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Google releases smart watch for kids

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Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#531

Post by newaccount74 »

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.

I share my location with my kids and ask them to do the same. They are aware that I can see their location. Since they never pick up their phone or respond to messages, it's the quickest way to check if they are already on their way home.

If they want to do something that they don't want me to know, they can just turn off location sharing, or leave their watch at home.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#532

Post by kelnos »

khazhoux wrote: post #414
BenFranklin100 wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I do personally think it's weird, but if other's are fine and comfortable with it, what two consenting adult decide about tracking each other is none of my business.

But kids don't get to consent to this. Their parents decide for them, regardless of what they do or don't want. I don't think kids should be forced to submit to 24/7 tracking, regardless of the intent behind it.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#533

Post by noisy_boy »

sho_hn wrote: post #356
stickfigure wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 got lost in Valletta on Malta during a family trip when I was probably around 7 or 8, and it's one of my proudest and most formative memories from that period of childhood, even if it was scary as hell. Valletta occupies a tongue of land thrust into the ocean. I got lost in the middle of the city, and had to come up with a plan for how to get back to my parents. I realized I'd probably be able to find it from the p…

This reminds me of the wanderings I used to do in my home city as a 10 year old. The city is on the long arc of a pretty big river so once I got lost and realized that if I just keep going in the direction of the river, I would never get lost because once you reach the shore, you can easy walk back. That free'd me to walk into alleys I have never been to and explore my city. It also made me feel quite proud (even though that was admittedly a mundane epiphany).

Granted things were simple then and law and order was not a big issue for this to happen but I am grateful for my parents to not interfere too much in my exploring time.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#534

Post by newaccount74 »

kelnos wrote: post #525
prpl wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s also possible to be more liberal than your parents were with respect to expecting teenage experimentation but still want to know why your kid/spouse isn’t home within an hour of when you expected them and they aren’t responding to texts. Parents are still adults with lives and have better things to do than sit around watching a dot on a map. “huh, I guess they went to get some boba, we’ll just go get dinner with…

If the main reason seems to be that you want to know where they are when they've decided not to answer the phone... maybe that's fine that you don't know. If you're expecting them for dinner, and they decide to do something else instead, they should learn that consequence: if they don't come home when they're expected for dinner, they don't get dinner with the family. I don't have kids, so of course my opinion is irr…

To each their own. I share my location with my partner since I'd rather have her check the app than text me where I am.

She doesn't share her location because she thinks it's creepy and I'm okay with that too.

People are different, and that's okay.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#535

Post by kelnos »

taylorius wrote: post #437
Gud wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, because spouses are adults. But kids being constantly tracked is absolutely scary. Do you really think it's healthy that kids grow up always being watched, constantly monitored by their primary authority figures?

I don't think that distinction is as stark as you make it. Spouses can be overly, annoyingly controlling - and it can happen gradually. I'm sure that for every person who doesn't mind their partner knowing where they are, there's another who has been pressured into it - perhaps by it being insinuated that their not wanting to be trackable means that they have something to hide.

Right, exactly. So if it's not ok to pressure a spouse into tracking them when they don't want to be tracked, why is it ok to force a child to be tracked? Obviously parents have a lot of -- necessary -- leeway in what they decide their child must and must not do, regardless of the child's wishes. But I don't think it's healthy to get children used to the idea that the norm is that they'll be tracked 24/7. Even if the intent is to stop the tracking at, say, 12 years old, that's some powerful conditioning that they've been exposed to in their formative years.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#536

Post by sgerenser »

iiio8 wrote: post #446
1oooqooq wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Don't worry, if it doesn't have it then I'm sure a future model of this watch will have a "I'm not on a wrist" logging/alerting function. So the kids need to figure out that in order to do this kind of thing they need to attach their watch to some less-cool kid's wrist that stays at school while they do the fun things. At least that less-cool kid hopefully gets some kind of reimbursement for offering that service.

Some enterprising 13 year old is developing WaaS (wrists as a service) right now.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#537

Post by kelnos »

blitzar wrote: post #482
Gud wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, because spouses are adults. But kids being constantly tracked is absolutely scary. Do you really think it's healthy that kids grow up always being watched, constantly monitored by their primary authority figures?

> kids being constantly tracked is absolutely scary Isn't that how the vast majority of the net worth of NH readers was generated?

... by... tracking... kids? No, I don't think so. You have a pretty weird conception of what HN readers do for a living.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#538

Post by BriggyDwiggs42 »

scotty79 wrote: post #479
elaborate4013 wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The average small child can't say what Dad's phone number is, or even his full name. Young kids have really limited awareness of their surroundings, and can get lost very easily. Add multiple kids into the mix and it can be a real challenge to keep them all together when you're out. I grew up memorizing my dad's number and was told to go find a trusted adult, stranger danger, etc. There was only one time I needed t…

Aren't phone numbers longer than they used to be?

Dude come on

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#539

Post by kelnos »

jagged-chisel wrote: post #341
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…

I think the important part is whether the children are affected by the tracking. Is it a big deal if they don’t have service and you can’t Find them for a couple hours? Mine are grown now, but I’ve always told them: I’m not worried about where you are, I want to know where to go when something happens and you need a rescue. I want them to have the peace of mind that, if needed, the safety net is within reach. When I…

> Providing a safety net while allowing freedom boosts self confidence.

That's a bit tricky, though, because 24/7 tracking is the antithesis of freedom, regardless of the intent behind it.

Re: Google releases smart watch for kids

#540

Post by wg0 »

khazhoux wrote: post #316
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…

> 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…

The government also wants to know the same.
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