technology clueless parents anyway..
(I exclude the tech savvy parent's here, of course)

 

[BVS]

Never fear, most kid's over the age of 10 have already found or will find ways around this and will be able to out smart their technology clueless parents anyway..
(I exclude the tech savvy parent's here, of course)

Well this may be true, but the reason the technology scares me is, imagine if all cell phones get to this point...anyone can track you down.

Criminals, abusive ex's, employer's start monitering your personal life, government, etc...

 

[Muggsy]

Why parents don't try to build a better relationship with their kids instead of looking how to keep them "under control"??? I have a very poor relationship with my parents and they were overprotective, as a consequence I lied a lot to them, I got into a lot of troubles, and I still have issues when I have to tell them that I'm going to a party or that I'm going to spend a weekend out of home, with my friends. I think that technology can protect the kids from physicall harm, but it won't help to keep a family together.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Why parents don't try to build a better relationship with their kids instead of looking how to keep them "under control"??? I have a very poor relationship with my parents and they were overprotective, as a consequence I lied a lot to them, I got into a lot of troubles, and I still have issues when I have to tell them that I'm going to a party or that I'm going to spend a weekend out of home, with my friends. I think that technology can protect the kids from physicall harm, but it won't help to keep a family together.

Excellent points muggsy. Maybe because it's so much easier to put a GPS on your kid's phone than it is to build a better relationship. Granted in today's world things are so scary for parents, with all they have to be concerned about. And they can have a great relationship and still be tempted to use things like GPS-for all the right reasons. I understand that- it must be so difficult and difficult to balance worry and trust, fear and control, with freedom.

One good thing I can think of the GPS is in case of a kidnapping/missing child situation, but what are the odds that the child would still have the phone and all the other requirements necessary would exist in that situation? A criminal would most likely do something with the phone. And I don't know how and when the GPS works.

It's similar to parents putting monitoring software on their kids' computers. How do you deal with kids on computers? It's all so difficult- I admire parents, especially parents who do it all so well.

 

[JanuaryStar]

The only reason I can think of to be so overprotective (using GPS as mentioned here) is this world turning crazier and more sad and more filled with fear and hatred.

On the other hand, being overprotective is not a good way to tell your children that you love them, or that you care. The child may feel like it's suffocating, and that will lead to trauma and a very bad relationship with its parents.

Protective is good. Overprotective is not.

EDIT: children these days are also being taught too many times that they should be little grown-ups instead of being little kids...

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

I saw the commercial for this phone yesterday. It's a Disney phone of all things.

http://disneymobile.go.com/disneymobile/home.do

Besides the GPS, the phone does have some useful features for parents.

 

[beegee]

i love that my soon-to-be 13-year-old daughter just saw the commercial for this phone and said, "i'm sure. all you would have to do is leave the phone at whatever friend's house you're supposed to be and go somewhere else."



clearly, this tracking system is not nearly as effective as some parents might hope.

i say we implant chips at birth.

 

[BVS]

i love that my soon-to-be 13-year-old daughter just saw the commercial for this phone and said, "i'm sure. all you would have to do is leave the phone at whatever friend's house you're supposed to be and go somewhere else."

Well if they're anything like my little cousin and her friends, who got their first cell phone at 14, they can't put the thing down long enough to pull off a scam like that.

 

[beegee]

that's true, too.

 

[verte76]

Well if they're anything like my little cousin and her friends, who got their first cell phone at 14, they can't put the thing down long enough to pull off a scam like that.

Good point.