Watching Kids Via Mobile Phone

Joe the Lesser writes "This BBC article says how parents could soon keep a much closer eye on what children are up to on their way to and from school thanks to a mobile monitoring system. It will send text alerts to their mobile phone if the child deviates too far from that route or takes too long getting there."

Comments

Psychological Repercussions

[starsong]

This may be OT, but think of how this kind of thing, misapplied (and it *will* be misapplied, as all technology eventually is) could affect a kid.

Picture a child, who...

• never cuts class
• is never late
• always goes where he's supposed to
• always says "please" and "thank you"
• never gets in with the "wrong crowd"
• never gets into fights
• never watches TV until his homework's done
• never watches violent movies or TV
• never looks at porn or "inapproprite content" online
• always has dinner with his parents
• has the "right" friends, made at soccer practice and trombone lessons and nature camp and Sunday school and community service weekends and every other Very Important Character-Building Activity

Was this you when you were young? Would you really be a better person if you had done these things? Would you be happier? My vote is NO, as I spent all of high school doing most of these things and was ready to kill myself freshman year of college, when I was given an ID card, a room key and told to fend for myself.

My mind drifts to Jonbenet Ramsey as I wonder why American parents have such sterilized, plastic-molded ideals for their children.