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Google releases smart watch for kids

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Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#411

Post by cambaceres »

stickfigure wrote: post #193
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 can only guess you (and most of the other naysayers in this thread) don't have young children. My wife and I have been looking for something exactly like this for our 6yo. I lost him on a ski slope once over a year ago and I think he's still traumatized. He recently was afraid of going on a class trip because he was afraid of getting lost. This isn't for teenagers. It's for kids that are still attached to mama/papa…

Good point. I won't buy these for my kids to wear every day when walking to school, but using them when traveling and going to the mall etc sounds very convenient.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#412

Post by jimbob45 »

stickfigure wrote: post #193
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 can only guess you (and most of the other naysayers in this thread) don't have young children. My wife and I have been looking for something exactly like this for our 6yo. I lost him on a ski slope once over a year ago and I think he's still traumatized. He recently was afraid of going on a class trip because he was afraid of getting lost. This isn't for teenagers. It's for kids that are still attached to mama/papa…

I lost him on a ski slope

The HN crowd won’t be sympathetic but I most certainly am. It’s not until you get lost skiing that you realize how difficult it might be to meet back up, particularly if you forgot where you parked in the sea of cars. A kid might not know to go wait at the front desk too (which one’s the front desk anyway?) and then you have to worry about exposure.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#413

Post by enceladus06 »

I remember running a lemonaide stand as a kid back in the late 90s with my friend, we were 11-12ish small town in the PNW. We were at the end of his driveway along the main road that went out of town. Noone got abducted or molested; we were just fine and didn't have cellphones. The obsession with not letting kids play or be in the real world is going to come back to bite society hard in 10-20yrs when generation alpha will need to navigate the real world.

Having kids inside gaming and not going outside is going to do more physical damage (childhood diabetes/obesity/metabolic syndrome) when compared to the very unlikely event of a child obduction.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#414

Post by khazhoux »

BenFranklin100 wrote: post #404
khazhoux wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This constant tracking of kids is unnecessary and dangerous. Generations of kids survived without their parents needing to know their location at all times. This topic is always so alarmist. I have kids and a spouse. We all have Find My and Location Sharing on our phones. I don't FrEaK oUt that my kids are going to die if I'm not tracking their every movement. But it's nice to glance at Find My app and see if the k…

Good lord. As I recall, a big part of growing up was spending time and doing things my parents didn’t want me to do. The idea of them tracking me is super creepy, as is tracking one’s spouse for that matter.

“Tracking” is a scare word. The ability to see where my spouse is, when needed, without having to call or send a text, is a convenience. There’s nothing wrong with not sharing your location with your spouse if you don’t want to, but there’s also nothing weird about doing so. Neither of us “cares” one bit where the other is, but it’s frequently useful to know.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#415

Post by wonderwonder »

godelski wrote: post #405
lolinder wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your kids don't learn independence and how to be self sufficient. Doesn't this depend on how the tracking is used, not on whether the tracking is present at all? My wife and I share our location with each other and I don't actually know if she uses my location at all. If she does, she doesn't mention it. I use it occasionally to get a sense for when to expect her back or to find her when we need to meet up for some…

> Doesn't this depend on how the tracking is used, not on whether the tracking is present at all? Of course. I think most people would agree that this would be an implicit assumption not worth explicitly mentioning. Do you think that's non-obvious? To me it seems rather obvious since in the extreme case if you bought the device and never actually used any of the features (but still put it on your kid) then clearly it…

"But my experience has been that we are the abnormal ones and others use the feature much more"

I think you would find that you are the normal ones. My family has had it turned on for over a year now. I don't know I have ever used it to find my wife and I use it ~ once a month on my oldest now that he is venturing out on his own to ensure he got to where he was going. I have discussed it with several friends / acquaintances and their use is similar to mine.

I think your assumption that everyone actively tracks each other and over uses it is assigning an edge case to the majority. Its a simple safety feature to most, there when its needed.

your assumption that "it is quite common for these types of devices to be significantly more desirable and predominantly used by those who intend to use it for persistent tracking" is flawed and I don't think based on most people experience.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#416

Post by khazhoux »

ImPostingOnHN wrote: post #409
khazhoux wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think the important part is whether the children are affected by the tracking I have no reason to think they're impacted by me knowing where they are. They're confident, run around for hours, and are growing up just fine. So what if their parents can look up their location... big deal. Pushing the alarmist argument, though: should I just take away their cell phones, to give them the same experience I had growing…

> I have no reason to think they're impacted by me knowing where they are. It's easy to have no reason to think something (especially when you don't want to), but that's not evidence it's false. Why not just ask them?

We’ve talked about it. They don’t care.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#417

Post by 1oooqooq »

BenFranklin100 wrote: post #404
khazhoux wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This constant tracking of kids is unnecessary and dangerous. Generations of kids survived without their parents needing to know their location at all times. This topic is always so alarmist. I have kids and a spouse. We all have Find My and Location Sharing on our phones. I don't FrEaK oUt that my kids are going to die if I'm not tracking their every movement. But it's nice to glance at Find My app and see if the k…

Good lord. As I recall, a big part of growing up was spending time and doing things my parents didn’t want me to do. The idea of them tracking me is super creepy, as is tracking one’s spouse for that matter.

kids today will also remember in 30yrs from now how's they had so much freedom... they just had to leave their watch (btw, apple have had kid mode on their watches for a while now) in the school locker and they could roam around, heck maybe even get an uber to some place

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#418

Post by wonderwonder »

godelski wrote: post #349
wonderwonder wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why? What's the harm with knowing where your minor kids or opted in spouse are? Honest question.

Your kids don't learn independence and how to be self sufficient. After all, the goal is to make your kids into self-sufficient adults who can survive and navigate a complex world without your help. Being over protective (which is a natural instinct) can lead to children being overly dependent and not learning to be (to put in the most HN way possible) generalist agents. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40519118

Do you have kids?

If you do you know that the main goal is to keep your kids safe and healthy. Everything else generally comes 2nd. Now there are of course extremes to this but for most the use of tracking technology is not intended as a crutch for the child but for the parent. So they know the kid is safe. Little Jimmy for the most part is not thinking if I get lost Mommy knows where I am. If they are out, they are free.

A kids ability to be self sufficient is very unlikely to be damaged by a nervous parent peaking at the location of their dot on their phone a block or 3 away.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#419

Post by aceazzameen »

IncreasePosts wrote: post #324
tdeck wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope this question doesn't offend, but have you taught your son what to do when he gets lost? Explicitly teaching and practicing strategies like this can help a lot. I was always taught to 1) stay where you are, not try to walk around and 2) approach someone who works at the store and tell them you're lost, your name, and your parents name. I also memorized my address and home phone number. Obviously that doesn't w…

Yes, it doesn't work in every situation. You know what works in more situations? A cell phone(or equivalent). And what works in even more situations? A blend of both strategies.

That sounds like a tether and not a helpful skill.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#420

Post by sharadov »

bilsbie wrote: post #320
sharadov wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got an Apple watch for my 11-year-old for precisely this reason - he can text, call, and play some games on it. Subscription to cellular is $10/month. And it let me set parental controls on it. No way was I getting him a phone, it's already way too distracting with the other devices he has access to at home.

What carrier is $10?

Verizon.
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