Would You Put a Tracking Device on Your Child?
By KJ DELL'ANTONIA
What’s your “lost in the grocery store” story?
Everyone has one. The day you lost sight of your mother while gaping at the candy selection at Albertsons, or were tempted away by the lure of the museum gift shop, only to discover that your family had apparently gone the way of the dinosaurs and was nowhere to be seen. I once failed to get off a public bus at the right stop and had to call my mother from downtown San Antonio. My brother-in-law was left behind in a gas station bathroom in Mexico.
But with the array of new gadgetry covered by Farhad Manjoo in the Home Tech column, our children need never experience the momentary fears that come with those separations, or the satisfaction of weathering them: finding the right cart a few aisles down; sitting tight, just as you’ve been told, until a familiar face reappears; or boldly presenting your mother’s business card to the store manager and asking to make a call, as the Motherlode contributor Candace Dempsey’s son did more than two decades ago.
Nope. They, or we, can press a button and instantly track down the missing child, or parent, depending on your point of view. Mr. Manjoo tested devices like the Amber Alert and the Securus eZoom, which are easy to set up, he wrote, and offer options from the simple (an app to track the wearer) to the complex (alerts every time a child comes within 500 feet of an address listed on a sex-offender database). (He also looks at devices to track or aid the elderly, those with special medical needs, and the family dog.)
The makers of the devices posit that they might help an overprotective parent let go:
The Amber Alert GPS
Children might, the article goes on to suggest, be willing to trade privacy for freedom. Those privacy concerns are valid — but are they the only reasons to resist popping an “Amber Alert” around your child’s neck, even at Disney World? You could argue that those of us who survived our childhoods of being occasionally lost, then found, are in the position of those who think car seats are overkill because they suffered no injury while bouncing around in the back of their uncle’s pickup. Maybe we never “needed” an emergency button, but even the least imaginative among us can conjure up a scenario in which we would want out children to have that button to press.
Beyond the nightmares, though, lies a whole world of dicey moments and wrong turns from which we eventually have to learn to extract ourselves. It’s easier for everyone now, with maps in our pockets and emergency calls nearly always at hand, but we still have to learn when and how to use those tools, and when to rely on ourselves. Wouldn’t a more powerful sense of security come from knowing your children were capable, and trusting in their ability to reach out for help at the moment when they realize they’re not?
I don’t really need to ponder whether I’ll track my children — in a small town, “tracking” is a free service provided by the neighbors, and without a child who drives, I’ve no need for alerts to reckless driving or unexpected departures from the school parking lot. So I’m left wondering who’s using these devices, why, and what successes or failures you’re finding in the technology. Would you track your child, and what’s it like if you already do?
Everyone has one. The day you lost sight of your mother while gaping at the candy selection at Albertsons, or were tempted away by the lure of the museum gift shop, only to discover that your family had apparently gone the way of the dinosaurs and was nowhere to be seen. I once failed to get off a public bus at the right stop and had to call my mother from downtown San Antonio. My brother-in-law was left behind in a gas station bathroom in Mexico.
But with the array of new gadgetry covered by Farhad Manjoo in the Home Tech column, our children need never experience the momentary fears that come with those separations, or the satisfaction of weathering them: finding the right cart a few aisles down; sitting tight, just as you’ve been told, until a familiar face reappears; or boldly presenting your mother’s business card to the store manager and asking to make a call, as the Motherlode contributor Candace Dempsey’s son did more than two decades ago.
Nope. They, or we, can press a button and instantly track down the missing child, or parent, depending on your point of view. Mr. Manjoo tested devices like the Amber Alert and the Securus eZoom, which are easy to set up, he wrote, and offer options from the simple (an app to track the wearer) to the complex (alerts every time a child comes within 500 feet of an address listed on a sex-offender database). (He also looks at devices to track or aid the elderly, those with special medical needs, and the family dog.)
The makers of the devices posit that they might help an overprotective parent let go:
Even though most statistics show that rates of violent crime against children have declined significantly over the last few decades, and that abductions are extremely rare, it’s difficult for some parents to get over the fear of letting their children wander out into the world. A GPS tracker can help parents conquer that anxiety: because you know you’ll be able to find your children when they’re in trouble, you might allow them to walk to school, take the train to the movies, or do any number of other grown-up things that children today don’t get to do.
The Amber Alert GPSBeyond the nightmares, though, lies a whole world of dicey moments and wrong turns from which we eventually have to learn to extract ourselves. It’s easier for everyone now, with maps in our pockets and emergency calls nearly always at hand, but we still have to learn when and how to use those tools, and when to rely on ourselves. Wouldn’t a more powerful sense of security come from knowing your children were capable, and trusting in their ability to reach out for help at the moment when they realize they’re not?
I don’t really need to ponder whether I’ll track my children — in a small town, “tracking” is a free service provided by the neighbors, and without a child who drives, I’ve no need for alerts to reckless driving or unexpected departures from the school parking lot. So I’m left wondering who’s using these devices, why, and what successes or failures you’re finding in the technology. Would you track your child, and what’s it like if you already do?