Mobile phone tracking for a young teen.

[moomoo]

I love find my feature on iOS. It's quite handy knowing when my Mum is home so I can call her. Or even when she's coming over, how far away she is so I can put the kettle on

I text my boys when I’m on my way home so there’s a cuppa waiting for me.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

it's important that she's able to go places you don't know about, I think.

Yeah well she can do that when she is a little older.

I know I’m really old but when my kids were this age I didn’t know where they were every minute of the day. They knew where they lived and came home eventually. I’m really glad this sort of thing wasn’t around then. I think I’d be a neurotic mess checking every 5 mins where they are. It’s just weird and certainly not healthy for you or the child IMO. She’s 14. She deserves some privacy, no?

Jebus everyone chill out, I just want to us to be able to find each other if we have to. I will feel a little easier and I probably won't even check.
I'm sure if she really wants to she will be able to disable it. I do talk to my daughter about these things and do / did ask if she finds it uncomfortable.
I'm just asking for a app that is not too intrusive that is easy for us both to use.

 

[AverageJoe]

Fucks sake. So many hand wringers here.

My boy is ten. He keeps his on alkt eh time so we can make sure he's at school etc.

My girls is 12. She turns her WiFi off when she goes out so we do t know where she is. She does what she does. But, if we say home at x time for tea she'll turn it back on when she's on her way back.

It's not a fucking nazi tracking tool, it's something for parents to use to actually give the kids some rope, allow them to be who they want to be and allow them to develop accordingly. We should be grateful for the fact that in the case of my 12 year old that she can trust us enough to turn it off and turn it back on again when she feels it's right for her.

 

[Thora]

I use Life360 with my 11 year old. I have a few locations set up on it so it pings me when he leaves/arrives at home or the park.
It's actually a two way thing so he can see where I am too.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Just to clarify, we have androids not iPhones. Sorry.

Google Maps > Share My Location

The other person's icon appears on Google maps

Needs a data or WiFi connection obvs. Works well for us.

 

[RileyOBlimey]

14 is an age a teenager deserves privacy. Whatever you do should be by her consent…without coercion.

A lot of these spy apps allow far greater surveillance abilities than just location. You should not be policing her thoughts via monitoring her web activity.

 

[Santino]

14 is an age a teenager deserves privacy. Whatever you do should be by her consent…without coercion.

A lot of these spy apps allow far greater surveillance abilities than just location. You should not be policing her thoughts via monitoring her web activity.

Have you actually read the OP?

 

[skyscraper101]

"Policing her thoughts" FFS!

 

[strung out]

Have you actually read the OP?

What's the point of reading people's posts? Just fire off a quick reply based on a half understood, context free, reading of the previous five posts on the thread and job's a good un.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

It's not a fucking nazi tracking tool, it's something for parents to use to actually give the kids some rope, allow them to be who they want to be and allow them to develop accordingly. We should be grateful for the fact that in the case of my 12 year old that she can trust us enough to turn it off and turn it back on again when she feels it's right for her.

Yes this. I've told her to turn it off whenever . She's not done anything yet (well recently) that would make me mistrust her about anything. I try to be honest with her and want her to be honest as she can with me (I know this isn't going to be 100% possible I was a teenager too, and I would probably go into spasm if I knew she was doing what I was doing at that age) .

 

[RileyOBlimey]

Have you actually read the OP?

Mission creep. Most of the tools that enable this sort of tracking also provide far more intrusive capabilities. It’s a slippery road to take.

 

[Thora]

Mission creep. Most of the tools that enable this sort of tracking also provide far more intrusive capabilities. It’s a slippery road to take.

Do they? Which tools do that?

 

[souljacker]

Mission creep. Most of the tools that enable this sort of tracking also provide far more intrusive capabilities. It’s a slippery road to take.

What intrusive capabilities?

 

[RileyOBlimey]

Do they? Which tools do that?

For example the Google Family app I referenced earlier. These apps often become a real problem are often used as tools of abuse. Respected security researcher Eva Galperin has done extensive work exposing technology that can be repurposed for abuse.

 

[souljacker]

For example the Google Family app I referenced earlier. These apps often become a real problem are often used as tools of abuse. Respected security researcher Eva Galperin has done extensive work exposing technology that can be repurposed for abuse.

We're talking about knowing where your kids are here, not tracking ex-partners.

 

[RileyOBlimey]

What intrusive capabilities?

For example monitoring what the target has been looking at on the web.

 

[souljacker]

For example monitoring what the target has been looking at on the web.

Yes, for a ten year old. Yes.

 

[RileyOBlimey]

We're talking about knowing where your kids are here, not tracking ex-partners.

You’re talking about power.

 

[RileyOBlimey]

Yes, for a ten year old. Yes.

For a 14 year old? That’s proper weird…at best.

 

[souljacker]

For a 14 year old? That’s proper weird…at best.

You can opt out of family link at 13 though. Life360 needs permission from all users and doesn't track websites. Not sure what you are on about here.

 

[RileyOBlimey]

You can opt out of family link at 13 though. Life360 needs permission from all users and doesn't track websites. Not sure what you are on about here.

If you want to know where you’re kid is, just call them. Don’t normalise this intrusive surveillance. You didn’t have this as a child so, don’t do it to your kids,

 

[platinumsage]

If you want to know where you’re kid is, just call them. Don’t normalise this intrusive surveillance. You didn’t have this as a child so, don’t do it to your kids,

No one here had a phone as a child.

 

[RileyOBlimey]

No one here had a phone as a child.

Exactly. Don’t do weird shit to your children that wasn’t done to you.

 

[platinumsage]

Exactly. Don’t do weird shit to your children that wasn’t done to you.

Like phoning them on their mobile?

 

[RileyOBlimey]

Like phoning them on their mobile?

Getting your kids to call home is the equivalent that we had. Your parents didn’t monitor your every move and see every page of the jazz rag you and you mates found in a bush did they?

 

[platinumsage]

Getting your kids to call home is the equivalent that we had.

Yes, each generation does things differently, landlines, mobiles, apps. Following your logic of not using things as a parent that you didn't have as a child would mean you wouldn't have used landlines as a child, because your parents or grandparents wouldn't have had them, and so wouldn't have expected their children to use them.

Your parents didn’t monitor your every move and see every page of the jazz rag you and you mates found in a bush did they?

No one is suggesting that are they? You're being very weird.

 

[moomoo]

No one here had a phone as a child.

It was bloody brilliant. My elder two didn’t have phones as kids either and they’ve both said how glad they are that it wasn’t a thing when they were young.

 

[RileyOBlimey]

Yes, each generation does things differently, landlines, mobiles, apps. Following your logic of not using things as a parent that you didn't have as a child would mean you wouldn't have used landlines as a child, because your parents or grandparents wouldn't have had them, and so wouldn't have expected their children to use them.



No one is suggesting that are they? You're being very weird.

By normalising surveillance technology you are providing far greater power for abusive family members. I’m not suggesting anyone here is abusive btw.

Teenagers need privacy. Privacy provides some valuable freedom.

 

[souljacker]

If you want to know where you’re kid is, just call them. Don’t normalise this intrusive surveillance. You didn’t have this as a child so, don’t do it to your kids,

Just to be clear here, I'm no fan of this tech but I can see it's benefits and I like knowing that my ten year old has got home from school safely (I don't actually use, but my wife does). When she's 14, she can do what she wants but at the moment, I'd rather know what she is up to.

As for the porn and web monitoring thing, I don't have any issue with stopping a pre-teen from accessing pornhub, especially as a lot of the stuff on there is far more dangerous (IMO) than a copy of razzle found in the bushes up the park. Again, once you are a teen, you can look at what you want.

I also don't just switch on these things and that's it. I discuss it with my kids, explain what I don't like about it, explain what they should do to keep themselves safe online etc etc

 

[killer b]

When she's 14, she can do what she wants

Thing is that a child choosing to switch off the tracking app you've put on her phone isn't really the same thing as the child not having the tracking app in the first place is it? There's an automatic social pressure - however much you make out to the kid it's a free choice and all that - to keep it on, and then if she does switch it off, you're going to wonder 'why's she done that?'

The idea that a 14 year old living in the family home really has a free choice this case doesn't really stand up to scrutiny I don't think.