Would you lilke to keep tabs on your kids via GPRS?

[SGirl]

Countdown said:

Yes I do, via an App called Life360.

It helps massively with the ""where's mum or dad? Do they know they're supposed to pick me up? Ah yes I can see dad is on his way".

Same here. I use Life360 so that I know when my son has arrived at school and when he's left again. That way I know he's safe and doesn't need a lift. And he in turn can check where I am if I'm on my way to pick him up, because I can and do get stuck in traffic on the M4 and he'd worry if I were very late.

I've put Cerberus on his phone too, but I don't use that for anything much. It's just there in case he loses the phone. And I don't track his whereabouts the whole time, I just check his school arrival and departure! I'm not a stalker.

[Hackney]

My wife and I talked about this the other day.
I wasn't in favour of tracking our son 24/7 but she thought it would be most useful when he was out with her / us and wandered off.

Now I know that's about education and making sure he doesn't run off (he's 4 months old so not likely yet) but I'm sure there will be times where he goes out of sight.

No it won't be a kidnapping or paedos etc, he'll be in another aisle in John Lewis and out of site of us. So, if there's an app etc which I can access and see immediately he's 10 ft in that direction it'll save a lot of stress.

When he's old enough to be out on his own though, I don't see me using it.

[Countdown]

ali_kat said:

But not letting them have any freedom or privacy

How are they going to grow into responsible adults?

It's not got anything to do with freedom and privacy, at least from my point of view. It's simply because kids have a lot more going on these days and it's hard work keeping a track of them. The "privacy" thing is easily fixable - they can just close the app. And I'm not sure what freedom it curtails....

How would an app like Life360 make you "less" responsible as an adult? What does the app make you do that you otherwise wouldn't?

[trashbat]

It's all about freedom and privacy.

Formative experiences as a child include things like going off exploring on your own on your bike at your own risk, or balancing having fun with getting back for about the time you said you would and not getting in trouble, or getting lost in the supermarket and feeling the panic, or like someone described, going missing for a while and seeing the reaction from your family.

Provide a safety net underneath all of that and you devalue it. Whether it's worth it depends on the probability and severity of risk it's supposed to be guarding against.

And kids today have a lot more going on? Than when?

[Studio117]

Awaits for: "Paedos hacked my child's gps signal"

[WinstonWolf]

GPS is a brilliant way of catching them when they think they've got away with playing truant

My eldest still thinks I cycled past her "accidentally" on my way to the shops... Busted

[ali_kat]

Countdown said:

It's not got anything to do with freedom and privacy, at least from my point of view. It's simply because kids have a lot more going on these days and it's hard work keeping a track of them. The "privacy" thing is easily fixable - they can just close the app. And I'm not sure what freedom it curtails....

How would an app like Life360 make you "less" responsible as an adult? What does the app make you do that you otherwise wouldn't?

What more going on?

I had after school clubs for Computer programming, Chess & History, then Ballet, Swimming (twice a week), Brownies/Guides/Rangers, and youth club.

Then I'd go out to play when I got home, and I was responsible for checking my watch to ensure I got home on time & had my homework done, as I was trusted to do.

How does an app teach you to be responsible for your own actions?

How does it give you freedom when someone knows exactly where you are at any point in the day?

What is the point of having an app to keep track of them if they can turn it off?

[Countdown]

trashbat said:

It's all about freedom and privacy.

Formative experiences as a child include things like going off exploring on your own on your bike at your own risk, or balancing having fun with getting back for about the time you said you would and not getting in trouble, or getting lost in the supermarket and feeling the panic, or like someone described, going missing for a while and seeing the reaction from your family.

Other than the "making your parents panic for no good reason" the app does not stop you from doing any of those. And if you are the type who takes enjoyment in parents panicking the answer is simple - switch it off. In fact, with Life360, you can actually send out a panic alarm and THEN switch it off. What japes.

trashbat said:

Provide a safety net underneath all of that and you devalue it. Whether it's worth it depends on the probability and severity of risk it's supposed to be guarding against.

If it IS used as a safety net, so what? Our parents didn't let us do what we did deliberately so that it would supposedly make us more responsible/teach us about life/ turn us into mini-Bear Grylls. They did it because there wasn't much else they could do. I'm sure their parents/grandparents went hunting/shooting or sent down the pits / up chimneys etc and "it did them no harm". I sincerely doubt it was primarily to teach them independence or responsibility. That's just the way things were. And equally, having a tracker on your phone doesn't actually MAKE you irresponsible or safer or molly coddled.

[ali_kat]

Countdown said:

And equally, having a tracker on your phone doesn't actually MAKE you irresponsible or safer or molly coddled.

No, but having the phone, setting an alarm, knowing that Mum & Dad will ring/track you down & fetch you if you are 5 seconds late home DOES

[Countdown]

ali_kat said:

How does an app teach you to be responsible for your own actions?

It doesn't. In the same way iit doesn't suddenly make you LESS responsible than the previous generation who managed to "do without". It simply lets you know where your mums/dad/kids are.

ali_kat said:

How does it give you freedom when someone knows exactly where you are at any point in the day?

How does it remove your freedom if somebody knows where you are?

ali_kat said:

What is the point of having an app to keep track of them if they can turn it off?

Because you might not need or want your parents to know where you are.

Here's a thought - the last generation managed perfectly well without mobile phones and central heating and cars and planes and vaccinations. Yet for some reason nowadays everybody "needs them"??? The reality is they DON'T need them. They just make things easier.

[Countdown]

ali_kat said:

No, but having the phone, setting an alarm, knowing that Mum & Dad will ring/track you down & fetch you if you are 5 seconds late home DOES

So are you saying they shouldnt have phones either?

[ali_kat]

Countdown said:

ali_kat said:

How does an app teach you to be responsible for your own actions?

It doesn't. In the same way iit doesn't suddenly make you LESS responsible than the previous generation who managed to "do without". It simply lets you know where your mums/dad/kids are.

Of course it does, it takes away the child’s responsibility to be at X place at Y time, because M/D will just check the app & fetch them from there instead.

Countdown said:

ali_kat said:

How does it give you freedom when someone knows exactly where you are at any point in the day?

How does it remove your freedom if somebody knows where you are?

Because you aren’t free to go where you want.

That’s why having an ankle bracelet is a punishment for teenagers with ASBOs

Countdown said:

ali_kat said:

What is the point of having an app to keep track of them if they can turn it off?

Because you might not need or want your parents to know where you are.

Then what is the point of the App?

Countdown said:

Here's a thought - the last generation managed perfectly well without mobile phones and central heating and cars and planes and vaccinations. Yet for some reason nowadays everybody "needs them"??? The reality is they DON'T need them. They just make things easier.

They make things lazier.

The last generation knew how to tell the time, how to take responsibility for their actions. Based on the latest crop of teenagers and interns, the current generation don’t have any time management skills and it is always someone elses fault

[Ari]

Why on earth do you need to be tracking your kids? All most of them do is shuffle from the computer in their bedroom to the toilet occasionally, not much point tracking that...

[RobinBanks]

Is it to do with checking they are where they say they are? Ie when they say they're going to stay over at Jonny's house to play rugby you can see that they are there and not at a rave or off with a girl behind a chip shop.

Alternatively for younger children or girls it could help to locate them in the fortunately unlikely case of abduction.

[Luke Warm]

soad said:

I believe there is a chance my house has hidden cameras, as well as listening devices...

[soad]

Luke Warm said:

soad said:

I believe there is a chance my house has hidden cameras, as well as listening devices...

The Truman Show.

[ali_kat]

RobinBanks said:

Is it to do with checking they are where they say they are? Ie when they say they're going to stay over at Jonny's house to play rugby you can see that they are there and not at a rave or off with a girl behind a chip shop.

But that's a fundamental lack of trust, respect & responsibility. If people don't make mistakes, they don't learn from them. And if they are molly coddlled all the time at home, how are they going to survive in a working environment?

RobinBanks said:

Alternatively for younger children or girls it could help to locate them in the fortunately unlikely case of abduction.

IIRC from figures a year or so ago, that happens less frequently now than it did before and a third of those are parents and over 1/2 are actually runaways.

[RobinBanks]

ali_kat said:

RobinBanks said:

Is it to do with checking they are where they say they are? Ie when they say they're going to stay over at Jonny's house to play rugby you can see that they are there and not at a rave or off with a girl behind a chip shop.

But that's a fundamental lack of trust, respect & responsibility. If people don't make mistakes, they don't learn from them. And if they are molly coddlled all the time at home, how are they going to survive in a working environment?

RobinBanks said:

Alternatively for younger children or girls it could help to locate them in the fortunately unlikely case of abduction.

IIRC from figures a year or so ago, that happens less frequently now than it did before and a third of those are parents and over 1/2 are actually runaways.

Oh, I agree absolutely with you. And if I had children I wouldn't want to put a tracking tag of some kind on them. I just wanted to check if that was the thought process of the parents here who do check the whereabouts of their children or if it was something more sinister.

I would be far more worried if I had children about them being abducted than sneaking a few cans of lager in the park. But it is fortunately very rare (I know that's no consolation to those who are abducted).

So I would find it difficult to justify tracking them because of the slim chance they might be snatched (although if it did happen I would certainly regret not having done it).

[Impasse]

These tracking devices. Will they be sewn into the child's clothing or embedded under their skin at birth?

[Timmy40]

RobinBanks said:

So I would find it difficult to justify tracking them because of the slim chance they might be snatched (although if it did happen I would certainly regret not having done it).

I that context it's a bit like a tracker on your car. Having said that isn't it possible with all smart phones ( so long as they are on ) to get the location anyway? If required, for example by the plod.