GPS Wristwatch for Kids

1010011010 writes "A company called 'Wherify Wireless' has created a $400 watch with a built-in pager, GPS unit and wireless data connectivity. It's targeted at families with kids. According to their website, 'Wherify's GPS Personal Locator helps keep loved ones safe by combining Wherify's patented technology with the U.S. Department of Defense's multi-billion dollar Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites plus the largest 100% digital, nationwide PCS wireless network.' It includes a pager, clock, two-button '911' calling (parent can disable this), and remote-control keyfob (to lock and unlock it) for the parents. It is apparently water- and kid-resistant, and can be locked onto the wrist so that it cannot be removed (easily). $400 plus $35 a month... that's a lot more money than those stretchy wrist-leashes I see at the mall." There are so many things wrong with this that I don't even know where to begin.

Comments

Re:What is Wrong?

[Matthias Wiesmann]

I'm no psychologue, but I suspect that if the child knows you can know were it is all the time this will have some effect. One thing childs need to do is cut the umbilical cord and become autonomous human. This kind of device might have the reverse effect. Have a problem? push the button.

Also I fear that it will create a false sense of security for parents. This gizmo might work against people would kidnap kids (which is a rare event) but won't protect them from harm (which is much more probable).

The bottom line is were is the line between protection and overprotection. If I were worried about the safety of my child, I would first consider moving to a safer place, and not letting it alone.

Re:Paranoia ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well my children are 2 1/2. Trust simply doesn't come into it. I don't distrust them. I do know that they are not old enough to be 100% reliable in their behaviour. Even if you try to keep hold of them and keep an eye on them in a crowd, it is pretty easy for one to slip off. 30 seconds later, and they don't know where they or you are. I lost one boy in a crowd a couple of months ago. He was distraught when I found him. I'd use a device like this.

A third use...

[nordicfrost]

People here have mentioned kidnapping and elderly as groups with need for this watch. I also believe that victims of violent crimes will benefit from these watches. Here in Norway, some people with a special need to stay in contact with the cops, like women with abusive exes and imigrant women with psycho families get the "Voldsalarm" device. This device automatically connect to the police by pressing two buttons and sends out a homing signal.

This wristwatch is much more practical for this use.

Re:A third use...

[nordicfrost]

No. Thankfully, you are not allowed to carry weapons in Norway. The result is simple, a relative 96% less guncrimes and 60% less violent crime than the US (Adjusted for population numbers, source SSB). Every street in all the large towns are safe at night and the overall violent crimerate is dropping. Without guns. You are allowed to own a gun under some conditions:
1. The gun must be registered at the police
2. You must be approved to get a registration
3. You must be a member of a gun club for at least two years to register
4. You must have at least 40 hours of gun training and experience
5. Firing a gun is only allowed during hunting (Shotguns, rifles) or at a range (Pistols, revolvers)
6. Guns are to be stored away from ammo
7. The sliding piece (Or a significant part) is not allowed to be stored with the gun

I was in the military (We have drafting here) and learned to use the AG-3 and fired some 1000+ rounds. My service weapon was, however, the Glock 17 standard issue (5000+ rounds). I'm quite familiar with weapons, but I would never, NEVER allow one in my house. Ever. The the violence alarms WORK. Incredibly enough without killing or hurting anyone, but by alarming the police and making sure the arrive. What a strange concet, huh?

Age Groups

[Anonymous Coward]

I dont think this was designed for or would be used for tagging teenagers.
Give them a mobile phone or something.
The humiliation of wearing a "parent tag" during your self-concious years would be worthy of suicide!

growing up in fear leads to a rotten society

[kipple]

I know I am not even able to understand how society will evolve in the next years. I have difficulties to fully understand in details the behavior of people 10 years younger than me, so I am sure that I will have difficulties with my childrens.
Which, let me state it, is a good thing. A parent MUST not understand totally his/her childrens. There must be some mis-understanding in families, because otherwise the kid will grow up without enough moral strength to fight against the world, or just survive into it.
Now, I think that a great part of being a children is doing something forbidden. When you do something that's forbidden, being it wathing pr0n or sneaking into a girl house or go explore an abandoned house, you feel like you're adult. Later you realize the dangers you have risked, and at that point you have grown up a little bit.
IMHO growing up is reaching an equilibrium between what you CAN do and what you CANNOT do, and what you SHOULD do.
As you grow more, you start understanding the reasons that pushed your parents to act like they did, and by now you'll probably be a parent yourself.
I'm making it a LOT more simple than it is, bare with me - there's no "Kid How-To" out there, and those who are available are wrong because there cannot be a Kid How-To, except in dictatorships (but I digress).
So, back into topic: if a kid is afraid of doing something because he KNOWS his parents knows where he is (and probably will know what he's doing..with the next generation of such watches) his maturity will suffer. He will never become an adult capable of making reasonable decisions; he has grown up with 'someone else' making decisions for him and HE COULD NOT EVEN HAVE A CHANCE to disobey, and be proven right.
Such watches will endanger the grown up of such kids. Another point in favor of kids could be their popularity in schools.. think about people making fun of you because your parents don't trust you.. and forced you to have a gps watch.. enough here).

Sure they/we will get used to it. Sure next generations will get used to it and either
1. develop new ways to avoid such system (as right now fake ID cards are)
2. suffer from it and become morons that are used to to what is told them to do, being it from parents or government

So we will all become either criminals or perfect citizens. Cool. Now I understand the leading trend in society! (I'm joking here, this is a provocative sentence. That said just to avoid those of you that love not understanding sentences and waste time for a 'fun' phrase writing paragraphs trying to prove wrong a sentence that was ironic at the beginning).

Just thought about it.

Oh well of course I'm not even thinking about raising a children in the US. But that's another topic. Anyone would like to go colonize Mars with me and raise kids there? :)

Safety in more traditional sense

[tuoppi]

It seems that this device is difficult to remove from wrist, which is obiviously a danger itself. It isn't a great danger, but I'd like to see this unit to break loose when twisted before the bones break.

Practicality

[Captain Large Face]

I hope I'm not being stupid, but there seems to be a serious flaw to this system.

How do the parents go about the process of finding their lost child? I'd imagine the parents would call up the company requesting the geographical location of their child? But how do the parents (or the company) know their own geographical location? Directions are always relative to the start point (in this place the parents), so it seems to me that you're really going to need two sets of GPS systems.

When you add the variable of the child moving about, this is going to add extra problems. It may well be useful near your home, where the company can give you a street name, but what about when you're away from home?

pederass

[AsnFkr]

now pedifiles and perverts with some technological know-how can scan where their victoms are so its not hard to find them alone! trust your children to technology! eric.

Re:To be fair...

[garethwi]

It might be spoken like a true bachelor geek, but I am actually married with three children.

I also don't take my kids to crowded stores around Christmas time, because seeing a million santas tends to spoil the magic for them. But that's another story.

And the device won't be worth the cost for one simple reason:

Lost kids get found, unless they are abducted. If they are abducted, then the abductor will almost definately have a quick method of getting the device off, in much the same way that a new car alarm is only good until the thieves technology overtakes it (usually all of about a week).

Re:To be fair...

[Chelloveck]

[...] they also don't want their three year old to take such an expensive little piece of equipment off and toss it in the street.

Precisely! Actually, an abductor wouldn't care about the value of the device and would probably cut the band immediately and toss the thing out the window. A small kid, on the other hand, may remove it simply because he/she can. You'd want to prevent that. (Although, it'd be easy to find if it did get lost!)

This device is not a bad thing. I wouldn't force it on an older child who didn't want it, but it sounds like a great thing for small children. Case in point -- We spend about a week each summer camping in the north woods. My wife is terrified that our 4yo will wander off. (Not that he's really prone to doing this, but moms are good at irrational fear. :-) Getting lost at a shopping mall is one thing -- The kid will eventually be seen wandering without parents and be taken to the mall office or some-such. Getting lost in the woods literally miles from the nearest houses is quite different.

Those Garmin FRS radios with the GPS features are also wonderfully attractive, for the same reasons. They're all a bit too pricey, but once something like this hits the $100 price-point we'll probably get a few.

These things shouldn't be used to check up on a kid you don't trust. I wouldn't want to use one to keep them honest. But don't discount them as "evil tools of Da Man". Like any tool, they can be used for good or bad.

Alzheimers

[IamSorrow]

This technology would be great for the people who have Alzheimers and other related illnesses, where they wander off.

A Better and Cheaper Idea.

[evilviper]

The best way to protect your child or yourself is to give them a de-activated cell-phone.

Go out and but a cell-phone (can be damn cheap) and use it for the first month or whatever they require. After that, cancel the service. Far too few people realize that even an unserviced cell-phone MUST be able to call 911. Older cellphones might be difficult to locate, but newer ones come with GPS with the very intent that emergency personell may locate the origin of the emergency call.

Now, that may not be an option for extremely young children, but after they can talk, the first thing every kid has hammered into his head is how to call 911.

So, you have a much less potentially intrusive option, which just happens to not cost you anything per month.

so begin anyway

[aozilla]

There are so many things wrong with this that I don't even know where to begin.

Yeah, why spend your time adding information and opinions to the topic when you can spend it looking for more redundant writeups contributed by unpaid volunteers.

Re:To be fair...

[mother pussbucket]

Get them used to monitoring early. While their minds are still supple. Associate it with "fun" activities.

They won't raise those silly privacy objections when they get older. Like the current generation.

And lets not get into the marketing angle. "Our scanners indicate little Jimmy is passing a MickyD's..."