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Google releases smart watch for kids

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Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#371

Post by aceazzameen »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #106

Ugh, I threw up a little in my mouth just from the headline. This constant tracking of kids is unnecessary and dangerous. Generations of kids survived without their parents needing to know their location at all times. And yes, I totally admit, some kids (very few actually depending on the locale) didn't survive. But we've traded this false sense of "safety" for kids that are so risk averse it is seriously negatively…

I hate this. I have kids and many of their friends have Verizon watches where their parents can track their kids. My wife and I are not a fan of the constant tracking. Our kids go out and play and come back for regular check-ins if they're out for a while. I know where they are without knowing exactly where they are. Normally I'd be fine if some parents want to know their own kids every move, but now I'm afraid we're raising a new generation that is used to having zero privacy. This won't be good.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#372

Post by lolinder »

septic-liqueur wrote: post #206
sharadov wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gave my 11 year old an apple watch, not so that I can track him, but just so that he can call me when he needs me ( there are times when he's at practice and am running late to pick him up or sometimes he just plain loses track of time because of his ADHD ). And, he can set timers and alarms to keep track of his schedule. My kids are pretty free-range, riding their bikes to/fro from school and hanging out at their fr…

Dumb phone?

Asking an 11-year-old with ADHD to keep track of a dumb phone is just asking for trouble. The watch straps to their arm and can't be set down somewhere and forgotten.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#373

Post by khazhoux »

mateus1 wrote: post #172
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #106

Ugh, I threw up a little in my mouth just from the headline. This constant tracking of kids is unnecessary and dangerous. Generations of kids survived without their parents needing to know their location at all times. And yes, I totally admit, some kids (very few actually depending on the locale) didn't survive. But we've traded this false sense of "safety" for kids that are so risk averse it is seriously negatively…

I don’t buy that tracking kids is necessary or increases their safety. This seems to be an American phenomenon.

Third option: it's a great convenience for the entire family to be able to access each other's whereabouts easily.

My family can find my own location on their phones at any given time. I don't feel like I've lost privacy because of that.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#374

Post by skydhash »

michaelt wrote: post #142
skydhash wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I realized that certain friendships that had been thriving on that channel didn't flow as well outside it, via texting for example. I think it's a strain to call that friendship. Communication channels don't matter in case of friendship. I may text, call, email, etc... and it's all good. But it being exclusive to a specific platform is more a social circle or a club as you said.

Eh, yes and no. Let's say I'm in a group of 6 close friends and every year we have 20 poker nights, 4 barbecues, and attend 2 sports events or concerts. If I decide I don't like poker and I'm not going to attend the poker nights - my friends will still welcome me to the barbecues and sports events. We'd still be friends. But they're not going to cancel poker night. And if at poker night Bob tells the other guys how p…

> nobody's going to summarise that in an e-mail to me.

You don't need to know everything that's happening in your friends' life. They may want to share some news and it'd be ok to not know if you were not present and you haven't heard from other channels. Every now and then, you call them and ask them what's news and how everything's going.

I liked Facebook when it was about getting status updates from a friend. It was blogging for people that did not know how to set up a wordpress website. Then it became...something else.

> We'll still be friends - but I'll be spending more time alone

Social activities are not the same as social platforms. And as for me, I'm not forcing myself to attend events and use platforms I don't like just to not be alone.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#375

Post by lolinder »

slothtrop wrote: post #302
faeriechangling wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not strapped to their wrist so it’s easier to lose for starters.

Yes but presumably this is a convenience for older kids and we're not expecting toddlers to roam about anywhere, gps or otherwise. They're capable of taking responsibility for a device.

There are a huge range of kids between toddlers and teenagers, and a huge range of variation in levels of responsibility between different children of the same age. Some kids are totally trustworthy when it comes to roaming but at the same time completely flaky when it comes to keeping track of expensive personal belongings.

And, needless to say, if you conscientiously avoid location tracking on the device then you can't use tracking to find it when it's inevitably misplaced.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#376

Post by godelski »

GuB-42 wrote: post #336
godelski wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a kid my parents put me in Boy Scouts. Guess what was a frequent occurrence? Sending pairs of kids out to go do tasks like collecting firewood. Every once in awhile kids would get "lost" (not know where they are but not actually far away or in any reasonable danger). This even happened to me more than once. But being lost and figuring it out was necessary to learn the skills of how to navigate. today I have a very…

Boy scouts can afford to lose kids because there is a group of people who know the place very well and are trained to deal with such a situation. Which is I think not only common but expected. A tracker can reproduce this experience without the help of an boy scout camp. It is just about how the tracker is used. It can be used for constant, intrusive monitoring, or it can be used for emergencies only. It is just a to…

> who know the place very well and are trained to deal with such a situation

This comment surprises me and I suggests to me that you were not in Boy Scouts (I even worked at a camp for several summers when I was 18/19). Tbh, most of the people in charge of groups are just figuring it out themselves (camps/OOTA/Varsity tend to be a bit better, but I mean camps are run by teenagers and people in their early 20's). The danger isn't actually that high, though it may appear that way to those with no experience.

IME I had more issues with adults than the scouts. As an example, I had several adults point an (unloaded![0]) shotgun in the direction of people, but never had a scout do this. Often because they wanted pictures...

Of course, if someone gets seriously lost, there are means to get help. But that's most likely the forestry service.

[0] We only load a single round and only when the person is ready to fire. So there is only one weapon loaded at any given time but weapons are __strictly__ treated as if loaded at all times. Weapons must also strictly be pointed down range (and not at the ground and not at the sky). Breaking these rules results in an immediate ejection from the range, and unfortunately has lead to troops being ejected because their leaders were (age requirements).

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#377

Post by sangupta »

blairbeckwith wrote: post #239
sangupta wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly what I came to say. I need something for my daughter to connect with and/or track her while playing with her friends outside. It is difficult to always be on her lookout, and any other watch tracks them more. I need control to see who they are talking to, chatting with, what apps they use, and controlling screen time. Few kids in her class are already on IG/Tiktok courtesy their elder siblings and I do not wa…

Why do you feel like you “need” this, though? I think that’s exactly what GP is saying – not disagreeing that it might have utility, but that there is a cost associated as well. The world is just statistically not that scary, and it’s good to let our kids make mistakes and get lost and find their way and face adversity and survive. Me and my wife differ in our perspectives on this. She is more of a “safety at any cos…

"make mistakes, get lost and find their way" does not work for crowded and busy neighborhoods. No one would like their kid to be lost in new york. Add the risk of abduction in high risk communities.

Also, it depends on kids age. I want kids to be safe in elementary, make mistakes and learn in middle/high school.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#378

Post by colechristensen »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #106

Ugh, I threw up a little in my mouth just from the headline. This constant tracking of kids is unnecessary and dangerous. Generations of kids survived without their parents needing to know their location at all times. And yes, I totally admit, some kids (very few actually depending on the locale) didn't survive. But we've traded this false sense of "safety" for kids that are so risk averse it is seriously negatively…

Basically every person i know in their mid-20s has a small group of people they have always on location sharing with. Usually a partner, a couple of close friends, and a parent or two. They don’t see it as any sort of problem to share this information.

I get the tech focused millennial paranoia about this but when it gets down to it you have nothing to fear if the people you share that with actually respect you and your privacy.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#379

Post by sangupta »

wonderwonder wrote: post #257
blairbeckwith wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you feel like you “need” this, though? I think that’s exactly what GP is saying – not disagreeing that it might have utility, but that there is a cost associated as well. The world is just statistically not that scary, and it’s good to let our kids make mistakes and get lost and find their way and face adversity and survive. Me and my wife differ in our perspectives on this. She is more of a “safety at any cos…

Did we turn out great or did you turn out great? There are many cases where unsupervised use of the internet or getting lost did not turn out well at all. Why view someone opting into this (my entire family has "find my" enabled on our phones.) Where is the negative? Kids can still be free range while allowing for the parent to know where they are.

That's my point. This has minimal features. I can track my kid without fearing unsupervised internet access to them.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#380

Post by sangupta »

daedrdev wrote: post #299
sangupta wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly what I came to say. I need something for my daughter to connect with and/or track her while playing with her friends outside. It is difficult to always be on her lookout, and any other watch tracks them more. I need control to see who they are talking to, chatting with, what apps they use, and controlling screen time. Few kids in her class are already on IG/Tiktok courtesy their elder siblings and I do not wa…

> I need control to see who they are talking to, chatting with, what apps they use, and controlling screen time. I'm just some random on the internet, but this rubs me the wrong way. Trust is important in relationships, and this doesn't show any trust. Some of this is perfectly fine, but tracking their chatting is an invasion of privacy unless you have a specific reason to be worried.

I should have mentioned that I am talking about 8-9 year olds.
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