621–630 of 809 posts
Smartwatches may be an overlooked answer to the kid phone conundrum. Watches have the communication and location tracking that parents demand without the distraction of phones.
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…
But it can be seen the other way. Tracking can give kids more freedom, because you can let them roam where they could get lost. For example, you can take them on vacation in a safe but unfamiliar place and let them do as they want. If they get lost, just use the tracker to find them. You don't even need to go for them immediately, you can let them try to figure it out by themselves and only go if it becomes really pr…
I'm not sure this is a good thing. This is similar to the observation that cyclists who wear helmets engage in more risky behavior. But helmets are meant to be a fail-safe, not a primary line of defense. Maybe the same should go for tracking...
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.
I thought so too, but I listened to call-in radio show in Romania recently about tracking kids, and pretty much all the parents said they track their kids and those who don't are irresponsible parents.
I'm 35 and I don't recognize this world anymore. We played outside in mud when I was a kid.
Don't forget Google refuses to repair their watches. Break the screen? Go buy a new one. Ifixit found that it's actually not hard to replace the screen/glass module but with one issue: Google won't sell you one.
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https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Injury-death-rates-for-c... Unfortunately, I only had time to do a quick search, but it shows that mortality has dropped significantly in the last 20 years. I imagine it was only higher 40-60 years ago. This doesn't prove that more surveillance brings mortality down, but it shows that the "we survived just fine" argument is shaky at best. I think parental supervision correlates wit…
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> 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…
Oh jeez. I'm so glad i had none of this goofy tracking gump growing up. If teenage me had something that tracked every location, and I knew it, and my friends had them on too, I'd probably miss out on a lot of stuff I cherish. I had time limits, and a hard immovable low budget that made a lot of the bad stuff impossible. The rest was up to us to figure out and learn and improvise as we go. I'm better for those learni…
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…
Kids need to mess up, and do things outside of the sight of their parents to grow. They need to be able to do things their parents disapprove from time to time, or just hide some behavior that they feel shy about. Sex, meeting people outside of your social norms, attempting stupid stunts, and all that is part of growing. The simple fact you can know where they are at all time steal those opportunities from them, and…
That ship has sailed, regardless of parental tracking. I feel very lucky I was still among the generations that could do stupid stuff and not immediately have ten cameras dump my personal live on YouTube or a livestream.
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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…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Kids need to mess up, and do things outside of the sight of their parents to grow. They need to be able to do things their parents disapprove from time to time, or just hide some behavior that they feel shy about. Sex, meeting people outside of your social norms, attempting stupid stunts, and all that is part of growing. The simple fact you can know where they are at all time steal those opportunities from them, and…
> attempting stupid stunts That ship has sailed, regardless of parental tracking. I feel very lucky I was still among the generations that could do stupid stuff and not immediately have ten cameras dump my personal live on YouTube or a livestream.
Unless you live in India/China, there are plenty of places where you can get privacy, and kids look for them.
Do you think they have sex in public?