Modern marketing just preys on parental guilt. If you don't buy a $300 sensor or track your kid's location every second, they subtly make you feel like an irresponsible parent.
It's actually sad for kids. In childhood being able to stay out a bit longer, solve sudden problems without calling mom, or just sit alone taught you how to cope with the world. But if someone monitors a child all the way to their college dorm door, it's unclear how they're supposed to develop personal autonomy at all
> being able to stay out a bit longer, solve sudden problems without calling mom, or just sit alone
none of these are prevented when you have an airtag in your pocket
my hesitation is from knowing these _dont_ work: by the time airtag shows where someone actually is that isnt a 500m circle, you can see them with your analog eyes :/
> If watching your kid’s real-time location isn’t enough, there is Life360, a tracking app that allows parents to review up to 30 days of time-stamped location history, monitor driving to make sure their kids stay within the speed limit, and get alerts when they arrive at or leave saved locations, such as home, school, and, yes, a college dorm. “Holy sh—,” a psychologist who studies kids’ resilience started to say when I described the app to him.
I’m sorry, this psychologist is a person who academically studies the issue and is not familiar with the capabilities of Life360?? Why would the author of this piece have continued talking to someone after they demonstrated themselves to be so shockingly ignorant of their own field?
I'd go a step further and ask why a psychologist should know every single piece of stalkerware that's advertised to parents as being a good thing to install on their kids' computers.
Isn't this whole "tracking kids locations" an American thing, first of all? I haven't heard of parents doing this stuff in Sweden or Spain, just as two examples.
With that, comes the possibility that maybe this is some sub-section of parents in American, not all of them. Maybe middle-class and above, the people who can justify more subscriptions in their life with not much effect on their economy? Maybe some other segment(s) make more sense, just thinking out loud.
I'm not sure, but I'm guessing this is maybe not widespread among all types of parents in the US, since it isn't a "every parent in the world" thing at the very least.
Modern marketing just preys on parental guilt. If you don't buy a $300 sensor or track your kid's location every second, they subtly make you feel like an irresponsible parent.
It's actually sad for kids. In childhood being able to stay out a bit longer, solve sudden problems without calling mom, or just sit alone taught you how to cope with the world. But if someone monitors a child all the way to their college dorm door, it's unclear how they're supposed to develop personal autonomy at all
> being able to stay out a bit longer, solve sudden problems without calling mom, or just sit alone
none of these are prevented when you have an airtag in your pocket
my hesitation is from knowing these _dont_ work: by the time airtag shows where someone actually is that isnt a 500m circle, you can see them with your analog eyes :/
https://wallhop.io/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026...
the article doesn't actually state what it is doing to children?
Why should a psychologist know all the capabilities of Life360? Why does that make them an ignorant psychologist?
I'd go a step further and ask why a psychologist should know every single piece of stalkerware that's advertised to parents as being a good thing to install on their kids' computers.
Isn't this whole "tracking kids locations" an American thing, first of all? I haven't heard of parents doing this stuff in Sweden or Spain, just as two examples.
With that, comes the possibility that maybe this is some sub-section of parents in American, not all of them. Maybe middle-class and above, the people who can justify more subscriptions in their life with not much effect on their economy? Maybe some other segment(s) make more sense, just thinking out loud.
I'm not sure, but I'm guessing this is maybe not widespread among all types of parents in the US, since it isn't a "every parent in the world" thing at the very least.
What in that article made you think the psychologist didn't know parents track their children?