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Perhaps just don't use technology to track people? It's pretty gross.
this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2025
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Technology
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Why is it automatically gross? What method of locating lost child should parents use instead?
I generally agree with lots of topics regarding privacy but tracking your own children is just one part of being responsible for them. What is suggested way of making sure they are safe other than technology?
...teaching your kid to be safe. It's that simple. Be with them until they're old enough, and then they're fine on their own. People underestimate how fine kids will be.
I dunno, I have a sibling I've never met because they were kidnapped before I was born. Teaching a kid to be safe doesn't give them the ability to overpower adults.
I think when they get a little older you obviously need to stop tracking them, but I also don't think it's bad to want to know where your little kids are.
I do think it's bad to use an app that has their full names and pictures, though. That's common sense.
Humans, in their current form, have survived for ~200k years sans the ability to surveil the location of their children at all times, an activity that has dubious safety benefits.
I grew up in the '80s. It was absolutely unnecessary then, and a pressing need has not since developed. "Be home by dinner" was perfectly serviceable when I'd head off on my bike to see which friends were available to hang out with. Often, I'd be invited to dinner, and the parents would talk so mine knew where I was, usually followed by an invite for a sleepover since it was by then dark.
Abductions of and assaults on kids are statistically far more likely to happen with a known party. This tracking obsession stunts normal childhood experiences, and I've not seen any study conclude that kids are overall safer from this level of surveillance.
If uncle Bob is molesting you but your parents trust him, this is all theatre. "At least they're safe ... they're at Bob's" my ass. But god forbid you meet up with your friends to build a tree fort outside of an arbitrary radius.
So tracking someone's location automatically means the person is forbidden to enjoy life? How much cars did you meet in the 80s? Are really an 80s methods and safety standards good enough for todays world?
I've not been a parent, but I think it actually sounds pretty nice to be able to check where your kid is, before a certain age.
For a young kid, who cant advocate for themselves or otherwise be trusted to know when to seek help from an adult, theres really not much expectation of privacy? You should probably know where your 6 y/o is at all times, I don't find that particularly creepy.
The peace of mind having access to a findmy network for my keys and other devices saves me an embarrassing amount of anxiety. These are inanimate objects that are at most an inconvenience to lose, and they cant wander off on their own. Given how I'm willing to essentially track myself for keys, I can see how parents justify tracking their kids to and from school.
The sheer terror that they must sometimes feel if the bus is late or their kid decides to follow a friend home must be pretty unbearable. When they're old enough for a phone or to otherwise access a trusted adult when needed, then I can see an argument to be made for their autonomy.
This shit shouldn't have existed in the first place
In the first place, why would this app even need to include their names and pictures? That’s begging for bad things to happen.
Let their parents assign some nickname or code name to the tags. The parents will know what that is. As opposed to some weirdo who steals your phone or some hacker who sells a db dump to pedophiles on the dark web.
why would this app even need to include their names and pictures?
How else are parents supposed to remember who their kids are?
Damn right, all children look the same anyways, and I'm not being child-phobic, I even have child friends myself, and I treat them as if they were people.
Or even if you must, store the names locally