Do You Think Your Teen’s Cell Phones Should Have a Tracking Device?
Nowadays just about every teenager has a cell phone, and they seem to take it everywhere they go. But if you did not know already there are several phones that have a tracking feature attached to them. Do you think your teen should have some secret tracking device on their phone? Well this article is not going to get into what types of phones offer these services. Instead we will compare the opinions gathered from a group of parents and a group of teens.
Most teens feel that having a tracking device attached to their phone would be an invasion of privacy. They also felt that it would appear that their parents do not have any trust in them. But if you look at it from a parents perspective you will see that it is not all just about trust. In some cases parents may have issues when it comes to trusting their children. Many parents however feel that this is a good way to keep track of their children in case of emergency. Especially since kidnappings happen to be an all time high. Unfortunately do to the time that we live parents are more worried about what someone else is going to do, and not so much about what their children will do.
Then there is the issue of whether or not parents should tell their children that this feature is included in their phone. When I took an online poll asking parents whether or not they would tell their children that they can track them via their cell phone, 80% said no and 20% said yes. Why? The reason according to the parents polled, is that if their teens know that their location can be tracked it may damage their relationship. According to the teens they feel that if a parent is really adding this feature to the cell phone for their own safety then why keep it a secret? I must agree that that is a very valid point.
If you are truly concerned about the safety of your children, then why not discuss this with them. Let them know that the feature is there as a protection and not an invasion of their privacy. With most of these devices you have to log onto a computer and enter some information in order to locate them. You can reassure them you will only use it if you can not get in touch with them and are unable to locate them.
Most teens agreed that this would be reasonable, as long as their parents took the time to let them know exactly what was going on. Just remember to try and give your child the respect that they are entitled too. Unless they have shown you in the past that they can not be trusted, why not be open with them. You may be surprised at their reaction.
